AG-elect Hill's chief deputy to succeed him as prosecutor

GOSHEN, Ind. (AP) - Republicans in northern Indiana's Elkhart County have selected Attorney General-elect Curtis Hill's chief deputy to succeed him as prosecutor.

Republican committeemen voted 72-22 Friday evening to pick Chief Deputy Prosecutor Vicki Becker over the only other candidate, Elkhart lawyer Martin McCloskey. Hill had endorsed Becker.

Becker, who has worked in the prosecutor's office since 1998 and served as chief deputy prosecutor since 2003, takes over on Jan. 9, when Hill takes state office. She'll serve through 2018.

One high-profile case that Becker will handle is that of Amber Pasztor, a Fort Wayne woman charged with two counts of murder in the September deaths of two of her children, 7-year-old Liliana Hernandez and 6-year-old Rene Pasztor. Hill announced in October he would seek a sentence of life without parole for Pasztor.