LIGHT SENTENCES 4GRUESOME MURDER:"Bali suitcase murder: US couple who killed mother in hotel and stuffed her body in a case are spared death penalty" - America...

Question is whether the mother actually did try to strangle one of them first,as claimed.Was there any way to verify this?
http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/americas/bali-suitcase-murder-us-couple-who-killed-mother-in-hotel-and-stuffed-her-body-in-a-case-are-spared-death-penalty-10192072.html