Miranda Barbour enters Northumberland County Court in Pennsylvania for her formal arraignment in January.

A judge in Pennsylvania Monday denied a request to take the death penalty off the table for a woman who has claimed responsibility for nearly two dozen murders across the country.

Judge Charles Saylor ruled this morning that the jury will be permitted to consider torture and robbery as aggravating factors that could justify the death penalty for Miranda Barbour in the November 2013 stabbing death of Troy LaaFerrara of Port Trevorton, Pennsylvania.

Barbour, 19, and her husband, Elytte Barbour, 22, are both charged in the case. Elytte Barbour also faces the death penalty.

Edward Greco, a court-appointed defense attorney, argued that an autopsy report does not support an assertion by the Northumberland County district attorney that the killing was committed by means of torture.

LaFerrara was stabbed up to 20 times, Northumberland County Coroner Jim Kelley said.

Information for this story was reported by the Sunbury (Pa.) Daily Item.