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HST: Sending Lawyers, Guns and Money

By Jeralyn, Section Off Topic
Posted on Tue Feb 22, 2005 at 02:02:29 PM EST
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We wrote the other day that Hunter Thompson, among other things, was a mensch. It was Hunter that brought these folks to Denver, to fight an injustice to Lisl Auman, serving a life sentence for a murder that occurred after she was in police custody.


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Warren Zevon
enlarge (he opened the rally with "Lawyers, Guns and Money")


Aspen Sheriff Bob Braudis
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Gerry Goldstein
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Historian and Hunter Family Spokesperson Douglas Brinkely
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Lisl's case could be decided at any time by the Colorado Supreme Court.

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    HST: Sending Lawyers, Guns and Money | 11 comments (11 topical)
    Re: HST: Sending Lawyers, Guns and Money (none / 0) (#1)
    by Talkleft Visitor on Tue Feb 22, 2005 at 03:05:53 PM EST
    Here's hoping the court rules on the side of justice, and that lisl's conviction is overturned.

    Re: HST: Sending Lawyers, Guns and Money (none / 0) (#2)
    by Talkleft Visitor on Tue Feb 22, 2005 at 03:13:16 PM EST
    Sad that both Hunter and Warren are now gone.

    Re: HST: Sending Lawyers, Guns and Money (none / 0) (#3)
    by Talkleft Visitor on Tue Feb 22, 2005 at 03:54:48 PM EST
    The woman who was in our political police custody who may have had something or nothing to do with the murder, under our political law system is called conspiracy to do murder, the fact is many people have been sent to our political prison system for conspiracy and most are innocent, "but it is used to control the general population" our politicos like to use it and you can put anyone away without evidence and for my black friends it is used on all races. can i ask where is bin laden, El,Bush? and can you stop your approval of torture and beating death in prison cells? I know you love that idea, but supporting mass murder of a nation is really a bad idea, and yes i know your bush sir, that we our! all terrorist suspects, but can you stop the murder of 13 year olds by the local police gangs in L.A.,?

    Re: HST: Sending Lawyers, Guns and Money (none / 0) (#4)
    by Talkleft Visitor on Tue Feb 22, 2005 at 04:46:10 PM EST
    et al - I think the law says that if you are part of a crime in progress, even if you have been captured/placed in custody, you stand for the total crime. In this case Aluman signed up for, basically, a simple B&E. The police became involved, she was captured/surrendered, in the meantime her boyfriend fled, and killed a policeman. I may have a few things wrong, but I think that is pretty well it. I would have thought a 10 year sentence would have been about right. She had no intent to kill, and had no way to help, or impede the process once she was in custody.

    Re: HST: Sending Lawyers, Guns and Money (none / 0) (#5)
    by jimcee on Tue Feb 22, 2005 at 06:47:30 PM EST
    No joke, but if HST was on my side, I'm convicted in a second. He was what he was, let us leave it at that, a milestone that we're passing. Time to grow up.

    Re: HST: Sending Lawyers, Guns and Money (none / 0) (#6)
    by Talkleft Visitor on Tue Feb 22, 2005 at 07:14:23 PM EST
    What does it mean--"to grow up"--in the context of this post?

    Re: HST: Sending Lawyers, Guns and Money (none / 0) (#8)
    by Talkleft Visitor on Wed Feb 23, 2005 at 08:56:46 AM EST
    Apologies (again) for formatting erasures above. PPJ - your comments inserted in between quotes from story.

    Re: HST: Sending Lawyers, Guns and Money (none / 0) (#7)
    by Talkleft Visitor on Wed Feb 23, 2005 at 10:58:57 AM EST
    Mornin' PPJ. As usual, you DON'T have any of the relevant facts right. Please read and respond: Apologies to TL for length, but feel it's important to pull out relevant facts for PPJ who doesn't like to check facts. et al - I think the law says that if you are part of a crime in progress, even if you have been captured/placed in custody, you stand for the total crime. In this case Aluman signed up for, basically, a simple B&E. Lisl did not commit burglary. Lisl Auman had a right to be in the residence in which she lived and was moving from. Lisl was entitled to retrieve her property. Lisl Auman was living in the room at the Hudson Hotel Lodge near Buffalo Creek in Pine, Colorado with her boyfriend Shawn Cheever for about two months preceding her arrest. She also had rented a separate room at the Lodge but had rarely used it for anything but storage in the month preceding the alleged burglary. Lisl made the decision to move out of the Lodge over concern of Shawn's escalating and unpredictable behavior. When asked by police why she thought that she was going to have a problem getting her stuff back, Lisl responded," Because Shawn is like controlling, and I didn't know if he was just going to bully me around and tell me, you know, you can't go anywhere." Lisl Auman was simply trying to move her own belongings when she went back to her residence just a couple days after leaving Cheever. She did not take anything that did not belong to her. If theft was committed, it was by others who were granted immunity from prosecution to testify at Lisl's trial. They plea-bargained to second-degree burglary and received sentences of probation. The fact that gets lost here is that Lisl had a right to be in the residence in which she lived and was moving from. Lisl was entitled to retrieve her property. [remainder deleted due to length]

    Re: HST: Sending Lawyers, Guns and Money (none / 0) (#10)
    by Talkleft Visitor on Wed Feb 23, 2005 at 11:01:21 AM EST
    Mornin' PPJ. As usual, you DON'T have any of the relevant facts right. Please read and respond:
    et al - I think the law says that if you are part of a crime in progress, even if you have been captured/placed in custody, you stand for the total crime. In this case Aluman signed up for, basically, a simple B&E.
    Lisl did not commit burglary. Lisl Auman did not break into her residence and did not take anything besides her own belongings. Lisl Auman was living in the room at the Hudson Hotel Lodge near Buffalo Creek in Pine, Colorado with her boyfriend Shawn Cheever for about two months preceding her arrest. Lisl made the decision to move out of the Lodge over concern of Shawn's escalating and unpredictable behavior. Lisl Auman was simply trying to move her own belongings when she went back to her residence just a couple days after leaving Cheever. She did not take anything that did not belong to her. If theft was committed, it was by others who were granted immunity from prosecution to testify at Lisl's trial. The fact that gets lost here is that Lisl had a right to be in the residence in which she lived and was moving from. Lisl was entitled to retrieve her property. The Jefferson County Transcript newspaper reported, "The burglary victim, Shawn Cheever, a logger, told his side of the story to Lakewood resident and KOA radio reporter Carol McKinley last week." The article stated, "Cheever blames himself for the death of the officer, McKinley said, thinking that if he had he let his former girlfriend take her belongings, VanderJagt would be alive today." Not only was Cheever's claim that he "had nothing in (his) room that belonged to her" false, but the jury was also not allowed to take into account that Lisl was charged with burglarizing her own place of residence. There are many more reports that dispute the claims of Lisl's guilt, including Cheever's November 21, 1997 arrest revealing that he possessed Lisl's checkbook. Based on these facts, and the fact that Lisl had the legal right to be in the room that she shared with Cheever, Lisl Auman is innocent of the crime of burglary, the predicate crime prosecutors used to pursue the felony murder charge.
    The police became involved, she was captured/surrendered,
    Because Lisl's primary residence was the room that she and Cheever were sharing, many of her belongings were, naturally, in that room when she decided to move out. Though Lisl's only desire was to move away from Cheever, her asking Deme for help produced undesired results. Unbeknownst to Lisl, Deme asked her boyfriend, Dion Gerze, if he wanted to go with her and Lisl to get her things. The evening before Lisl was to go with Deme to get her things, Dion's friends, Steven Duprey and Matthaeus Jaehnig, showed up at Deme's condo, at which time Dion announced, that Duprey and Jaehnig would also be going up to the mountains with them. It was decided to go the next day, November 12, 1997. Lisl did not want the men to go with her and Deme, but she felt powerless to withdraw from their plans. Lisl had never met Jaehnig before and knew nothing of his character. Lisl was not, as the prosecutors depicted, the "catalyst" to everything that happened that day, and there was no plan on her part to burglarize. She just wanted her things. Witness statements and initial police reports also support the defense's contention that Lisl Auman did not have any belief that theft would occur when she went to move her belongings. Her understanding was that the men involved were going to do nothing more than help her move her things. Lisl had never met Matthaeus Jaehnig before, nor did she know of his extensive police record for crimes of violence or his inclination to be armed during the commission of those crimes. Lisl had only met Jaehnig briefly right before the alleged burglary, and had less than a five-minute conversation with him, if that. Lisl had no idea that she would be riding in Jaehnig's auto until the moment that Jaehnig and Steven Duprey showed up in Jaehnig's car on the morning of the trip to the Lodge. Upon arrival at her girlfriend Deme Soriano's condominium, the men were eager to get going and Lisl was ordered by the men involved to get into the car with Matthaeus Jaehnig. Jaehnig had previously indicated to Gerze that he desired sex with Lisl. He was under the impression that if he was to help Lisl move her belongings that he could possibly"get laid." Lisl was unaware of this. The men had pre-planned for Lisl to ride up to the Lodge in Jaehnig's auto and she had no say in their decision and felt powerless to decline their wishes.
    I may have a few things wrong, but I think that is pretty well it.
    That’s not it, Jim… prosecutors repeatedly damned Lisl Auman for being uncooperative by not telling officers that the hallway down which Jaehnig had just disappeared was a dead-end, when knowing full well that Lisl's arresting officer, Officer Michael Gargaro, had provided off-duty security to the condominium complex for seven years prior to that day and that Gargaro knew the layout of the building in detail. When Lisl was arrested, she wasn't facing Jaehnig. She was lying face down in the snow being handcuffed by Officers Gargaro. She couldn't have possibly known where Jaehnig had gone. Police, however, were facing Jaehnig who was inches from them when he ran.
    I would have thought a 10 year sentence would have been about right.
    I thank God every day I read your comments that you’re (hopefully!) not in a position to affect other peoples lives in this way. She had no intent to kill, and had no way to help, or impede the process once she was in custody. But this isn't important to you, is it.

    Re: HST: Sending Lawyers, Guns and Money (none / 0) (#9)
    by Talkleft Visitor on Wed Feb 23, 2005 at 11:02:07 AM EST
    Mfox, it's way too long for a comment. I cut much of it and can email it back to you if you didn't save it.

    Re: HST: Sending Lawyers, Guns and Money (none / 0) (#11)
    by Talkleft Visitor on Wed Feb 23, 2005 at 11:02:27 AM EST
    Sorry, TL. Any better?

    HST: Sending Lawyers, Guns and Money | 11 comments (11 topical)