Mar. 27, 2005 - 20:12 MST

THE WONDERING JEW

Justice ?

Life and times seem to put twists on most anything one can think of. An article regarding Lisl Auman by Diane Carman, Denver Post Staff Columnist today in the Sunday Denver Post: in part:

For Auman, hope is Supreme

"Lisl Auman is 29 now, older, quieter, by her own description more spiritual. She was 21 on Nov. 12, 1997, when all this began, 21 and very naive."

"On Monday she'll find out if there will be a new chapter in her life or if this is all there will be: endless days at the Colorado Women's correctional Facility until she dies."

"Auman was convicted of felony murder in the death of Denver police officer Bruce VanderJagt in 1998. She is the ONLY person in Colorado history to be convicted of a murder that occurred while in police custody

"For the past seven years, Auman has clung to the slender hope that someday she might be freed."

"The state Court of Appeals dashed that when it upheld her conviction in a split decision in 2002."

"The state Supreme Court revived it in 2003 when it agreed to review the case."

"But even if the justices rule in favor of Auman, whose attorneys argued that she did not receive a fair trial because the jury was not properly instructed, the case might not end."

"If the verdict is reversed, the most likely scenario is that the court would order a new trial -- the prospect of which sparks more sleepless nights for the family."

"It's still about officer VanderJagt being killed," Don Auman said as he counted down the hurs until the ruling comes Monday. "It will always be about that.

"But it's also about justice. NO matter what happens," he said, "We're not going to give up. We're just not."

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I'm trying to remember as much as I can. Auman was sitting handcuffed in the back of a patrol car when Matthaeus Jaehnig shot and killed the officer. Jaehnig killed himself thereupon.

In my opinion it is hard to see how someone could be convicted of murder when they are handcuffed and in the back of a patrol car, when outside the car some one kills an officer. There are cases of convictions of murder wherein a person was tried and convicted of pulling the trigger on another person and not getting life without parole. Seems to me as if the feelings were running so high and the jurors probably were swayed by the tragedy feeling that some one was gonna pay through the nose for the crime.

I can understand them trying her on aiding and abetting a criminal, with additional charges of bad mouthing a police officer -- but it seems to me that to commit murder or be so very connected to it, a person must be free of restraint and in the melee performing some action resulting in a successful act of murder.

So as usual the question comes up in my mind, was this a mis-application of Justice ? . . . . . . . .

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