An Aug. 22 trial date was set Tuesday for Lisl Auman, whose felony- murder conviction in the death of Denver police officer Bruce VanderJagt was recently overturned by the Colorado Supreme Court.
Defense lawyer Susan Fisch said she will ask that Auman be released on bail until the trial. A hearing on that is scheduled for June 21. Prosecutors said they will oppose the request.
VanderJagt was killed on Nov. 11, 1997, by Matthaeus Jaehnig, who had accompanied Auman to the mountain boardinghouse of her former boyfriend, Shawn Cheever. Cheever’s room was burglarized.
Police chased the pair into Denver. Five minutes after Auman surrendered and was placed in the back of a police car, VanderJagt was ambushed by Jaehnig. Jaehnig then committed suicide.
Auman is serving a life term without the possibility of parole. Legal experts believe prosecutors and the defense will strike a deal that will lead to Auman’s immediate release or her spending a few more years in prison.
Neither Gail Rice, VanderJagt’s older sister, nor Anna VanderJagt, the officer’s widow, knew of any plea negotiations and have not been consulted by the district attorney’s office. The office had promised to consult them if negotiations were taking place.
Lynn Kimbrough, spokeswoman for the DA’s office, said she knows of none.
“It is my understanding that there have been no discussions to date,” Kimbrough said. “But the criminal justice process includes such discussions as a possibility.”
If the case does go to trial again, Anna VanderJagt said Tuesday that she will be there, although it will be painful.
“I support the DA’s office 100 percent,” said VanderJagt, who moved to Albuquerque with her 2-year-old daughter, Hayley, after the slaying.
“Hayley is now 10 years old,” she said. “She knows what is happening, and, to say the least, it is not a pleasant thing for us to experience at this time.”
Rob Auerbach, Auman’s stepfather, said the retrial gives him renewed optimism. “We are hopeful. We are just very hopeful,” he said.
Prosecutors claimed that Auman was angry at her former boyfriend and was out for revenge.
She enlisted some “muscle” to help her intimidate and rob Cheever, they have claimed.
Prosecutors charged Auman under Colorado’s felony-murder law, which holds that defendants can be held responsible for a murder even if they had no intent to kill or didn’t cause the killing. The liability arises from the defendant’s participation in, and intent to commit, a specific kind of felony, including burglary.
Auman and the others used bolt cutters to enter the room of her former boyfriend. Items belonging to Auman and Cheever were taken.
Auman claimed that she had simply gone to Cheever’s room to retrieve her belongings and didn’t plan to steal anything.
In March, the Supreme Court overturned the conviction, ruling that a crucial word – “knowingly” – had been left out of the jury instructions about the elements of second-degree burglary.
The court said that by leaving the word out, the jury may have failed to address whether Auman really intended to steal items from Cheever.
The case has drawn national interest. Several celebrities, including Sean Penn, Johnny Depp and the late Hunter Thompson, have supported Auman.
Staff writer Howard Pankratz can be reached at 303-820-1939 or hpankratz@denverpost.com.
