The plea bargain that allowed Lisl Auman to plead guilty to reduced charges in the 1997 shooting death of Denver Officer Bruce VanderJagt is an acceptable resolution to a troubling and painful case.
“Acceptable” is the appropriate word, because there’s probably no ideal way to close a tragedy that began in a seemingly simple way.
On Nov. 12, 1997, Auman and several others – including Matthaeus Jaehnig, who shot VanderJagt – broke into her former boyfriend’s quarters at a Jefferson County boarding house to retrieve some of her things. A subsequent high-speed chase ended at a southeast Denver apartment complex where Jaehnig shot VanderJagt and committed suicide.
Auman was in handcuffs at the time of the shooting.
A jury convicted Auman in July 1998 of first-degree felony murder and burglary, and she was sentenced to mandatory life in prison without possibility of parole.
Her case became a cause for her family, local activists and even celebrities like the late Hunter S. Thompson and actors Johnny Depp and Woody Harrelson, who complained about the supposed injustice done to Auman because of the felony-murder law, under which a participant in a felony can be convicted of murder even if she didn’t pull the trigger. There’s good reason for such laws, although we have reservations about the life-without-parole aspect of Colorado’s statute.
In March, the state Supreme Court vacated the convictions because the trial judge left out a crucial word in jury instructions concerning the burglary charge against Auman.
Before that trial, then-District Attorney Bill Ritter had offered Auman a plea bargain with a possible 30-year maximum sentence, but the defense, insisting on no prison time and probation, rejected it. It was a deal Auman should have accepted.
Auman’s guilty plea to burglary and accessory to first-degree murder on Monday calls for her to be sentenced to 20 years in community corrections, and, after several months in a halfway house, she can be released under supervision. Sentencing is set for Aug. 22. She’s already served nearly eight years in prison.
We hope Auman’s plea is a first step in taking responsibility for her actions. A statement issued through her lawyer referred to the “pain” of the VanderJagt family.
It would be better if she finally takes full, unambiguous responsibility for this tragedy. It was her act that set in motion the events that led to two deaths.
