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Lisl Auman in a file photograph from June, 2005.
(Post / Brian Brainerd)
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Denver - This morning, the Denver Community Corrections Board unanimously voted to accept Lisl Auman into community corrections.
The board's decision means that, upon approval from a halfway house, Auman will be released after serving nearly eight years in the shooting death of Denver police officer Bruce VanderJagt.
If the board had rejected Auman, the court would have needed to determine other sentencing options for Auman, who's life sentence without parole was overturned by the Colorado Supreme Court.
"All the court is doing is finding out up front whether
she'll be accepted for community corrections before sentencing," said Thomas Moore, director of community corrections for the City and County of Denver.
He said Auman will be in court next Monday to enter a plea and be sentenced. After six months in a halfway house, if Auman complies with expectations, she would be free to live on her own, possibly with her parents, he said.
Tooley Hall was identified as the board's first preference, since it has specialized programming for women and all its 60 residents are female. Tooley Hall has 24 hours to respond to
the board's request for Auman's admission.
Auman's time in a halfway house would cost the state $34 per day. Auman's would pay an additional $17 per day, to cover room board and services.
Board members said a letter written by VanderJagt's widow, Anna, which endorsed the community corrections sentence, influenced their vote.
Auman was convicted in July 1998 of first-degree felony murder, burglary, menacing and conspiracy. The first-degree felony murder conviction carried a life sentence without parole. Auman's conviction for a crime that occurred while she was
handcuffed in the back of a Denver police car became a cause celebre nationwide and gained her the support of the late writer Hunter Thompson.
The Colorado Supreme Court threw out the felony murder and burglary convictions in March, saying the trial judge left out a crucial word - "knowingly" - when instructing the jury abut the elements of second-degree murder.
In a new trial, Auman pleaded guilty to burglary and accessory to first-degree murder in VanderJagt's slaying Nov. 12, 1997, and agreed to a maximum sentence of 20 years. Prosecutors agreed that the sentence will be served in the community
corrections system.
VanderJagt was killed by skinhead Matthaeus Jaehnig, one of several people who went to a Jefferson County boarding house of Auman's former boyfriend, either to steal the boyfriend's property or to retriever her property. The couple were chased from the boarding house into Denver, where Denver police picked up the pursuit and VanderJagt was killed. After shooting VanderJagt, Jaehnig killed himself.
Auman is currently in Denver county Jail awaiting disposition of her case.
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