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Lisl Auman (born 1976) is an American woman who was convicted of first-degree murder and second-degree burglary in connection with the murder of Denver police officer Bruce VanderJagt on November 12, 1997. On the day of her arrest, Auman and several acquaintances traveled to her former boarding house in Pine to retrieve items from her and her former boyfriend's apartments. Auman departed as a passenger in a car driven by Matthaeus Jaehnig; soon after, other boarding house residents reported the event as a suspected burglary. After multiple police chases, Denver police discovered Auman and Jaehnig in a condominium's parking lot. Auman was immediately arrested, handcuffed, and placed in an officer's car. Jaehnig escaped arrest, hiding in a dead-end stairwell. He was soon discovered by officer VanderJagt and fired at him with a rifle, fatally striking him 10 times in the head and torso. As a result of these events, Auman was convicted of first-degree murder (among other charges) in July 1998 and sentenced to life in prison.

Auman's conviction attracted controversy in part because she had been arrested and detained prior to Jaehnig's fatal shooting of VanderJagt. The conviction was obtained using the felony murder rule, which holds that a person accused of a violent felony may be charged with murder if the act of committing the felony resulted in someone's death – even if the accused person did not personally intend or cause the death. Lisl's case attracted attention from several celebrities and public figures, most notably by Hunter S. Thompson who co-authored a Vanity Fair article that attracted significant public interest in the case.

On March 28, 2005, the Colorado Supreme Court reversed Auman's initial conviction for second degree burglary, finding that the jurors in the initial case had been given improper instructions. This also caused the reversal of Auman's conviction for murder. Auman was re-tried in 2016 and convicted of burglary and accessory to first-degree murder, resulting in a 20-year sentence of community corrections.

Background

Lisl Auman was born in 1976 to Colleen and Don Auman in Colorado. Her parents divorced in 1987; her mother remarried to Rob Auerbach and Lisl alternately lived with Don and with Collen and Rob. She was named after the character "Liesl" from The Sound of Music.

After dropping out of junior college, Auman lived with a group of friends in Englewood while working various jobs. During the summer of 1997 she took a reforestation job in the mountains outside of Denver, moving to a small boarding house in Buffalo Creek. She soon entered into a relationship with Shawn Cheever, a logger working in the area who lived in the same boarding house. Their relationship deteriorated as Auman learned of Cheever's involvement in petty crime and felt he was not reciprocating her interest.

Auman subsequently moved back to her father's house in Denver, leaving her possessions behind in her and Cheever's apartments in Buffalo Creek. In November 1997, Auman met with a friend, Deme Soriano, and her boyfriend, Dion Gerze. After hearing Auman describe her predicament, Gerze offered to assist her in retrieving her possessions with the assistance of two of his friends, Matthaeus Jaehnig and Steven Duprey. In her later trial, the characterization of this meeting would differ between the prosecution and defense. Prosecutors would allege that Auman proposed – or, at minimum, agreed with – plans to burglarize Cheever, noting that Auman had voiced a desire to "retaliate" against him and, when asked about Cheever's possessions, responded that he owned two large speakers. However, Auman, Soriano, and Gerze would all deny discussing any plans to take any items other than those owned by Auman in sworn statements to the court.

Events leading to VanderJagt's murder

On November 12, 1997, the group of Auman, Duprey, Gerze, Jaehnig, and Soriano left Denver in two cars bound for Buffalo Creek. The group arrived at the Buffalo Creek lodge around 1:45 PM. Auman and Soriano retrieved items from Auman's former room, while Gerze and Duprey forcibly entered Cheever's room, cutting a padlock to enter the room. Cheever was not present, and the group took items belonging to Auman in addition to items belonging to Cheever. Auman would later admit to entering Cheever's room, but not to personally taking any items not belonging to her. Unknown to the group, other residents of the lodge noticed them loading their cars with the items they had taken and notified Denver police around 2:30 PM, providing them with Jaehnig's license plate number. The group then set out to return to Denver, with Auman the passenger in Jaehnig's Pontiac Trans Am and Duprey, Gerze, and Soriano driving in Soriano's car.

Around 2:34 PM, a Denver police deputy spotted Jaehnig's Trans Am near Conifer and gave chase. The chase continued into Denver around 3:02 PM; soon after entering Denver, Jaehnig, driving recklessly and at high rates of speed, evaded the officers and the chase was temporarily abandoned. However, around 3:08 PM, a deputy spotted Jaehnig's car on East Hampden Avenue and gave pursuit. At this point, Jaehnig retrieved a Chinese SKS assault rifle, asked Auman to steer the car, and proceeded to fire three shots at the pursuing deputy. Auman controlled the steering wheel of the car for several seconds while Jaehnig was firing his weapon. The deputy slowed down in response and lost sight of the car. While regaining control of the car, Jaehnig struck another car, briefly coming to a stop. Auman recalled opened the passenger door of the car at this time and considered escaping; however, she reported Jaehnig demanded she stay in the car, and she complied.

Around 3:10 PM, officers again sighted Jaehnig's Trans Am in the parking lot of Soriano's condominium in the Monaco Place complex. On their arrival they found Jaehnig and Auman standing in an alcove close to the officers. The officers approached and demanded the two surrender. Auman stepped out of the alcove and officers forced her to the ground, handcuffing her before placing her in a squad car. Jaehnig disappeared, and officers began searching the complex for him. Around 3:23 PM officer Bruce VanderJagt discovered that Jaehnig was hiding in a dead end stairwell near the alcove. When VanderJagt peered into the stairwell, Jaehnig opened fire on him, striking him 10 times in the head and torso, fatally wounding him. Jaehnig then entered into a gun battle with the remaining officers. After exhausting his own ammunition, Jaehnig retrieved VanderJagt's pistol and killed himself by firing a bullet into his head.

Prosecution

While in police custody, Auman agreed to participate in two videotaped interviews on November 12 without the presence of an attorney. During both interviews Auman was evasive, misidentifying the color of Jaehnig's car as green (the car was red) and inaccurately identifying her companions. Auman would later admit to providing false statements, stating that she was unaware Jaehnig had been killed and she feared retaliation from him. During the interviews, Auman acknowledged that she had steered Jaehnig's car while he shot at police. She also denied ever intending to burglarize Cheever, although she did admit that, when asked by her companions about Cheever's possessions the previous night, she had mentioned two large speakers he owned.

Two days later, the officers involved in Auman arrest would provide additional statements that differed from their initial reports. Officers Jason Brake and Marc Bennett had initially reported that Auman had immediately stepped out of the alcove she was found in with her hands raised. In their second statement, the officers instead stated Auman leaned down to the right "as if to drop something" before raising her hands, which the officers interpreted as her possibly dropping or transferring Jaehnig's gun. In a later interview, Auman denied this occurred, and stated she never held Jaehnig's weapon.

Auman's trial began on July 8, 1998. The district attorney had previously offered a plea deal in which Auman would have plead guilty to assaulting a police officer when she steered Jaehnig's car while he fired at pursuing officers. In exchange, Auman would have received a 30 year prison sentance. Auman declined the deal. Auman and her family were unable to afford private legal representation (citing quotes for retainer fees at around $100,000, equivalent to $186,933 in 2023), so Auman was represented by the Colorado Public Defender's office. The prosecution was led by Colorado Deputy District Attorney Tim Twining.

Auman's charges included first degree murder, first degree burglary, first degree assault, and menacing. Twining's legal strategy centered around the felony murder rule, a law stating that a defendant accused of certain "predicate" felonies may also be charged with murder if the act of the committing the felony resulted in someone's death – even if the accused person did not personally intend or cause the death. In Colorado, burglary is one of these predicate felonies; therefore, Auman's charge for second-degree burglary also allowed her to be charged with murder, even though she had already been detained at the time Jaehnig fatally shot VanderJagt.

Auman's trial lasted 10 days. After several hours of deliberation, the jury found Auman guilty of first-degree murder, second-degree burglary, menacing, and conspiracy to commit first-degree burglary. She was subsequently sentenced to life in prison without parole. Auman was ultimately placed in the Women's Correctional Facility in Cañon City, Colorado.

Auman's companions at the Buffalo Creek lodge (Steven Duprey, Dion Gerze, and Deme Soriano) were charged only with burglary and took plea deals. Duprey received four years in prison. Gerze and Soriano each received two years of probation.

See also

• Felony murder rule
• Felony murder and the death penalty in the United States
• Murder in Colorado law
• Hey Rube (book)
• Hunter S. Thompson

References

1. ^ Seal, Mark. "Prisoner of Denver". Vanity Fair. Archived from the original on 10 February 2015. Retrieved 30 July 2024.
2. ^ Pankratz, Howard. "Auman apologizes to all". The Denver Post. Archived from the original on 6 June 2023. Retrieved 30 July 2024.
3. ^ Rocky Mountain News. "Crime timeline". Rocky Mountain News. Archived from the original on 25 June 2007. Retrieved 30 July 2024.
4. ^ Abraham, Chad (28 March 2005). "Auman conviction tossed". The Aspen Times. Archived from the original on 18 August 2022. Retrieved 30 July 2024.
5. ^ Wex Definitions Team (December 2022). "felony murder rule". Cornell Law School Legal Information Institute. Archived from the original on 8 June 2024. Retrieved 30 July 2024.
6. ^ Supreme Court of Colorado (28 March 2005). "Auman v. People". Justia. Archived from the original on 28 September 2015. Retrieved 30 July 2024.
7. ^ Pankratz, Howard (8 May 2016). "Auman takes plea deal". The Denver Post. Archived from the original on 27 November 2021. Retrieved 30 July 2024.
8. ^ Wittman, Juliet (15 April 1999). "Zero to Life". Westword. Archived from the original on 21 June 2021. Retrieved 30 July 2024.
9. ^ Colorado Court of Appeals (26 September 2002). "People v. Auman". Justia. Archived from the original on 11 November 2020. Retrieved 30 July 2024.
10. Rocky Mountain News (18 March 2001). "In Lisl's Words". Rocky Mountain News. Archived from the original on 25 June 2007. Retrieved 1 August 2024.
11. "Colorado Revised Statutes" (18-3-103(1)(b)).
12. ^ Kass, Jeff (15 January 2004). "Cop-killing case brought wide range of penalties". Rocky Mountain News. Archived from the original on 6 October 2008. Retrieved 1 August 2024.
13. Doehrman, Marylou (December 2000). "Lisl Auman: Excerpts from Her Prison Journal". lisl.com. Colorado Woman News. Archived from the original on 29 January 2009. Retrieved 1 August 2024.
14. Tomerlin, Beth (January 2005). "Stretching Liability Too Far: Colorado's Felony Murder Statute in Stretching Liability Too Far: Colorado's Felony Murder Statute in Light of Auman". Denver Law Review. 83 (2). Archived from the original on 29 October 2023. Retrieved 1 August 2024.

• Living people
• 1976 births
• Hunter S. Thompson
• People convicted of murder
• People convicted of burglary
• Criminals
• Overturned convictions in the United States