Lisl Auman

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. 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, whom Jaehnig then fatally shot with a rifle.

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. In 2006 Auman pleaded guilty to burglary and accessory to first-degree murder, avoiding a re-trial and 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.

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. 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's trial began on July 8, 1998. The district attorney had previously offered a plea deal in which Auman would have pleaded 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 sentence. Auman declined the deal. 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.

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

Public response Auman's family began attempts at public outreach following her conviction, with her stepfather creating a website (lisl.com ) in order to collect information about her legal case and to attract interest. ) and the perceived incongruity of Auman's conviction for murder despite the uncontested fact that she was detained in police custody while a separate person committed the murder (under the felony murder rule).

Soon after receiving Auman's letter, Thompson hosted a gathering of criminal defense lawyers visiting Aspen for a National Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers (NACDL) conference to watch the 2001 Super Bowl. During the game, Thompson discussed Auman's case, resulting in the NACDL's involvement in the case and the creation of a legal defense fund. She was released from her halfway house in April 2006 under the restrictions that she remain in the Denver area and submit to close supervision for another eight years.