GUILTY MN - Jeffrey Hammill, 21, Wright County, 11 Aug 1979

vanillasky

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This story gives me hope for all the other cold cases waiting to be solved.


http://www.startribune.com/stories/462/5713128.html

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More than a quarter-century after Jeffrey Hammill's body was found alongside a Wright County highway, three men were charged Monday in his death.

Ronald J. Michaels, 51, of Blaine, and Terry L. Olson, 46, of Andover, were indicted on first-degree murder charges; Dale L. Todd, 45, of Winsted, Minn., was charged with second-degree murder in the slaying of Hammill, a 21-year-old machinist who worked in Plymouth.


<<< snip >>>


Hammill of Buffalo was fatally beaten, apparently early on Aug. 11, 1979, but the case received scant attention and the investigation languished.

The investigation was revived in 2001 when the victim's daughter, who had been adopted as an infant by another family, contacted county authorities looking for information about her birth father.


<<< snip >>>


He said that the suspects, who had been interviewed in 1979, were interviewed again in 2003 but that their recollections of the events no longer matched. "Unfortunately, people can remember the truth, but not their lies," he said


<<< snip >>>


Kelly said the three accused men appeared "perplexed" in their bail hearing Monday.
 
An interesting case in that it would not have been re-opened if his daughter had not decided to search for him. The story of her search would probably be a book in itself.
 
Richard said:
An interesting case in that it would not have been re-opened if his daughter had not decided to search for him. The story of her search would probably be a book in itself.
And a helpful guide, not to mention inspiration to others in similar circumstances.
 
Two of the three men charged in a 1979 murder in Wright County have told authorities -- and a jail cellmate -- different stories about their roles in the beating death of 21-year-old Jeffrey Hammill, according to court papers released Thursday.

Terry L. Olson, 46, of Andover, and Ronald J. Michaels, 51, of Blaine, were charged Monday with first-degree murder. Dale L. Todd, 45, of Winsted, Minn., is facing a charge of second-degree murder in the death of Hammill.

According to the documents made public Thursday, the four men had met 26 years ago at what was then the Country West Bar in Rockford on the night of Aug. 10. They later drove to the home of a relative of one of the defendants, where there was a "scuffle" between Hammill and Olson. Hammill, of Buffalo, left on foot, and the three others soon drove after him in Todd's truck, the documents said.

Todd, who had worked with Hammill at a Medina fabrication company, told investigators in 2003 that when they caught up with Hammill, Todd stayed in his truck while Olson and Michaels assaulted Hammill, Michaels with "an unidentifiable" weapon. The county coroner had determined that Hammill's fatal head injuries were caused by a weapon. Todd said Michaels was laughing when he returned to the truck.

http://www.startribune.com/stories/462/5719916.html
 
From August 2007:

http://www.herald-journal.com/archives/2007/stories/justice.html

Olson was found guilty by a jury of second-degree intentional murder for Hammill&#8217;s death last Monday. Sentencing is set for 10 a.m. Sept. 26. When this happens, Amanda Thiesse and many family members, will be there.

Todd pleaded guilty in July 2006 to aiding an offender and is currently serving a three-year prison sentence.

Michaels was acquitted by a jury in November.

From July 2009:

http://mn.gov/web/prod/static/lawlib/live/archive/ctapun/0907/opa080084-0721.pdf

The jury... found Olson guilty of second- and third-degree murder.

Because the murder occurred before the sentencing guidelines went into effect, the district court sentenced Olson to an indeterminate prison term of not more than 40 years&#8212;the statutory term for second-degree murder in 1979.
 
September 17, 2016

Minnesota man freed after decade in prison for 1979 killing

A Minnesota man says freedom from prison is "wonderful" after serving a decade behind bars for a 1979 murder he says he did not commit.

Terry Olson, 57, was released from Faribault Correctional Facility on Tuesday. Olson received credit for time served, but did not receive a legal declaration that he did not commit murder.

<SNIP>

Olson was convicted in 2007 in Wright County of killing Jeff Hammill, whose body was found on a road outside of Buffalo, Minnesota, in August 1979.

Olson's attorneys and the Innocence Project of Minnesota fought for his release. He faced seven more years in prison and said he accepted the deal that freed him so he could help his mother, who lives in a Twin Cities nursing home.

<SNIP>

Hammill was found dead of a head injury on the side of the road around 4 a.m. on Aug. 11, 1979. Olson said Friday that he was at a bar with a friend the night before when they left to go to Olson's sister's house for a party. On the way the two men picked up Hammill, who was hitchhiking, Olson said.

Olson said he had met Hammill three weeks earlier at a fabricating plant where they both worked. Hammill had wanted a ride home and left the party "after about two minutes," Olson said.

"He went walking down the road. That was the last we saw of him," Olson said.

After Hammill's body was found, investigators interviewed people from the party, but no one was charged and the medical examiner listed the cause of death as undetermined.

http://www.foxnews.com/us/2016/09/17/minnesota-man-freed-after-decade-in-prison-for-17-killing.html
 
September 16, 2016
9:23 PM ET

Terry Olson: After years in prison, being free is 'wonderful'

ows_147407884419413.jpg

“You feel like you’re standing on top of Mount Everest, screaming for help, and nobody’s listening.” Olson, with his mother, Gladys, after his release

Terry Olson, who spent 11 years in Stillwater prison for a crime he says he did not commit, said Friday that his incarceration “was a nightmare.”

Olson, now 57, was convicted in 2007 in Wright County District Court of killing Jeff Hammill, whose body was found on a county road just outside Buffalo on Aug. 11, 1979.

<SNIP>

Prison “was lonely,” he said during an interview at his lawyer’s Minneapolis office. “I’m innocent of a crime that in all likelihood never occurred. You feel like you’re standing on top of Mount Everest screaming for help, and nobody’s listening.”

Julie Jonas, legal director of the Innocence Project of Minnesota, estimated that about 3,000 hours of legal time were spent on the case, including work by lawyer David Schultz and others at the Maslon law firm in Minneapolis, staff attorneys at her office and law students at Hamline University in St. Paul (before it merged with William Mitchell College of Law).

“I’m ecstatic for Terry and his family,” she said. “It’s been one of the best weeks in my life.”

<SNIP>

Accident or murder?

<SNIP>&#8203;

http://www.startribune.com/olson-after-years-in-prison-being-free-is-wonderful/393764661/
 

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