Michigan legislative action thread
Posted on 07/30/2013 9:05:00 AM PDT by Darren McCarty
MUSKEGON, MI – Today is judgment day for 21-year-old Julia Charlene Merfeld, who thought she was hiring a hit man to murder her husband but really was being video-recorded with an undercover police officer.
Merfeld’s sentencing is set for 1:30 p.m. today, July 30. Chief Muskegon County Circuit Judge William C. Marietti earlier committed to cap her minimum sentence at six years in state prison, but he has the discretion to set her maximum sentence at anything up to life.
Merfeld pleaded guilty June 27 to solicitation to murder.
MLive and the Muskegon Chronicle will cover the sentencing live online from the courtrooms, with updates in the comments section of a story to be posted on MLive.com/muskegon/.
Under state sentencing guidelines – which are low in Merfeld’s case because she has no prior criminal record – the highest Marietti can go on the minimum sentence would be seven years. That’s what the Muskegon County Prosecutor’s Office asked for.
At the time of Merfeld’s plea, the judge said he was agreeing to a cap slightly below that because the intended victim, Merfeld’s 27-year-old husband, asked that she receive no incarceration.
Husband Jacob Merfeld has the right to speak before sentencing, but it was unknown Monday if he intended to do so.
In Michigan, sentences to state prison are for an “indeterminate” term, with judges setting both a minimum and a maximum. The maximum must be at least 50 percent higher than the minimum. The state parole board eventually decides how long an inmate serves, within the limits set by the judge.
Following her arrest, authorities said, Merfeld confessed to police detectives that she wanted her husband murdered so she could collect a $400,000 life insurance policy.
(Excerpt) Read more at mlive.com ...
Is she also the woman who wanted her husband whacked so she could take up with her girlfriend?
She’s a sociopath. She should probably get life.
And her husband wants no jail time for her? Idiots are born every day! ;-)
watch the video......
I like how she wants to finance the hit!
I like how she checks here calendar, as well.
She doesn’t want him to suffer!! How compassionate. Probably a Democrat!!
Ramos believes Merfeld choose him because he has always been honest with people about spending time behind bars for a weapons charge -- what he calls doing “things that I shouldn’t have done.”
“watch the video......”
Yes, I did watch the video. I repeat, “There are idiots born every day.”
that was disgusting...
Not all felons are dangerous. Lord knows what a “weapons charge” means at this point.
A couple years ago there was a guy in Detroit who chased a man down and killed him and in my opinion the judge gave him great leniency by sentencing him to a year and a half in prison for manslaughter. The federal charges are where he picked up some 16 years.
The judge was lenient because the “Perp’s” house had been broken into 3 times in a week while he was at work. He came home from work and caught them in the act. He chased the slowest one down and cornered him in an alley and the idiot burglar laughed in his face. The judge saw it as heat of the moment thing caused by the extreme stress of his threatened livelihood.
However, you may want to read my novel, THE JUSTICE COOPERATIVE, about an organization that "trades off" wet work so you have an alibi while someone else takes care of your problem, and vice versa.
Real life “I Love You To Death”
Kind of like Strangers on a train.
ha
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.