Wisconsin serial fraudster, 39, bawls at sentencing for poisoning friend, 62, ... trends now
A serial fraudster who murdered her friend by lacing her water with eyedrops to steal everything she owned cried as she was jailed for for decades.
Jessy Kurczewski, 39, wept as she read a self-indulgent two-hour statement to the Waukesha County Circuit Court on Friday maintaining her innocence.
Her tears failed to move Judge Jennifer Dorow, who tallied up the sentences so she would stay behind bars until she was at least 80.
Kurczewski murdered Lynn Hernan, 62, by handing her a bottle of water with a fatal dose of six vials of tetrahydrozoline, the main ingredient in Visine eyedrops.
She then arranged the scene to look like a suicide before committing almost $300,000 of fraud, including writing a $130,204 check from the victim to herself.
Jessy Kurczewski, 39, wept as she read a self-indulgent two-hour statement to the Waukesha County Circuit Court on Friday maintaining her innocence
Becoming increasingly emotional, she accused the state of ruining her life until she was sobbing in her chair struggling to continue
Kurczewski murdered Lynn Hernan, 62, by handing her a bottle of water with a fatal dose of six vials of tetrahydrozoline, the main ingredient in Visine eyedrops
Hernan was found dead at her home in Milwaukee on October 3, 2018, after her murderer called police saying she found her unresponsive.
The killer swindler was arrested on July 9, 2019 and claimed it was suicide or an accidental overdose at her trial, where she was found guilty on November 14.
Kurczewski showed no remorse or self-awareness during her statement to the court on Friday, declaring 'I cannot be silenced'.
'The truth is, I did not kill Lynn... she took her own life by suicide or she accidentally overdosed,' she said.
Becoming increasingly emotional, she accused the state of ruining her life until she was sobbing in her chair struggling to continue.
'It is a lot to be accused and convicted of murder, when I didn't do it. It won't bring her back, and it won't make her loss any easier,' she sobbed.
'You're holding me responsible for what SHE did - those were her decisions, her choices, her actions, and no one else's, not even mine.'
Kurczewski's tears failed to move Judge Jennifer Dorow, who tallied up the sentences so she would stay behind bars until she was at least 80
Hernan was found dead at her home in Milwaukee on October 3, 2018, after her murderer called police saying she found her unresponsive
Judge Dorow imposed a life sentence for the murder, with at least 30 years before she could apply for parole, noting she would by older than Hernan was when she was murdered.
'I think 30 years is a pretty significant amount of time. But my target is really 80 for you,' she said.
To hit that goal of making Kurczewski about 80 when she could be released, Dorow gave her five years for each of the theft charges, to run consecutively.
Dorow explained that her motivation was to protect the public, due to her long criminal history and past fraud convictions.
'You've demonstrated... there's really not anyone who's safe from you when it comes to your willingness to steal, to defraud,' she said.
'You'll craft fake documents, you'll try to cover up your tracks, you'll justify it, and then you'll blame others in the process when you get caught.'
Of the escalation to murder, she said: 'I think you thought you were a very good thief, and you could get away with even more.'
During her lengthy speech, Kurczewski mocked and condescended her accusers as being unwilling to accept Hernan's death and looking for someone to blame.
'This is the part that is hard for us, it is the loss of her being here, that she is not here with us,' she said.
'I get that, because anyone who knew her, I would hope would feel that - but that doesn't mean you can ruin somebody else's life over what she did to herself.
'You can't change what actually happened to whatever version you want because you don't like the truth, you can't blame somebody for something they didn't do. You can't put that on somebody else, you just can't.'
Kurczewski then took aim directly at those she held responsible for putting her behind bars, and vowed to free herself on appeal.
'One of the hardest lessons in all this God keeps showing me: We are to love our enemies and pray for those who persecute us, but that is tough,' she said.
'I am trying more than anyone realizes, but mark my words when I say you are sending an innocent person to prison today.
'And when - not if - my appeal happens [and] my conviction is overturned, you will see that I was right and that I maintained my innocence from the beginning, and that can be on this county, this medical examiner, the detectives, the DA, the jurors, and you, Judge Dorow - all of you will have to live with that.'
Kurczewski moaned about the almost five years of her life she lost since her arrest, and what she stood to miss during
