GUILTY KS - Harold 'Hal' Sasko, 52, murdered in his Lawrence home, 14 Jan 2014

[Jewels53]

Another version for the Lawrence Journal World.

Sarah McLinn sentenced to ‘Hard 50’ for brutal 2014 murder of Harold Sasko

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Martin said that she was found to have borderline personality disorder with antisocial tendencies, however. The report also said McLinn seemed to be “exaggerating symptoms” of mental disease.

http://www2.ljworld.com/news/2015/sep/04/sarah-mclinn-sentencing/

 

[Jewels53]

This is a picture of Mclinn apologizing during her sentencing hearing yesterday. This is not the same girl I saw during the trial earlier in the year. She would hide behind her hair and be all meek and quiet while the jury was in the room. I do find it interesting how defendants act so different in front of the juror's, it is an act. jmo

 

[zoey]

Thanks Jewels for posting all the updates :loveyou:

 

[Jewels53]

Thanks Jewels for posting all the updates :loveyou:

:seeya: Hi Zoey YW! I miss posting with you, I am so busy now I have to catch up in the evening. Most times I am too tired.

 

[zoey]

:seeya: Hi Zoey YW! I miss posting with you, I am so busy now I have to catch up in the evening. Most times I am too tired.

Miss you as well!! Busy is good but sometimes it interfere s. Lol

 

[Jewels53]

Kansas Supreme Court considering Sarah McLinn’s hard-50 sentence for murder of Lawrence business owner

Topeka — The Kansas Supreme Court is considering whether the hard-50 life sentence handed down to convicted murderer Sarah McLinn in 2015 was appropriate.

McLinn was convicted of first-degree murder in March 2015 after she drugged, bound and nearly decapitated 52-year-old Harold Sasko, of Lawrence. McLinn was 19 at the time of the murder.

Sasko was found on the living room floor of his Lawrence home on Jan. 17, 2014. His wrists and ankles were zip-tied, and his blood was smeared on a wall. In the smear, McLinn had scrawled the word “FREEDOM,” according to court evidence.

McLinn had been living with Sasko for more than a year before the killing and had previously worked for him at one of Sasko’s CiCi’s Pizza restaurants.

http://www2.ljworld.com/news/2017/may/02/kansas-supreme-court-considering-sarah-mclinns-har/

 

[JerseyGirl]

Was 'Hard 50' fair for Sarah Gonzales McLinn? Topeka family says no; others support harsh sentence

In January, the Kansas Supreme Court upheld McLinn’s conviction. Her appeal centered on the mental disease defense, jury instruction issues and sentencing.

McLinn’s family is in the process of filing a post-conviction relief case.

A post-conviction relief case is a civil procedure that is sent back to district court. Cases may be brought because of ineffective counsel, evidence, jury instructions or other factors that are part of a criminal case or its appeal. After the Kansas Supreme Court issues a mandate, the defendant has one year and 90 days to file a post-conviction relief case.

 

[Jewels53]

I shouldn't be surprised about the appeal. I thought her attorney was stretching the mental defense quite a bit. With the multi personality, just only at certain times during the murder. It was a strange defense. I will have to look up the post # for some to read. jmo

Add: Post #160 and #166 by Shadowraith has some good insight about the mental aspect I asked about. Good read imo

 

[NanZDrew]

Family is pushing to get sentence reduced.
Family of Kansas woman convicted of murder fights for reduced sentence

 

[Jewels53]

A judge will hear evidence to determine whether a woman convicted in a Lawrence murder was not properly advised of a plea deal that would have cut her sentence by half.

Rather, her new attorney says that her counsel before and during her trial repeatedly told her, “We’re going to win, young lady.”

Sarah Gonzales-McLinn, now 25, returned to Douglas County District Court Monday for the first of two days of hearings in which she is seeking to vacate her “hard 50” sentence.

A jury convicted Gonzales-McLinn of killing 52-year-old Harold “Hal” Sasko on Jan. 17, 2014, when she was 19. Investigators said she drugged Sasko with sleeping pills, bound his hands and feet while he was asleep, then cut his throat, nearly decapitating him.

On Sept. 4, 2015, now-retired Judge Paula Martin sentenced Gonzales-McLinn to life in prison with no possibility of parole for 50 years. The Kansas Supreme Court upheld her conviction in January 2018.

Gonzales-McLinn’s new attorney, Jonathan Sternberg, of Kansas City, Mo., has filed a motion to vacate the long sentence. He lists five main reasons for that. On the additonal four, Sternberg said that Judge Amy Hanley planned to spend the rest of Monday afternoon reading up on cases that he and Assistant Douglas County District Attorney Kate Duncan Butler had cited in their arguments.

Judge will hear evidence in Sarah Gonzales-McLinn motion that seeks to vacate her ‘hard 50’ sentence for murder conviction

 

[Jewels53]

LAWRENCE, Kan. — A woman serving a life sentence for killing a Lawrence man had her sentence reduced by 25 years on Tuesday after prosecutors and her defense attorney agreed she had received ineffective counsel during her 2015 trial.

Sarah Gonzales-McLinn, now 26, was sentenced in 2015 to 50 years in prison without the possibility of parole for the murder of 52-year-old Harold Sasko.

Woman’s life sentence reduced in 2014 Lawrence killing | FOX 4 Kansas City WDAF-TV | News, Weather, Sports

 

[neesaki]

I just saw the tale end of Deadly Women on the ID channel. It was about this woman. I can’t believe they reduced her sentence!
Though I admit I’m not that familiar with the case. Was he physically abusive?

 

[Jewels53]

I just saw the tale end of Deadly Women on the ID channel. It was about this woman. I can’t believe they reduced her sentence!
Though I admit I’m not that familiar with the case. Was he physically abusive?

I believe the defense tried to claim so, there was no documentation about abuse though. I think it could have been more mental. jmo