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Rally urges freedom for Lisl Auman

Hunter Thompson, rocker Warren Zevon take part

Jeff Kass, News Staff Writer

Published May 15, 2001 at midnight

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Dan Emmerson went to the Capitol steps at noon Monday to hear rock musician Warren Zevon.

He walked away with a new cause.

Emmerson was one of approximately 400 people who attended a "Free Lisl" rally peppered with prominent writers and scholars to protest the prison term of Lisl Auman.

Auman, 25, is serving life without parole for her role in the 1997 slaying of Denver police officer Bruce VanderJagt.

Auman was handcuffed and in a police car when the shooting occurred, but was convicted of felony murder for her role in the burglary and police chase that led to the slaying.

Skinhead Matthaeus Jaehnig fired the shots that killed VanderJagt, then shot and killed himself.

Woody Creek writer Hunter S. Thompson, who spoke at the rally, was the organizing force.

Thompson and other supporters say that Auman's punishment was driven by politics because a police officer died.

"This is not about Lisl, really," said Thompson, who drew the biggest applause of the 45-minute rally. "This is about you. "What happened to her can happen to anybody."

Among the other speakers were New Orleans-based presidential scholar Douglas Brinkley, San Antonio defense attorney Gerald Goldstein, science writer Timothy Ferris and Pitkin County Sheriff Bob Braudis.

VanderJagt's older sister, Gail Rice, acknowledged that Auman "didn't pull the trigger," but she was bothered that Auman may be seen in a positive light.

"If this unfair felony murder statute is done away with, and I hope it is, Lisl can serve an appropriate sentence for the crimes she did commit" such as burglary and menacing, said Rice, who lives in a Chicago suburb. "To paint Lisl as a saint, a martyr, and a loving, law-abiding person is to give a totally false picture."

The rally was timed to coincide with the filing Monday of Auman's appeal brief.

The 98-page brief argued that Auman should not be held responsible for the extended chain of events that led to VanderJagt's killing, including a police chase that raced through two counties before ending in Denver.

Denver District Attorney Bill Ritter, who prosecuted the case, acknowledged Monday that "there is certainly sentiment running in her (Auman's) favor."

But Ritter said the public has been misinformed about her case, and the court will not be swayed by rallies.

"The court of appeals will have the entire record before them and will make a decision based on the facts and the law," he said.

Goldstein praised Auman's attorney in the public defender's office, Kathleen Lord, and other speakers urged people to make their voices heard.

"Let's not go away thinking this was just an interesting afternoon," Brinkley said, calling it the "opening salvo" to free Auman.

One person who may take up pen and paper to protest Auman's case is Emmerson. "I was enlightened," he said after the rally, including the Zevon song Lawyers, Guns and Money. "It sounds to me like she's gotten a bad deal."