Courier News New Jersey

Sentence of Burlington Township woman who admitted killing her husband is ...

BURLINGTON TOWNSHIP — New Jersey's Supreme Court has tossed out a 30-year prison sentence for a woman who admitted killing her police officer husband while he slept.

The court says Marie Hess' attorney did not adequately represent her.

Under a plea agreement, Hess pleaded guilty to aggravated manslaughter in 2001.

The court on Thursday found the agreement restricted Hess' attorney from arguing for a lesser sentence.

Her husband, Jimmy, was a Burlington Township police officer. The 35-year-old was gunned down while he slept in 1999.

The Courier-Post of Cherry Hill reports the Burlington County Prosecutor's Office plans to take Hess to trial.

Read the full story in the Courier-Post

Someone who knows the facts of this please post. It sounds like:

1999 Hess murders husband.

2001 Pleads guilty to aggravated manslaughter, sentenced to 30 years.

2011 she has been appealing and sentence is "thrown out."

Does this mean she is now re-leased and free? Or, has she been re-leased the entire time pending appeal? If she was not re-leased and Burlington Prosecutor's Office does plan to take her back to trial, can she negotiate for time served?

Why was someone allowed to plead guilty to aggravated manslaughter for shooting her husband while he slept? There has to be much more to this............

From the abundant information given in this article, it sounds like it's all related to a technicality. I'm not sure of the circumstances of the murder, or the aggravated manslaughter charge itself, but it sounds premeditated, which should be a charge of murder in the 1st degree, no?

Chipgiii, I'd have to believe she was in jail this entire time. If she does get retried, whatever her conviction and sentence, she will get credit for time served.

Calling an ace | Somerset Patriots Pulse

As any blackjack expert will testify, playing the game without aces makes winning significantly more difficult.

Using a similarly short-handed deck on the baseball diamond has produced predictable results for the Somerset Patriots, whose lack of a top-line starting pitcher is the most glaring omission from a losing team.

“I think we have an ace here,” pitching coach and director of player personnel Brett Jodie said. “But it’s time for (the starters) to quiet any outside distractions and be unique, be themselves and get the job done. I’ve never seen so much thinking going on.”

The Patriots, who opened the second half with a six-man rotation, threw Chris Oxspring against the Southern Maryland Blue Crabs on the road Thursday night.

The sextet — which also includes Derell McCall, Derrick Gordon, Nic Ungs, Jason Cromer and Bill Pulsipher — owns 345 minor-league victories, but no one has emerged as an undisputed ace despite the apparent proliferation of candidates.

Gordon, who is undefeated in six starts since joining the team, is the only starter with a winning record and he remains a relatively untested commodity with just 19 career starts.

Even in his own mind, Gordon is too new at the job to take the lead.

“I just take the mound every time it’s my turn and go about my business,” Gordon said. “I enjoy what I do. If guys want to follow that (attitude), that would be the only way I’d consider myself an ace.”

While it is easy to forget that poor starting pitching also was the playoff-bound Patriots’ primary problem at this time last season, it figures to be more difficult to correct the second time around.

The additions of Brian Adams and Pulsipher stabilized last season’s rotation, but Adams is retired and Pulsipher finished the first half on the disabled list with left shoulder inflammation.

“We really didn’t get it going in the first half,” Pulsipher said. “We’d like to have everyone doing (well), but if one of us can get going than the others can feed off it.”

The Patriots recorded just 11 quality starts for victories in their first 70 games. Gordon is responsible for five of those and Brian Sweeney — who has not been with the team since May 5 — had one on opening day.

“We’re looking for everybody to do that. Not just somebody,” manager Sparky Lyle said. “The problem is they haven’t been able to make the adjustments we tell them in order to fix whatever is wrong.

Young Poets of Central New Jersey, A Collection of Student Poetry Published in the Courier News, 2005

New Jersey politics and government, the suburbs come of age

The press and the suburbs, the daily newspapers of New Jersey

Willing's press guide

Editor & publisher