Missouri’s Southern District Court of Appeals has ruled that a suspect in a trans Texas County teen’s 2017 murder will get an evidentiary hearing, according to court documents.
The ruling came May 31.
Isis Schauer was one of two young women who told authorities they helped burn 17-year-old Ally Steinfeld’s body after a man gouged out Steinfeld’s eyes, repeatedly stabbed the teen and bragged about the killing near Cabool, according to court records. The other, Briana Calderas, pleaded guilty to abandonment of a corpse, concealing a felony and tampering with physical evidence in a felony prosecution. She was sentenced to eight years in 2019 and has since been paroled.
Andrew Vrba, the Houston man who stabbed Steinfeld, was found guilty of first-degree murder and armed criminal action in November 2020, and was sentenced to life in prison. He is incarcerated at the Potosi Correctional Center in Mineral Point. Another co-defendant, James Grigsby, pleaded guilty to abandonment of a corpse, was sentenced to four years and has been paroled.
ABOUT THE SCHAUER CASE
Schauer pleased guilty to second-degree murder and abandonment of corpse in December 2017. She is held in Chillicothe. At the time, she testified that she understood the charges against her and that her decision to plead guilty was voluntary, according to court records.
However, in June 2018, Schauer filed a post-conviction motion, claiming that the public defender who represented her was ineffective.
In addition to the attorney not adequately investigating the case, Schauer said that she was told “if she didn’t plead guilty, she would get the death penalty,” according to court records. She also filed an amended motion where she alleged she pleaded guilty due to fears that she would not be adequately represented in subsequent proceedings, as her attorney told her that they were withdrawing from representation after the plea hearing to take another job. Schauer also alleges that though she was “adamant” she was not guilty of the murder charge, she felt she had to plead guilty.
The motion court dismissed Schauer’s motion in January 2022, after which she filed an appeal.
The three-member appellate court agreed with Schauer that she should have been granted an evidentiary hearing before her motions were rejected, and sent the case back to circuit court for that purpose. John Beger is the circuit judge.
“After examining the whole record, we are firmly convinced that a mistake has been made and that the motion court’s ruling was clearly erroneous,” the court records state.
Had Schauer given testimony like the amended plea at an evidentiary hearing and it was found credible, “evidence of this nature would cast serious doubt as to whether the answers Schauer gave during the plea hearing were voluntary and truthful.”
Oh, Lordy! What a mess! May justice prevail!