] appealed
■ A conversation between
a judge and Michael
Ryan’s family may have
played a role in Ryan’s
conviction, attorneys say.
By Josh Funk
Senior staff writer
Lawyers argued Wednesday that
former cult leader Michael Ryan should
not be on death row.
They told the Nebraska Supreme
Court that Ryan was mentally incompe
tent to stand trial and the judge’s behav
ior biased Ryan’s sentencing.
Ryan was sentenced to death for the
1985 murder of James Thimm, who was
a member of Ryan’s cult that lived on a
farm near Rulo in the southeastern cor
ner of Nebraska.
Ryan and his followers tortured
Thimm for three days prior to his death
because he doubted Yahweh, a Hebrew
name for God. He was beaten, sodom
ized, shot and partially skinned. All the
fingers on his left hand were shot off.
Ryan’s attorney, Steve Achelpohl,
said Ryan should be allowed to raise the
competency issue now - in his third
post-conviction appeal - even though
his trial attorney did not
“It’s a mystery to me why these
issues were not raised earlier,”
Achelpohl said. “Ryan was put on the
stand by his own counsel to show his
insanity”
Achelpohl said Ryan was incompe
tent to stand trial and the judge was
obligated to raise die issue.
Ryan was also convicted of second
degree murder and sentenced to life in
prison for the murder of 5-year-old
{Luke Stice, whose father was a cult
member.
Ryan’s co-counsel, Mike Nelson,
said that Judge Robert Finn was preju
diced against Ryan because he met with
the Thimm family outside of the trial
process.
No one knew of the meeting until
1996 Mien one of the family members
mentioned it. Firm denied the meeting
for 10 years, Nelson said, but changed
his story after the family member men
tioned it
Nelson said that Ryan’s attorney’s
investigated the meeting as part of earli
er appeals, but the investigation stopped
Mien Finn said the meeting did not hap
pen.
“If you can’t trust the word of a sit
ting district court judge, who can you
trust,” Nelson asked.
Finn also turned his back on Ryan
during his testimony, which Nelson said
influenced the jury.
“I know the facts are grisly in this
case, but the law is on trial here,” Nelson
said, “He may get sentenced to death
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again, I admit; but this man deserves a
new sentence.” _
Assistant Attorney General Kirk
Brown said that all of this evidence was
available at die time of the first appeal
and should have been raised earlier.
Brown said that defense attorneys
should have investigated the Thimm
meeting further by talking to family
members.
These witnesses were known and in
place during the whole process, Brown
said
“If you have a number of witnesses
material to an incident and you take the
word of just one than it doesn’t equal a
full inquiry,” Brown said
And the meeting did not focus on
the trial, Brown said, which he said was
crucial to the issue.
«
I know the facts are grisly in this case,
but the law is on trial here.”
Mike Nelson
attorney for Michael Ryan
_s_:
Brown said that Ryan’s competency
should have been addressed at the trial
or in earlier appeals.
“At trial, Finn had mental health
professionals testily that he was actively
participating in his defense,” Brown
said.
Finn’s actions did not affect the out
come of the trial, Brown said, though
they were unorthodox.
“We are not saying we recommend
this procedure to any judge,” Brown
said, “but after meeting with witnesses
we found that the trial was not the sub
ject matter of that meeting.”
Brown said that Ryan’s case should
be decided and his sentence carried out.
“Ryan has had his day in court,” he
said. “He’s had it three times in front of
this court”
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