Jury hears details regarding youth’s murder
By Josh Funk and Shane Anthony
Staff writers
Accused murderer Tony Galligo’s jury heard
from his accomplice Thursday in the 1995 murder
of their foster home mate.
Timothy Hopkins gave a detailed account of
Michael Schmader’s murder and Galligo’s involve
ment
During the murder, he said, Galligo was “just
standing there” a few feet away while Hopkins
stabbed Schmader.
Hopkins, 20, pleaded guilty to manslaughter
and the use of a weapon to commit a felony in
exchange for his testimony against Galligo. In
December, Hopkins was sentenced to 15 to 20
years in prison.
“I think it is fair to say that the county attorney Is
office did not know the level of Hopkins’ involve
ment (when they made the agreement),” said Kirk
Naylor, Galligo’s attorney.
On Oct 18,1995, Schmader was beaten and
stabbed to death before being buried in a shallow
grave in an Antelope Creek storm-drainage tunnel
under 48* Street
Schmader’s body was uncovered on Dec. 23,
1995, by two teen-agers who were digging a fort
with a shovel in the tunnel
In September 1997, Hopkins was arrested after
he confessed to killing Schmader, but Hopkins
said he acted alone.
Naylor said Galligo came forward in April
1998 and said he witnessed the beginning of the
assault and offered to testify against Hopkins.
All three boys lived in a state group home run
by Robert and Marilyn Beggs - located a few
blocks from the murder scene - where Schmader
was killed.
When Hopkins and Galligo, 19, got home
from school on Oct 18,1995, they found two car
tons of cigarettes missing, Camels and Marlboro
Lights 100s, Hopkins said.
Some other teens, who were smoking the ciga
rettes at the bus stop, told Hopkins and Galligo that
Schmader had given them the cigarettes.
Hopkins said that when he and Galligo started
talking about beating up Schmader, Galligo said
‘I’d like to kill him,” and (Hopkins) said, “Left do
it”
Hopkins, without showing any emotion, then
told how he planned die murder, which included
getting a bigger knife from the kitchen than the one
Galligo picked and concealing it in his pants pock
et
In a monotone voice, Hopkins said that he and
Galligo staged a phone call in the foster home with
someone about smoking marijuana, so Schmader
could overhear.
The call acted as a lure to get Schmader out of
the home and to the tunnels, he said, where
Schmader believed the three were going to smoke
the marijuana.
Around 8:15 p.m. they took Schmader down to
the drainage tunnels-where they often hung out -
to kill him.
Hopkins said he distracted Schmader by telling
him to look at the sun glinting off some gold graf
fiti while he pulled the knife.
The knife was in his pocket, Hopkins said, so
he jerked it out and stabbed Schmader in the shoul
der instead of die neck as planned
Schmader screamed kMdfy and Hopirins pan
icked and started stabbing Schmader repeatedly
while Galligo looked on, Hopkins said.
Because of the Hood, die knife slipped out of
Hopkins’ hands, he said, so he tried to break
Schmader’s neck and strangle him.
After the struggle, Hopkins said, Schmader fell
to his knees vomiting blood, and Hopkins called to
Galligo, asking him to get a rock.
Hopkins said Galligo came back with a large
rock and dropped it on Schmader’s head.
Then, Hopkins said, he picked up the rock and
dropped it on Schmader’s head - harder than
Galligo had-10 to 12 times.
Galligo and Hopkins buried die body that night
and tried - unsuccessfully - to find the knife before
disposing of their clothes and returning to the
group home.
Hopkins is scheduled to continue his testimony
at 9:30 aan. this morning, and the trial is expected
to run into the middle of next week.
Students question
ASUN candidates
By Kim Sweet
Staff writer
A standing-room-only crowd
drilled candidates for ASUN’s top
offices during the second executive
debate on Thursday.
With the March 3rd elections less
than a week away, students questioned
die candidates on campus unity, repre
sentation and other topics.
The debate was sponsored by the
Residence Hall Association, Honors
Board and Neihardt Council.
One of the questions posed to the
candidates by RHA asked the candi
dates’reaction to special-interest hous
ing, such as honors floors and student
learning communities.
Trisha Meuret, second vice-presi
dential candidate for Focus, said the
move of all special-interest floors to
Abel Hall will be “a step in the right
direction/
Meuret, who lived in Abel Hall,
said the change would be beneficial.
Rachelle Winkle, first vice-presi
dential candidate for Voice, said her
experience as a student assistant on a
special-interest floor proved to her the
floors helped students.
“They bring freshmen in and try to
encourage them to be leaders,” Winkle
said. “This is a national trend - it
bridges the gap between classes and
real life.”
The Focus and Voice parties also
exchanged their ideas about relieving
tensions that arise between students
living in greek houses, residence halls
and off campus.
Voice second vice-presidential
candidate Vernon Miller said one of
his party’s proposed solutions was to
continue looking into NU Weekend,
which would be coordinated with
I
Residence Hall Association Week
and Greek Week. The weekend would
help bring the three components
together, Miller said.
Having random roundtable dis
cussions and town hall meetings
would also help bring students
together to express their views, Miller
said.
Focus presidential candidate Paul
Schreier said one of the events on
campus that unites students is athletic
events. Students rally behind these
events together - despite their differ
ences, Schreier said.
In order to continue to promote
the events, Schreier said it was neces
sary for students to be a part of decid
ing ticket prices and seat positions.
Addressing one of the issues that
Focus and Voice have taken opposite
stands on, current ASUN second
vice- president Eddie Brown pressed
the Focus party member oh why they
stepped out against the proposed con
stitutional amendment to add five at
large seats to the senate.
Schreier said die intention of die
amendment, which is to bring new
voices to die student senate, cannot be
accomplished.
Since five at-large students would
be elected campuswide, students who
have contact with the most students
during the day - those in the College
of Arts and Sciences and College of
Business Administration - would
have an advantage, Schreier said.
The executive candidates will
face each other again on Tbesday at
5:30 p.m. in the Nebraska East
Union, the last debate before
Wednesday’s election.
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ALL MATERIAL COPYWGHT1999
THE DALY NEBRASKAN
Judge dismisses teen-sex lawsuit
SUIT from page 1
When asked if her parents could
have stopped her from having sex,
she answered:
“I don’t know if anything could
have stopped me, but I know now
that I shouldn’t have (done it),” she
said.
Her relationship with her father,
she said, included problems with his
drinking and abuse. During counsel
ing in spring 1996, she said, she told
counselors she had been physically
abused by her father, and he threat
ened to kill her.
Bixler’s lawyer tried to show that
Leanne Detmer’s mental problems
stemmed from disagreements with
her parents, not from Bixler’s
actions.
Doug Detmer testified that his
daughter threw a glass candle holder
at him and stabbed him with a screw
driver on April 10, 1997. Ten days
later, he said, she was going upstairs
when he grabbed her hair and pulled
her back down the stairs, causing her
to fall.
“She was irrational for two to
three months prior to die pregnancy,”
Doug Detmer said. “She was getting
worse all the time before she was
pregnant.”
But Cheuvront criticized testi
mony which. he said conflicted with
earlier testimony and that it almost
begged to be stricken.
“I hope that the primary basis for
this case was not to profit in some
way from convincing some gullible
media organization that the pregnan
cy of a 16-year-old girl brought
about by a 16-year-old boy is some
how unique,” he said. “1 can assure
the world it is not”
Eating disorders
pose lifetime battle
DISORDERS from page 1
unwanted calories.
The summer after her sophomore
year in high school, Schweer locked
herself in ho- roomwith a 2-liter botde
of Diet Coke and ate 148 laxatives.
“They didn’t even faze me,”
Schweer said. “I went swimming right
afterward.”
Her mother found hundreds of
empty laxative boxes in Schweer’s
bottom dresser drawer. She enrolled
Schweer in an outpatient treatment
program where a doctor said she had
an electrolyte imbalance and a minor
irregular heartbeat
Despite wotking with nine differ
ent therapists, Schweerfe eating disor
der controlled her life through her
sophomore year of college.
“I couldn’t do anything until I had
taken my laxatives,” she said. “They
made me feel in control of my life.”
Although Schweer has made
tremendous strides, she said, each day
is a constant challenge.
“If I know I am going to
Valentino’s for lunch, I will skip
breakfast and eat a small dinner to
compensate,” she said “It is hard for
me to just go out without planning it
into my day.”
Senior dietetics major Jennifer
Schulte’s eating disorder surfaced dur
ing her junior year of high school
“I started restricting my calorie
intake and exercising every day over
the summer,” Schulte said. “When I
went back to school... people I had
been friends with didn’t even recog
nize me_It wasn’t a good reaction
anymore.”
Schulte’s aerobics instructor
noticed her weight loss and had her
checked in to the University of
Nebraska Medical Center far a month
of intensive inpatient treatment and
four months of outpatient treatment
“I was confused as to what was
going on,” Schulte said. “There came
a point where I wanted to stop losing
weight, but I just couldn’t”
Amy Martin, a senior art major,
moved to Tekamah from Omaha when
she was 13. She never felt like she fit
in there.
“I remember sitting down at din
ner with my family, and we were hav
ing spaghetti and garlic bread,” Martin
said “I looked at a piece of bread ooz
ing with butter and told myself that I
ctmld not have another piece. It was
going to make me fat”
Martin began to exercise every
day and limit her caloric intake. She
ate the same thing every day so she
knew how maty calories she ate.
“If I got on the scale and weighed
apound less, I saw it as a triumph.”
Although Martin eats more fre
quently now, she sticks to alow- and
ix>n-fat diet. Martm never sought pro
fessional counseling. Instead she uses
ha art to work through her disease.
“My art has been very therapeu
tic,” Martin said. “It allows me to con
lkmtny body image and view my fig
ure in a different way.
I feel like 1 am on the road to
recovery. It gets to the point where
you’re tired of being controlled by the
disease.”
Although each woman’s situation
is unique, they all share the day-to-day
challenge of living with an eating dis
order.
“I know that it will always have
some control over me,” Martin said.
“My ultimate fear in life is becoming
fat If my jeans are tight, I get scared.”
Studeks who think they may have
an eating disorder can contact the
University Health Center’s
Counseling and Psychological
- Services at (402) 472-7450.
At any given time, 10 percent or
more of college aged women report
symptoms of eating disorders, the
Academy of Eating Disorders Web
site reports. Interventions with these
indiviimis may be helpful and could
prevent the development of more seri
ous disorders.
Martin said working through an
eating disorder is a constant battle.
“People think once you gain back
some weight and look normal feat you
are over it,” she said. “But that’s only
the beginning.”
Student
court seeks
other projects
COURT from page 1
“We thought such proceedings
were necessary,” Strong said.
“Hopefully they won’t have to be
used, but it is good to have them.”
Liz Stryker, an associate justice
and a sophomore criminal justice
major, said the impeachment proceed
ings would benefit future student
court members.
Other projects include designing a
handout outlining student court pro
ceedings and creating a case file
, index.
Beyke said most of the projects
being completed have been needed for
years.
Arp said he didn t mind working
on projects, but working on a case
would be interesting.
“I’m still helping out my fellow
students, just not directly,” Arp said. “I
hope (students) realize that”
Arp was re-appointed to student
court Wednesday, along with six other
students, for die 1999-2000 academic
year.
Court justices are appointed annu
ally by the outgoing AS UN president
to ensure no political agendas would
be set by the upcoming ASUN presi
dent.
Scott Lindberg, a sophomore
political science major, was also
appointed to the court as an associate
justice.
Lindberg said he was not fold stu
dent court has not heard a case in four
years.
“It’s a little disturbing, but not nec
essarily a bad thing,” Lindberg said. “I
will do my best to serve students, even
if it is only doing projects.”
Strong said the court has been dis
appointing not hearing cases, but said
he has enjoyed his term as chief jus
tice. T "
“We took it upon ourselves to be
the guardians of the judicial code,”
Strong said. “I’m happy to have been a
part of getting awareness out about the
student court process.”
