Hoerig files petition to be released from jail

Staff report

YOUNGSTOWN

Claudia Hoerig filed a petition Friday for a writ of habeas corpus in federal court claiming her constitutional rights have been violated.

Hoerig, 54, is charged with the March 2007 murder of her husband, Maj. Karl Hoerig, and fleeing to her native Brazil.

Hoerig’s petition claims that her right to a speedy trial has been violated and that Ohio authorities fabricated an affidavit to facilitate her April 20, 2016, arrest in Brazil.

Hoerig was extradited to the U.S. in January.

She argues that the speedy trial clock began when she was first incarcerated in Brazil and asks a federal judge to dismiss her case and order her release from the Trumbull County jail.

Numerous local and federal officials spent years working to get Hoerig returned to Trumbull County to face trial for her husband’s death.

At a hearing this month, Hoerig agreed to waive her speedy-trial rights for 150 days and her trial date was moved from Sept. 17 to Jan. 14.

She had previously refused an extension, saying she “can’t wait” that long.

Her petition is before Judge John R. Adams in Akron’s U.S. District Court.