Hoerig to spend at least 25 years in prison for killing husband

By ED RUNYAN

runyan@vindy.com

WARREN

Claudia Hoerig Sentencing

Video

Roxy Vaughn, niece of Karl Hoerig, reads a statement written by her father and mother, Steve and Kim Hoerig, Friday during Claudia Hoerig's sentencing hearing.

Before Claudia Hoerig learned she’ll spend at least the next 25 years in prison for killing her husband, it was finally time to hear in court about Maj. Karl Hoerig.

Claudia testified for three hours at her trial and spoke another 21⁄2 hours to detectives in a videotaped interview. But she did not speak at all at her sentencing Friday in Trumbull County Common Pleas Court.

Her attorneys and Prosecutor Dennis Watkins spoke for only a minute before Karl’s brother, daughter and parents expressed how sad they are Karl was taken from them.

“I want to list every moment that it has hurt me that Dad’s gone,” his daughter Eva Snowden told Judge Andrew Logan while cousins stood on each side of her. “I want to talk about my beautiful kids he never even met. I want to talk about grief and missed opportunities, but I would never be able to stop.”

Snowden promised not to dissect all the lies Claudia told about her father because “my dad wouldn’t be very happy with me if I did it. I want desperately to pull things apart, analyze them and tell the whole world how ridiculous everything she said was, but my dad wouldn’t have done that,” she said.

“My dad was the greatest, most wonderful, best ever, should-have-won-a-trophy dad. I never told him that. Maybe I didn’t know it yet or maybe I was too young to understand, but I never told him. And it’s completely and totally unfair that he isn’t in my or my family’s life any more.”

Claudia, 54, was the only defense witness. She said she killed Karl while “enraged” because she told him she was going to kill herself – and he told her to do it in the basement so she didn’t get blood on his paintings. She also alleged he abused her.

Claudia shot Karl once in the head at close range and twice in the back in their Ninth Street home in Newton Falls March 12, 2007, then fled to Brazil. She had bought the gun two days earlier.

She lived in Brazil 9 years before the Brazilian Supreme Court stripped her of her Brazilian citizenship and had her detained in a Brazilian prison pending extradition. Brazil allowed her to be returned to Ohio Jan. 17, 2018.

A jury of 10 men and two women found Claudia guilty of aggravated murder with a gun specification Jan. 24. The possible sentence under Ohio law was life in prison without the possibility of parole. Judge Logan handed down a 28-year-to-life sentence giving her credit for three years already served in Brazil and Ohio.

Defense attorney John Cornely told Judge Logan Claudia plans to appeal her conviction.

A granddaughter read a statement for Karl’s father and mother, Ed and Fran Hoerig.

“Karl was a brilliant, amazing, kind, loving person who focused on the best qualities in everyone and overlooked the flaws,” Megan Murphy said.

Ed and Fran saw signs that Claudia was dangerous, but “It was hard for us to really believe someone could be so evil,” they said. “When we told Karl we feared, we really feared for his life, he said, ‘Don’t worry. I’ve got this.’”

Karl’s youngest brother, Paul, flew to Brazil with the CBS News program “48 Hours” and is credited with giving a “face” to the suffering Hoerig family. He said bringing Claudia back from Brazil was “exceptionally brutal and emotionally draining for my family.”

Paul said he supports the decision U.S. officials and Watkins made to ask the judge and Ohio Parole Board to limit Claudia’s sentence to 30 years.

Watkins said after Friday’s sentencing he felt he had fulfilled his promise to the U.S. and Brazilian governments by recommending to Judge Logan that the judge give Claudia a sentence consistent with a 30-year sentence, which the judge gave. Thirty years is the maximum sentence in Brazil.

Watkins told The Vindicator Friday one final step he will take “in the near future” will be to write to the Ohio Parole Board asking the board to adhere to the agreement made to Brazil that Claudia serve no more than 30 years locked up in Ohio and Brazil.

“This agreement was necessary to secure her extradition,” Paul said. “Karl was a man of honor, and he would want us to honor this agreement.”

The Hoerig family will support Claudia being paroled after 30 years “under the conditions Claudia accepts full responsibility and is a model inmate,” Paul said.

Karl’s other brother, Steve, and his wife, Kim, also had a relative read a statement for them.

“Claudia thinks she is the smartest person in the room,” their letter, read by daughter Roxy Vaughn, said. “Not this room. No one believes her lies. Claudia is a manipulator and vindictive liar. She has no remorse, no shame, no morals. She is evil. Her testimony was meant to deliberately hurt each member of our family.”

The letter added: “She lied about each and every one of us and especially Karl, one of the kindest, gentlest, forgiving people we have known.”

Dan Henry, a friend of Karl’s from the Air Force Reserves, said of Claudia’s sentence, “Judicially, it’s fair, but emotionally nothing would be enough to make up for Karl never coming back.”

“The only life sentence was given to Karl,” said former Congressman John Boccieri, who also flew in the Reserves with Karl and was a close friend.

Watkins said he had fulfilled his promise to the U.S. and Brazilian governments by recommending that Judge Logan give Claudia a possibility of a 30-year sentence.

Watkins said the way Claudia “clearly planned and executed” Karl’s death and refuses to accept responsibility is evidence that “she does not have much of a conscience.”

Watkins said he did not make the public aware of the agreement with Brazil until now because prosecutors do not talk publicly about plea agreements prior to a defendant accepting them.

Watkins said he believes Claudia’s case is the first time a native born Brazilian was extradited to face charges in another country. He said he hopes a result of this case will be for others charged like Claudia to face justice.

Claudia gets credit for nearly three years locked up in Brazil and in Trumbull County, so her first chance for parole will be in 25 years.

Watkins, who has been Trumbull County’s elected prosecutor 35 years, said he may not be around in 25 years, but he is running for another four-year term next year.

U.S. Rep. Tim Ryan of Howland, D-13th, said in a statement that Claudia “has finally been brought to justice,” and he hopes it “provides the Hoerig family the closure they so deeply deserve. The past 10 years have not been easy on them, but they continued to stay strong and had faith in each other and our justice system.”

He said Watkins and Boccieri are among the people who deserve credit for bringing a successful resolution to the case. Ryan introduced bills and gave speeches on the House floor in an effort to put pressure on Brazil to extradite Claudia.