A Wisconsin woman has been sentenced to life in prison after being convicted of poisoning a friend with eye drops and stealing nearly $300,000.
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On October 3, 2018, 62-year-old Lynn Hernan was found dead in her condo in Pewaukee. Her body was surrounded by pill bottles and various medications were also found in her system along with tetrahydrozoline, a chemical found in Visine, according to toxicology reports.
The Waukesha County Medical Examiner determined that Hernan was poisoned and labeled her death a homicide. Meanwhile, her close friend Jessy Kurczewski, then 37, claimed Hernan was suicidal and consumed eye drops with vodka on her own. After an investigation, Kurczewski was charged in 2021 and accused of homicide and theft. Police accused her of poisoning her friend with Visine eye drops and stealing more than $290,000 from her.
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In November 2023, Kurczewski was convicted, having been found guilty on all three charges in the case: one felony count of first-degree intentional homicide and two counts of theft of movable property less than $100,000 but more than $10,000. During the trial, Defense Attorney Donna Kuchler claimed Hernan’s death was due to a “polydrug overdose” ― a lethal mixture of various drugs in her system ― and not from the tetrahydrozoline.
Kuchler further argued that Hernan was in a lot of pain due to a myriad of health issues and it was after a palliative care consultation that she decided to start living her life to the fullest and begin spending her money; which allegedly included her giving a lot to Kurczewski, before allegedly deciding to commit suicide. Kuchler said, “Lynn gave Jessy money all the time because she wanted to. Giving money to Jessy made her happy. Jessy was like her daughter.”
Before sentencing, Kurczewski was facing life in prison for the homicide charge while the other two counts carry a maximum of five years in prison for each. Last Friday (April 5), the Wisconsin woman was sentenced to life in prison with the possibility of parole after 30 years.
During the sentencing hearing, Waukesha County Judge Jennifer Dorow called the case “very unusual” because of both the method of poisoning and the sheer amount of time the investigation required. Hernan’s death was first treated as a suicide and the nature of the investigation drastically changed as time progressed, ultimately reaching the status of a homicide and conviction of Kurczewski.
Judge Dorow said, “What I think was happening is that you were using [the tetrahydrozoline] to control Lynn Hernan, to steal from her, to gain control of her accounts. I think you targeted her, I agree with the state’s assessment on that. The perfect victim.”
When it came to sentencing the Wisconsin woman convicted of poisoning her friend, Judge Dorow also said, “You took away future memories, birthday parties, luncheons, phone calls. I think 30 years is a pretty significant amount of time but my target is really 80 for you. That’s why on counts two and three you’re going to serve maximum sentences consecutive to count one and consecutive to each other.”
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