PAW PAW, MI (WKZO AM/FM) – Opening statements are expected today in the retrial of a Van Buren County woman who had previously been convicted of killing her husband.
It’s been more than six years since 60-year-old Linda Stermer was released from prison on appeal. She was convicted in 2010 of murdering her husband Todd Stermer.
Authorities accused Linda Stermer of intentionally setting the couple’s Lawrence home on fire with her 42-year-old husband in it January 7, 2007, one day after her husband asked for a divorce. They say after he escaped from the house, she ran over him with a van.
Stermer died of severe burns caused by the house fire, which investigators say she started, but he also suffered blunt-force trauma after being struck by the van.
She told police she got into the van to drive to the neighbors to get help and lost sight of her badly-burned husband before the vehicle struck him.
After being sentenced to life in prison without parole, she appealed her conviction, claiming ineffective assistance of counsel from her defense attorney, Jeffrey Getting, who is now the Kalamazoo County Prosecuting Attorney. Stermer testified during the appeals process that she begged Getting to hire his own arson expert to rebut testimony from the prosecution.
Jury selection in Van Buren County Circuit Court began Tuesday.
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