Sheboygan woman freed after 12 years in prison on attempted homicide charge

Twelve years into a 22-year sentence for attempted first degree homicide, Renata Neuaone will be home this next Christmas.

The 34-year-old Sheboygan woman received a new sentence on Monday after a lengthy hearing before Judge L. Edward Stengel that rehashed the circumstances of the case and Neuaone's efforts while in prison to accept responsibility.

Neuaone was convicted in February 2002 of attempted first degree attempted homicide and substantial battery as a party to the crime on both charges and sentenced to 22 years in prison.

The new sentence requires a total of 13 years in prison and 18 years extended supervision, which will have her out of prison in early December.

Seated next to her lawyer and with about a dozen family and friends behind her, Neuaone didn't show any emotion when Stengel read the new sentence.

Along with four co-defendants including her then-husband, Neuaone was accused of kidnapping a 20-year-old woman in early December 2001 over a drug debt.

According to court records, the girl was beaten, locked in a crawl space in Neuaone's basement, her head was shaved and she was drugged. Then she was taken to a railroad trestle near the Blue Line Ice Center and hung from a clothesline.

When the line snapped, another of the co-defendants, Troy Olmsted, was accused of choking her and leaving her for dead.

The victim survived, and Nueaone, her husband Somkhith Neuaone, Olmsted, Anthony Richardson and Melissa A. McDaniel were all accused of taking part in the attempted homicide.

Renata Neuaone pleaded guilty and agreed to a plea deal of 12 years in prison followed by 18 years extended supervision, which was the same deal offered to Olmsted and McDaniel for their part in the crime.

Instead, she was sentenced to 22 years in prison by Judge Gary Langhoff, who has since retired.

Olmsted and McDaniel were both convicted of the same charges; Olmsted was sentenced to 12 years and McDaniel was sentenced to 10 years. Richardson, who played a small part in the events, was sentenced to two years in prison for false imprisonment.

Neuaone's husband, who was the alleged mastermind behind the crime, was in jail at the time on unrelated charges and directed the actions of his wife. He was subsequently sentenced to eight years for battery after years of legal wrangling.

In her appeal for a new sentence, Neuaone presented evidence showing that she suffers from borderline personality disorder, and argued that her sentence was much more severe than those handed down to Olmsted and McDaniel.

In his statement to the court, Neuaone's attorney James Rebholz laid out the circumstances of the crime, stressing that at that time, Neuaone had been living with her three young children under the control of her violent, drug-dealing husband.

Rebholz said the crime was supposed to lead to the return of Ecstasy pills that the victim had taken. Those were to be sold to provide bail money for Somkhith Neuaone, who was in jail. His wife went along with the plan, according to her attorney, because she knew he would leave the country as soon as he got bail.

"It was going to be Renata's ticket to freedom if he was able to make bail and remove himself from her life," Rebholz said. "That started the chain of events."

As Rebholz recounted the domestic violence in Neuaone's life, her three children, who were seated behind her, wept.

Stengel said he didn't buy the argument that Neuaone just wanted to provide her husband bail money so he would leave, pointing out that she'd spent large amounts of money in the past bailing him out of jail for other offenses and that she was involved in the drug culture along with him.

Stengel said he recognized, however, that she never tried to claim she didn't participate in the crime and that she had done everything that was asked of her by the justice system to better herself.

"I'm quite aware ... as far as someone accompanying (the victim) up to the bridge and pushing her off, you were not part of that," Stengel said. "Olmsted pursued her in an attempt to finish the job. You did indicate remorse for your actions. To your credit, of that group you were the first to acknowledge responsibility for your actions and the pain you caused others."

Stengel also criticized the state's truth-in-sentencing laws, which make sentence adjustments like Neuaone's all but impossible for defendants except in rare cases.

A statement by the victim, read by Holly Clappes of the county Victim/Witness Services, asked the judge to consider the pain and hardship she continues to endure.

"My hand and ankle will never heal completely," said the victim, who was friends with Neuaone before the crime. "When does my sentence end? I don't believe she should be released early. Blaming psychiatric issues is not taking responsibility."

After the hearing, Rebholz said his client is pleased with the new sentence and that the next four months will be used to set up the extended supervision and conditions of her release.

Extended supervision requires Neuaone to meet certain conditions and commit no new crimes. If she violates those conditions, she could go back to prison up to the full 18 years of extended supervision.

"We think it was a good sentence," he said. "He could have (released her immediately), but realistically, and this is the way things happen in most prison situations, at or before the time of release there's a lot of work that needs to be done with the local parole agent to get the plan ready and approved."

Neuaone's family declined to comment.

Reach Janet Weyandt at 920-453-5121