Taylor Sanchez appears before Fond du Lac County court via Zoom, January 29, 2024. PC: Fox 11 Online
FOND DU LAC, WI (WTAQ-WLUK) – A prison inmate accused of killing her cellmate added a plea of not guilty by reason of mental disease or defect on Friday.
Taylor Sanchez, 28, is charged with first-degree intentional homicide for the July 19, 2023, murder of Cindy Schulz-Juedes at the Taycheedah Correctional Institution. Trial is scheduled for July 21, 2025.
A psychiatric evaluation was ordered to determine if there is support for the so-called insanity plea.
If the case goes to trial, a jury would first be asked to determine if Sanchez is guilty of the crime. If so, a second phase of the trial would be held, with the same jury asked to determine if Sanchez suffered from a mental disease, and if the condition prevented her from knowing right from wrong. If the jury accepts the plea, she would be sent to a secure psychiatric facility. If it rejects it, she would be sentenced to prison.
Sanchez said she stopped taking her medications, was hearing voices, and killed her cellmate because she thought the victim was using her toothbrush to scrub the toilet, according to the criminal complaint.
According to the criminal complaint, staff responded to cell 410, where Schulz-Juedes, 68, was found in a pool of blood. Only her and Sanchez were in the cell.
A prison sergeant asked Sanchez what happened, and she said “I was hearing voices telling me to kill her,” the complaint states.
Investigators also reviewed the recording of call Sanchez made to her mother after the incident.
“At 3:55 mom asks Taylor, “What happened, why did you beat somebody up”? Taylor says, “Um, I don’t know”. She adds, “I stopped taking my meds and I started hearing voices again.” Taylor adds, “I thought she was using my toothbrush to scrub the toilet” and says, “I thought she was using my stuff to wipe the floor with and I thought she was messing with me.” Sanchez’s mom responded is, “Oh, God!”,” the complaint states.
According to the autopsy, Schulz-Juedes had “skull fractures too numerous to count,” along with 34 rib fractures, bruises on arms, chest and abdomen, and other injuries, the complaint states.
After the murder, Sanchez was moved from Taycheedah to a supervised living facility, Dept. of Corrections records show.
Schulz-Juedes was convicted in Marathon County of her husband’s 2006 murder in October 2021. In June 2022, she was sentenced to life without the eligibility of parole.
Sanchez was sentenced to 18 months in prison in August, 2022 for battery or threat to law enforcement in Kenosha, plus another two years for battery to an inmate. State records list a mandatory prison release date of Aug. 25.
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