COURTROOM ORDEAL ENDS FOR HACHMEISTER FAMILY

The long ordeal of court sessions ended for the family of Kyle Hachmeister
Thursday as they watched his killer get sentenced to life in prison with no
chance of parole for the next 35 years.

But the sorrow of the death of a teenager in the family continues.

"That," said an uncle who attended Thursday's hearing, "will be lifelong."

Jeremy Greene, who stabbed Hachmeister, 18, in his family's Doncaster Drive
home during a robbery for drugs and money, remained passive as Dane County
Judge William Foust imposed the sentence. Moments later Greene smiled for
photographers as he was led down a hallway to begin his life behind bars.

Moments earlier, there was an audible gasp from Hachmeister's family and
friends as the judge announced the amount of time Greene must serve before
being eligible to ask for release on extended supervision or parole.

Lorraine Randall, Hachmeister's mother, almost collapsed in a gush of tears
as she embraced family members and friends. She later expressed through
tears the relief that court proceedings were finally over, and the
sustained grief over the son she had not yet properly had a chance to mourn.

During the hearing, she described the "soul-deep wounds" that came from
seeing her murdered son. She and her husband, Michael Randall, expressed
disappointment that the 35-year period until Greene can ask for parole was
not even longer, but they took it philosophically.

"We believe his past actions are going to show through and that he's never
going to make it out," she said.

She also said that the yearlong court proceedings for the four defendants,
including a trial in January, have meant the family has not had the chance
to grieve properly.

"We're glad they're over. It's been a year and two months of hell," she said.

Foust's sentence does not mean Greene will be released in 35 years. It
means he can petition the Circuit Court at that date to let him out and he
will then have to prove to the judge by clear and convincing evidence that
he is no longer a danger to society. He could be kept in prison his entire
life.

The judge's decision came after a range of recommendations. Assistant
District Attorney Doug McLean, calling the killing a "wanton, extreme act
of malice," asked for a release eligibility date after 60 years.

A pre-sentence investigation by the Department of Corrections, citing
Greene's lengthy juvenile record, which began at age 11 and kept him locked
up throughout most of his teenage years, recommended 50 years.

Defense attorney David Geier recommend something "in the range of 30 years."

With the sentencing of Greene, all four of the defendants in the Feb. 19,
2001, burglary, robbery and killing have now been sentenced to various
terms behind bars.

Greene, along with Genevieve Pauser, Corey Ellis, and Lindsey Kopp - all of
whom are 19 - were concocting a plan to rob someone of drugs and money when
Pauser suggested that her old friend Kyle Hachmeister would make a good target.

A first attempt failed when Greene and Ellis were smoking marijuana and
forgot to show up for the robbery, so another plan was hatched for the
following night.

Greene and Ellis were to sneak into Hachmeister's home and grabbed his
backpack with its stash of marijuana and money. But Green brought a knife.

"The other three defendants didn't go out that night with the intention
that Kyle be killed," Foust said as he sentenced Greene. "You really stand
alone as the most culpable person."

After Greene and Ellis went into Hachmeister's bedroom through a window
they pried open, Ellis used a cigarette lighter to illuminate the room
enough to find the backpack. When he found it, he tossed it out the window
and then left, he testified at trial.

But Greene remained and stabbed Hachmeister seven times before he fled and
went back to the car where Pauser and Kopp were waiting. He told the others
of the stabbing. When asked why he did so he replied, "Dead men don't talk."

Ellis and Kopp began confessing soon after their arrest, although they
admitted they lied in some of their early statements to police.

While all four defendants were charged with being parties to the crime of
first-degree intentional homicide, as well as armed robbery and armed
burglary, Ellis and Kopp eventually agreed to plead no contest to reduced
charges of felony murder and to testify against the others.

Ellis received a sentence of 10 years in prison and 10 years of extended
supervision. Kopp was put on probation for 15 years and ordered to spend
two years in jail.

Both Greene and Pauser went to trial on charges of being parties to the
crime of first-degree intentional homicide, and both were convicted. Under
Wisconsin's party to the crime law, participants who agree to commit a
felony are equally responsible for other felonies committed by those with
whom they are acting in concert. So when Greene murdered Hachmeister, it
meant Pauser could be found guilty of murder if the jury decided the
killing was a "natural and probable consequence" of the plans to rob him.

Pauser was sentenced to the mandatory life in prison term with no chance to
petition for release on extended supervision for 23 years. Both she and
Greene testified they weren't involved in the killing, but jurors rejected
those defenses and the judge called the verdicts sound.

"You perjured yourself," he told Greene, "You let other people take the
stand and lie for you."

"You have destroyed five families by what you did in Kyle Hachmeister's
bedroom," Foust said. "The effect of what you did in that bedroom is
shocking and enormous."

As they had at the previous sentencing hearings for the other defendants,
members of the Hachmeister family took the witness stand Thursday to
describe the terrible toll the murder has taken. Both Lorraine Randall and
her husband, who found Kyle in a pool of blood after rushing to his bedroom
when they heard him scream, talked of sleepless nights, nightmares on those
nights they can sleep, and loss of both health and finances since that
fateful night.

Ross Hachmeister, Kyle's father, was more direct in assessing blame on
Greene. "You're nothing but a spineless coward, and nothing would give me
more satisfaction than to have my way with you," he said. "May you rot in
hell for all the lives you've destroyed."

Greene had insisted he was innocent throughout the legal proceedings but
did not do so Thursday. Neither did he say he was taking any responsibility
for the crimes.

"There are so many things that I would like to say but due to an appeal,
personal and ethical reasons, I will save those for later court
proceedings," he said.

He did add however that he was "very sorry for the loss that the family and
friends of Kyle Hachmeister have endured. And the effect it has had on
everyone, especially his mother and father. I can never experience their
pain, but it is evident in their eyes the toll of having their only son
stolen from them," Greene said.

He also added that he saw the same pain in his parents "when their only son
was stolen from them the day I was arrested."