Monday, May 9, 2011

Therapist Mary Hein cleared of “murder for hire” and “sex with patient” charges

I represent Mary Hein, a local therapist who was recently accused of hypnotizing, drugging and brainwashing a patient in order to have sex with him, and then soliciting him to murder her husband.  The case was covered by the Associated Press, Milwaukee’s NBC and Fox affiliates, and other news organizations.  After several months of litigation, including motions in limine and other pretrial motions, all felony charges against Ms. Hein have been dismissed.  Our press release is reprinted below.

All four felony charges against Mary Hein have now been dismissed.

Therapist Mary Hein was recently charged with soliciting a male patient to murder her husband, and then allegedly drugging, hypnotizing, and brainwashing the male patient so that she could have sexual relations with him during the patient-therapist relationship.

In a pretrial motion, the defense provided notice that we would cross-examine Ms. Hein’s accuser-patient at trial regarding his own pending criminal case, his nine prior convictions, his planned civil lawsuit for money against Ms. Hein, his prior instances of untruthful conduct, and the details of his prior conviction for forcing his minor son to have sexual intercourse with his (the accuser’s) wife so that the accuser could gain a financial advantage in his anticipated divorce.

After this motion hearing, the state offered to dismiss both the solicitation to commit first degree murder and the sexual exploitation by therapist charges.  (Two other felonies had already been dismissed after earlier, pretrial motions.) 

In exchange for the dismissal, the prosecutor required a “no contest” plea to a misdemeanor obstructing charge for an unrelated domestic violence incident with Ms. Hein’s ex-husband.  In that charge, Ms. Hein was accused of blaming her then-husband for her bruised and swollen eye; the state contended that Ms. Hein had actually walked into the door.  Her “no contest” plea to the obstructing charge is not an admission of guilt; she continues to maintain her innocence.  The judge sentenced her to “time already served” and the entire case is now closed.  

Ms. Hein had always maintained her innocence to all charges and is very satisfied with, and feels exonerated by, the dismissal of all felonies.  With regard to the misdemeanor obstructing charge, Ms. Hein hopes that the district attorney’s accusation against her (after initially filing a battery complaint against her ex-husband for her injury) does not deter other victims of domestic violence from reporting their abusers to the authorities.

Defense Atty. Michael D. Cicchini
Defense Atty. Sally Yule Mengo

8 comments:

  1. I knew this was bullshit from the beginning. Thank god the world has come to it's sense's and Mary can get on with her life again.

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  2. It's about time!Too bad the time put into trying to make a great woman look bad was wasted when it could have been spent dealing with the "real" criminal. Yay for Mary!

    Free Mary Hein! Oh wait! She is innocent and FREE

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  3. Thank goodness Mary is out from under the yoke of this madness. Anyone who knows her could tell you this was all ludicrous. Now hopefully she can find all of the happiness she so richly deserves!!

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  4. "...the state contended that Ms. Hein had actually walked into the door." I know Mary and saw her swollen, blackened eye after she sustained this injury. If I were Mary, I would get rid of that door.

    Oh wait, she's divorced now. I guess she DID get rid of the "door."

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  5. She was hit by her ex, yet she wanted to keep her kid's from any more drama and get on with a life out of the courtroom....A shame that they wore her down, but I understand. She may feel later it was a mistake to walk away from more legal battles but hope it all works out to let him off and go on....

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  6. I read in this mornings Kenosha News that the prosecutor said "the charges were dismiss because we could not prove them beyond a reasonable doubt". Really? It took all of this time to figure that out? In reading the articles that first came out when all of this started, anyone with any bit of smarts could have seen that this was shaky at best from the get go. Why they brought charges in the first place is beyond me.
    Thank goodness Mary wound up with two fine lawyers to get to the bottom of all of this. Still, to take seven months and probably a huge financial hit to prove what should have been obvious, is a sad testament to the justice system in southeast Wisconsin.

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  7. I've known Mary for quite a while. To say she is incredibly ethical is an understatement. How the investigating agency could believe the accuser (who I've read about on other forums) and THEN press charges based on his statements is unbelievable. I'd like to know what the mindset of those people was. Unfortunately, we will never know, because I'm sure they are trying to forget about this case now.

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  8. She is a wonderful person. I'm glad things worked out.

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