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dy•e!SMrs. Horn guilty of second degreemurder of ex-husband at NeenahOSHKOSH — Mrs. Helen Ham, 54, rural Nekoosa, was found guilty Friday of second-degree murder in the April 13, 1971 shooting death of her ex-husband, Mack.Mrs. Ham was being tried on a fjrst-degrae murder charge. The trial began last Monday in Winnebago County Circuit Count.In an unusual move at the conclusion of the trial, Judge fi Edmund Arpin released Mrs.Ham with the stipulation she not leave the state.The jury of eight men and four women reached the verdict after deliberating about three hours.No sentencing date has been, set. Second-degree murder calls for five to 25 years in prison with no provision for probation.Judge Arpin will hold a hearing on motions Wednesday.Two motions for a mistrial were filed by defense attorney Allan Cain during the trial.The first motion came after a male juror who asked to be removed from the case was replaced. The juror told the judge he knew some persons who were attending the trial after he had said during the jury selection that be knew no one connected with the case.The second motion apparently concerned the way in which jurors were transported from an area motel where they were sequestered.Mrs. Harn had testified the shooting was accidental.Mrs. Sylvia Messing, 34, Oshkosh, a divorcee and mother of three children and an eyewitness lo the shooting, testified for more than five hours Wednesday.Mrs. Messing said she and Harn returned to his town of Vinland home after a business trip around Lake Winnebago when Mrs. Harn entered the house with a .22 caliber rifel under her arm.According to the testimony, Mrs. Ham said in a raised voice that she had found out she was not going to get her house, her money or anything else that she thought had been coming to her in terms of a divorce settlement with Harn.The Harns were married in1939 and obtained a Mexican divorce in 1969. The divorce was decreed valid the following year. The couple had 11 children.“She said to me she was going to shoot him, that he deserved to be shot,” Mrs, Messing testified.She said Mrs. Harn then shot Ham in the abdomen as he stood in the bedroom doorway.Mrs. Messing said she pushedMrs. Ham and the gun out of the house, but was unable to lock the door and Mrs. Hamre-entered later and fired asecond shot that narrowly missed Mrs. Messing.Meanwhile, Ham had called the telephone operator to have police and an ambulance sent to the house.The two women struggled on the living room floor and Mrs. Messing got the rifle away from Mrs. Ham. Ham took the gun and hit his ex-wife twice on her head, Mrs. Messing testified.Each of the women called the operator for help and Mrs. Harn called a daughter-in-law and, according to the testimony, said “Tell Mark that I just shot his father.”Mrs. Messing said she had been “going steady” with Harn since February 1971. She said she knew he was divorced and that Mrs. Harn claimed to beYouth accidentally shot bybrother with .22 pistolA 14-year-old rural Wisconsin Rapids boy, Wayne Piawman, Rt. 4, son of Mrs. Shirley Oleson, is listed in satisfactory condition at Riverview Hospital today where he is being treated for a gunshot wound suffered Sunday.County officers said Piawman was accidentally shot in the upper left leg by a .22 caliber pistol wielded by the boy’s brother, Dennis, also 14. The bulleL exited near his knee, according to the report, and no surgery was required.Investigating officers sa'id the two Piawman boys and a third youth, Dannie Braem of rural Vesper, were walking in a wooded area1 near Plawman's town of Sigel home when the mishap occurred.Dennis told police he was walking behind his brother when the pistol accidentally fired.Police said action was likely against Dennis, because it is illegal for a minor to possess or carry a handgun.living with her ex-husband in his home.The trio met in a truck stop the morning of April 6, a week before the shooting, to “clarify ihe relationship between Mack and Helen and myself,” Mrs.Messing said.Detective Sergeant Neil Cowling said at the time of the arrest, Mrs. Harn repeated several times, “How could he love me when he had this other woman in the house?”A Plainfield hardware store owner, Hugo Peterson, testified Mrs. Ham bought the rifle in his store shortly after noon on the day of the shooting. He said Mrs. Harn told him the gun was a birthday present for a son.Ham died about 9 a.m. April 14, 1971, at Theda ClarkHospital, Neenah, He ’had operated Harn’s Barn, a Neenah furniture resale shop.35£tRPf-finencnr1rdPd*ahineseEP=OODBrSpecial of Chinese fav Chow Mein—Cho Sweet and Sour Pork—BRIGDixon HofeiDowntown Wisconsin Rapids.emo nn nri~ ^Michael C. Da Jack E. Frib
Newspaper Details
Wisconsin Rapids Daily Tribune
Wisconsin Rapids, Wisconsin, US
Mon, Sep 25, 1972
Page 9
Full Page
Clipped by
Winnefox L.
WI, USA 05 Nov 2020
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Wisconsin Rapids Daily Tribune
