murder. the prosecution found itself in an unusual predicament. eight years had passed since the shooting and in that time the statute of limit takes had run out on any charge other than first-degree murder. that meant in order to get any conviction at all, prosecutors would have to prove to a jury beyond a reasonable doubt that ellen snyder planned mike snyder s murder and with no crime scene and it will until the way of forensics, that was going to be hard to prove. in her view, it was self defense, but maybe she was guilty of manslaughter, second-degree murder. but you couldn t prosecute her for either of those offenses. that s correct. the statute of limitations here in new mexico on a state case like this prohibited us from going forward on any of those lesser types of offenses. ellen snyder s defense attorney penny adrian knew a first-degree murder conviction could mean a life sentence for
because it was closer to the time she was going to kill him. even if it was an act of self defense that caused ellen snider to shoot her husband, why hasn t she called police? usually when abused women kill their abusers, they call the police and they are sitting there with the gun when the police drive up. okay. they don t try to evade responsibility. they admit what they did and they say, i didn t have any choice. pretty much as you are saying to me now. but they don t bury the body. and tell a series of pretty good lies over a long period of time. that s pretty unusual. okay. which suggests, to some
years later, with ellen snyder sitting in jail facing a murder charge for killing mike, they waited for justice. finally ellen snyder would pay the price for the murder of mike snyder and the cover-up that followed. at least that s what mike s side of the family fully expected. but there was that problem with the statute of limitations expired on anything less than first-degree murder. there was a chance that ellen snyder could be found not guilty. mike s family was willing to risk that. we felt that that strongly that it was premeditated. it was a gamble we were willing to take. when it comes to murder, prosecutor isn t willing to gamble. maybe she gets convicted of first-degree murder and maybe that s what he did all along and that would have been justice but with all or nothing when you try to convince beyond a reasonable
like there s something else i should be doing. with the right conversation, you might find you re doing okay. so, no hot dog suit? not unless you want to. no. schedule a complimentary goal planning session today with td ameritrade®. just months after she shot her husband and filed for divorce, ellen was awarded the couple s home and the cash in their joint account. remember those tax returns that had been filed in mike s name after he disappeared? turns out it was ellen who filed them in order to get a refund. she also cashed out mike s $60,000 401(k) and continued to collect the disability checks mike had been getting because of his multiple sclerosis. you kept cashing those checks for a year. those checks were deposited in to my account.
to happen. we have what is eight years. the prosecution asks the judge to give ellen snyder the maximum sentence of 11 years. looking at a total of 339 years. ellen s defense attorney asked the judge for leniency. she does ask, your honor, that the court sentence her to five years in prison, which will allow her to at least be at her daughter s college graduation. the judge address ellen directly focusing on the construction waste she had buried on top of her husband s body. it was reported that you unser moanously threw trash in the same hole that mr. snyder had been placed. with that ellen was given the maximum sentence of 11 years behind bars. miss snyder, hopefully once you are released you can get things together and go forward in life. and she hopes to. but until then, ellen told us,