Convicted assassin Tommy Schaefer has been launched from jail in Indonesia’s Bali, the place he was serving an 18-year sentence for the homicide of the American socialite Sheila von Wiese-Mack, the mom of his then-girlfriend Heather Mack.
Nevertheless, whereas he might quickly be on his manner dwelling to his native Chicago, Schaefer’s authorized woes are possible solely simply starting, as his co-conspirator Mack was instantly re-arrested as soon as she touched down on American soil following her personal launch from jail in Indonesia in 2021.
To recap the grisly case: Schaefer and Mack had been each initially arrested in Indonesia in 2014. The pair had stuffed von Wiese-Mack’s battered corpse in a suitcase, and left it in a taxi earlier than absconding, resulting in suspicion when lodge safety at Bali’s upscale St. Regis Lodge, the place the household had been staying, seen blood seeping from the bags.
The pair had been swiftly arrested, hiding out at one other lodge on the island, and Schaefer ultimately admitted to murdering von-Wiese Mack by putting her with a blunt object, reportedly a lodge fruit bowl.
It’s thought that the motive for the homicide was for Mack to take management of a large $1.6 million belief fund arrange for her after the dying of her father, esteemed music producer James L. Mack, who died in 2006.
In 2015, Mack was sentenced to 10 years in jail for being an adjunct to homicide, and served solely seven years on account of remission cuts, whereas Schaefer served some 11 years of his 18-year sentence earlier than his launch final week. He was granted 75 months off his sentence, consistent with Indonesia’s remission coverage that rewards good habits and applies to each overseas and native inmates.
Following his launch from Bali’s Kerobokan Jail final week, Schaefer struck a optimistic tone, telling ready journalists, “I’m feeling good and I’m blissful. I can get pleasure from life. God is sweet.”
Is he unaware of the destiny that possible awaits him?
When Mack was launched in 2021, she too spoke of embracing a brand new life again dwelling along with her daughter, conceived with Schaefer, who was born in jail after the pair had been already in custody. Nevertheless, she was swiftly re-arrested at Chicago’s O’Hare Worldwide Airport and sentenced to 26 years in jail in 2024.
How did all of this come to cross, notably when the “double jeopardy” clause in U.S. legislation is supposed to protect in opposition to people being tried twice for a similar crime?
In response to authorized skilled Barbara McQuade, a College of Michigan legislation professor and former lawyer, “The USA authorities is a distinct sovereign than the federal government of Indonesia,” and abroad convictions usually are not a hindrance to additional prices in america.
Whereas charged with accent to homicide in Indonesia, Mack was slapped with prices of conspiracy and obstruction within the U.S., and eventually pleaded responsible to 1 rely of conspiring to kill a U.S. nationwide after accepting a plea deal, resulting in her 26-year sentence.
The U.S. prices additionally associated to the truth that Mack and Schaefer reportedly plotted the homicide of von-Wiese Mack whereas nonetheless on U.S. soil, that means that this portion of the crime was throughout the jurisdiction of U.S. courts.
To make issues worse for the couple, after they had been nonetheless in custody in Indonesia, Schaefer’s cousin Robert Bibbs was arrested within the U.S., additionally on conspiracy prices, for reportedly advising the pair on how finest to kill von-Wiese Mack. Bibbs additionally alleged that Mack had agreed to pay Schaefer $50,000 if he murdered her mom.
Bibbs was sentenced to 9 years in jail in 2017 for conspiracy to commit overseas homicide, after additionally taking a plea deal.
Amidst all of this, one does must surprise why the U.S. authorities selected to re-arrest Mack, and can possible do the identical with Schaefer, when presumably they’d the discretion not to take action.
Within the U.S., as in lots of different jurisdictions akin to the UK, to ensure that a prosecution to happen, it has to satisfy sure authorized thresholds and prosecutors resolve whether or not to proceed with a case after it has been introduced by the police.
Prosecutors often resolve whether or not to formally prosecute a case primarily based on quite a lot of standards, together with the severity of the alleged crime, whether or not there may be “substantial federal curiosity” in prosecuting and whether or not there may be possible sufficient proof to safe a conviction. If a case is deemed insufficiently sturdy, it may be dropped on account of lack of proof, as can a case the place it’s determined that there’s little curiosity in prosecution.
Within the case of the now notorious “suitcase homicide,” it could appear from Mack’s expertise that prosecutors felt that each thresholds for prosecution had been met: there was ample proof in opposition to Mack, and it was within the federal curiosity to safe a conviction.
Maybe prosecutors additionally felt that the seven years Mack served in Indonesia was inadequate punishment for the dying of a U.S. nationwide abroad.
“I don’t know what all the explanations are. However this seems to be a really premeditated plot. This could possibly be the type of factor the place they are saying: ‘Seven years? That’s simply not sufficient,’” authorized skilled McQuade stated in 2021 forward of Mack’s sentencing.
Maybe prosecutors had been additionally unconvinced that Mack had been sufficiently rehabilitated, and that she continued to stay a risk to the general public if freed as soon as again dwelling.
Regardless of the case, within the current day, Schaefer should presumably remember that Mack is now incarcerated in Virginia in a Safe Feminine Facility and is reportedly held in a unit with 70 different ladies the place violent altercations are commonplace.
He should additionally, due to this fact, guess that he might be equally re-arrested upon his return and instantly incarcerated whereas he awaits trial.
Whereas his departing message that he’s planning to “get pleasure from life” was maybe misplaced optimism, having spent over a decade in jail in Indonesia, Schaefer now seems to be set for a good longer stint behind bars.
