Wisconsin inmate Taylor Sanchez sentenced to life for beating cellmate to death in 2023
An inmate at Wisconsin's women's prison accused of brutally beating her cellmate to death will spend the rest of her life behind bars.
Fond du Lac County Circuit Judge Tricia Walker sentenced 29-year-old Taylor Sanchez to life without parole Monday in connection with 68-year-old Cindy Schulz-Juedes' death in 2023 at Taycheedah Correctional Institution.
According to a criminal complaint, staff at the Fond du Lac prison discovered Schulz-Juedes' body in the cell she shared with Sanchez in July 2023. Sanchez later called her mother and told her that she beat Schulz-Juedes to death with her bare hands because she had stopped taking her medication, was hearing voices and thought Schulz-Juedes had cleaned a toilet with Sanchez's toothbrush, the complaint says.
Sanchez initially pleaded not guilty due to insanity. Online court records show she changed the plea in June to no contest, a legal construct in which defendants choose not to fight the charges against them but don't admit guilt. The plea results in a conviction the same as if the defendant had pleaded guilty or been found guilty by a jury.
Sanchez was serving a two-year sentence for battery at the time of the alleged attack. Schulz-Juedes was serving a life sentence for killing her husband in 2021.
Sanchez's attorney, public defender Michael Queensland, didn't return a message Monday.
