Retrial set for woman accused of beating, burning, running over husband

KALAMAZOO, Mich. (Court TV) — A Michigan woman accused of beating her husband back in 2007, setting him on fire, setting their house on fire, and running him over with their van is set to be retried next March.

Linda Stermer was initially sentenced to life without parole in 2010, but her conviction was overturned in 2018 after her attorneys successfully argued that she did not receive a fair trial.

Linda Stermer (Michigan Dept. of Corrections)

Stermer and her defense attorney appeared at a status conference hearing today via Zoom, while the judge and prosecutors were present in the courtroom.

According to prosecutors, Stermer hit her husband, Todd Stermer, with an object in his sleep on the night of Jan. 7, 2007 before setting the blaze at their Lawrence, Michigan home. Todd managed to run out the front door with his upper body engulfed in flames before Linda allegedly ran him over.

According to documents obtained by Court TV, Todd was determined to have died from a combination of blunt-force injuries and thermal injuries. He had sustained four lacerations to the scalp and two rib fractures before being burned. Investigators concluded that Todd had been run over when they discovered his blood on the van’s bumper.

At her 2010 trial, Linda was convicted of first-degree premeditated murder and felony murder. However, she maintains she was in the basement doing laundry when the fire broke out.

Linda spent nearly nine years in prison before Judge Arthur J. Tarnow issued a conditional writ of habeas corpus and ordered her release on a $10,000 bond. A writ of habeas corpus is an order that places the burden of proof on those detaining a person in order to justify their detention. It essentially determines whether it’s valid to hold someone in custody. Habeas corpus literally translates to: “You should have the body.”

Linda’s current lawyer’s argument that her previous attorney was ineffective was successful because he failed to protect her when the prosecutor violated rules regarding evidence . In other words, there was evidence at trial that her attorney should have challenged, but did not.

A final pretrial hearing was scheduled for March 7, with jury selection set to begin on March 26.