Minnesota Department of Corrections Commissioner Paul Schnell’s ex-wife was sentenced to just three years in prison for the attempted murder of their disabled son.
Julie Myhre-Schnell, 65, was sentenced on Friday to 36 months in Minnesota Correctional Facility-Shakopee by Ramsey County Judge Joy Bartscher. She received 22 days of credit for time served.
Minnesota inmates are only required to serve two-thirds of their sentences incarcerated and the remainder on supervised release, meaning she will actually only spend about two years in prison. Court clerk minutes from Friday’s hearing describe the sentence as a downward durational departure from the sentencing guidelines.
Bartscher denied Myhre-Schnell’s request to be placed on probation for seven to 10 years in lieu of serving time in prison. Her attorneys argued that she is “particularly amenable to probation and to mental health treatment,” and “has expressed sincere remorse and accepted responsibility.”
They also wrote in court records that Myhre-Schnell “lacked substantial capacity for judgement when this offense was committed.”
In a memo, Commissioner Schnell wrote that he will “abstain from involvement in any Department of Corrections decision-making or operational communications related to Julie Myhre-Schnell should case settlement result in sentence committing her to the commissioner of corrections.”
The case was prosecuted by Scott County Attorney Ron Hocevar’s office. In a statement, he said his office asked for a sentence of 18 years and called the three-year sentence “completely inappropriate.”
“Defendant was charged with attempting to commit the most serious charge Minnesota has — First Degree pre-meditated Murder. The defendant systematically tried to kill her disabled son — her own child. Prior to her plea defendant showed little to no remorse. Defendant told law enforcement she regretted her son survived her attempts. A 36 month sentence for attempted murder is why people feel the justice system is flawed,” Hocevar said.
Myhre-Schnell pleaded guilty in July to a charge of premeditated attempted first-degree murder.
Attempted murder
The incident took place on Dec. 3, 2023, at a group home in Vadnais Heights, where Myhre-Schnell’s adult son — who requires feeding through a tube — resided.
According to the criminal complaint, Myhre-Schnell told multiple family members that she had attempted to kill her son by crushing up her anxiety pills and mixing them into his feeding bag, “hoping he would go to sleep forever.”
When questioned by Ramsey County investigators, Myhre-Schnell confessed that she planned the act in advance, refilling her prescription and concealing the drug mixture in her pocket, stating, “the whole time, I knew I was gonna try to do this.”
Myhre-Schnell “admitted that she crushed up the remaining Lorazepam pills and put them into a ‘slurry’ of water in a container to bring to the facility. [She] brought the ‘slurry’ in its container, carrying it in her pocket, until she emptied the container into Victim’s feeding bag that night prior to leaving,” the complaint states.
Her son was hospitalized the next day with acute symptoms including a decreased level of responsiveness, altered mental status, low blood pressure, and respiratory failure. Medical staff did not conduct a toxicology screen, but investigators confirmed Myhre-Schnell’s refill activity through the state’s prescription monitoring program.
The complaint states that she later texted her son on Aug. 6, 2024, confessing that she had tried to kill him. He responded by telling investigators the revelation was “heavy” and “a lot to process.”
When asked how she felt upon learning her son had survived, Myhre-Schnell allegedly replied, “I completely regretted he survived,” and expressed concern about being caught: “I’m just going to go to jail.”
The son, who enjoys volunteering at the zoo and told investigators he is happy in his group home, had previously maintained regular contact with his mother. After the incident, she stopped visiting.
Commissioner Schnell’s divorce from Myhre-Schnell was finalized in 2024.
Anthony Gockowski
Anthony Gockowski is Editor-in-Chief of Alpha News. He previously worked as an editor for The Minnesota Sun and Campus Reform, and wrote for the Daily Caller.
