A Bangor woman, who was convicted of murdering her husband 10 years ago, died Saturday in a state prison.
Roxanne Jeskey, 58, died at the Maine Correctional Center in Windham, around 8:35 p.m., according to a news release issued by the Maine Department of Corrections.
Jeskey was serving a 50-year-sentence for the murder of her husband, Richard “Rick” Jeskey, in June 2011 in their Bangor apartment. She was found guilty of intentional and knowing murder and depraved indifference murder in May 2014, according to court records. She was sentenced to serve 50 years in prison in June 2014.
Jeskey’s cause of death was not specified in the news release, only that the Maine Attorney General’s Office and the Office of the Chief Medical Examiner were notified, steps that must be followed whenever there is an inmate death. Medical personnel were in attendance at the time of her death.
During their investigation in June 2011, law enforcement found Richard Jeskey’s unclothed body in the couple’s bathtub with a cellphone, broken in two, on his chest. The shower curtain was ripped, and a broken wooden towel rack and brown leather belt were found lying on the floor of the bathroom, according to records filed with the Maine Supreme Judicial Court. Officers also found a pair of needle-nose pliers and a razor without the blade on the bathroom counter, a broken piece of metal broom handle, a cigarette lighter and a metal towel rod on the floor.
The Bangor Daily News, which covered Jeskey’s murder trial in June 2014, reported that Superior Court Justice E. Allen Hunter imposed a basic sentence of life because of the “monstrous way” Jeskey murdered her 53-year-old husband, calling it tantamount to torture.
Court records state that during the trial the state medical examiner testified that Richard Jeskey suffered three rib fractures, a burn, punctures and cuts to various parts of his body and a broken nose.
When the lower court denied Jeskey’s motion for a new trial claiming she was not guilty by reason of insanity, her attorney filed an appeal with the Maine Supreme Judicial Court.
Jeskey argued that there was insufficient evidence to support the lower court’s finding beyond a reasonable doubt that she was guilty of knowing or intentional murder or depraved indifference murder. She also argued that the court made a mistake by not finding her guilty by reason of insanity and erred when it did not consider the lesser offense of manslaughter.
Supreme Court justices rendered their opinion in August 2016 upholding the lower court’s decision. Justices also ruled that her insanity plea was not supported by evidence and denied her motion, court records show.
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