Jury returns guilty verdict in eye drop murder trial

UPDATED: 1:22 p.m. on Nov. 14, 2023:

WAUKESHA, Wis. (CBS 58) -- The jury returned a guilty verdict in all three counts in the case of Jessy Kurczewski.

Jessy Kurczewski was crying after being found guilty of first degree intentional homicide and theft. She continued to cry as she was taken back into custody. @CBS58 pic.twitter.com/n1gvODlEex

— Stephanie Rodriguez (@StephRodNews) November 14, 2023

When asked if the property stolen was worth more than $100,000, the jury said no, but the jury returned that it was worth more than $10,000.

WAUKESHA, Wis. (CBS 58) -- Jury deliberations continue in a case against a Franklin woman accused of poisoning a friend with eye drops.

On Monday, Nov. 13, both sides in the eye drop murder trial gave their closing arguments.

"To believe this was a suicide, you would have to believe that by the most cosmic intervention in the entire world, it happened at the exact point in time when Ms. Kurczewski maximized the amount of money that she made on this whole ordeal," said Abbey Nickolie, Waukesha County deputy district attorney. 

Prosecutors did not mince words when asking the jury to find 39-year-old Jessy Kurczewski guilty of first-degree intentional homicide and two counts of theft for allegedly killing family friend Lynn Hernan with eye drops in 2018 after allegedly stealing over $290,000 from her and her estate.

Her income was stealing from Ms. Hernan and she never paid a dime of it back," Nickolie said.

The state highlighted Kurczewski's varying versions of events, including her admission that she gave Hernan a Visine-filled water bottle the day she died. They say Kurczewski constantly changed her story because she thought she could talk her way out of charges. 

"Ms. Kurczewski has a pattern of making things up to get herself out of trouble," Nickolie told the jury. "The only things that never change are the only things that only Lynn could correct, that she was suicidal and that she wanted to give all her money away."

But Kurczewski's defense painted a different picture during their closing arguments, one where Hernan gifted Kurczewski money after deciding to make her "exit."

"She knows she's going out, she's giving it to Jessy," said defense attorney Donna Kuchler. "It is a lot of money. It's a tremendous amount of money. Just because it's a lot of money doesn't mean Lynn didn't approve of it, and in fact, the evidence suggests she did."

Kuchler claimed Hernan signing a do-not-resuscitate order while in the hospital and writing her own obituary showed she was thinking about dying. They also told the jury that if Kurczewski had killed her, she wouldn't have left evidence at the crime scene.

"Why would you leave the water bottles? Like any more than if you shot somebody with a gun, would you leave the gun? I don't think so," Kuchler said, again telling the jury Hernan took her own life.

The defense also showed medical records that alleged substance abuse by Hernan.

"Due to her pain, all she does is sit around and smoke, sometimes three packs per day," Kuchler said, reading a document out loud to the jury.

During rebuttal, prosecutors told the jury this was to take attention off Kurczewski.

"What has happened is that it has become a full-blown attack on Lynn Hernan," Nickolie said. "The intent is to mislead you."

Jury deliberations will continue into Tuesday.