State focuses on victim, defendant finances as eye drop murder trial continues

 

MILWAUKEE (CBS 58) -- The state is closing in on the end of their case against a Franklin woman they believe killed a family friend by poisoning her with eye drops.

After spending a full day on the stand, the Waukesha County detective who investigated the financial patterns of Jessy Kurczewski and the woman she is on trial for murdering, Lynn Hernan, answered questions from the defense.

Kurczewski's lawyers have spent the last two weeks trying to cast doubt on the state's belief the 39-year-old killed Hernan for money, allegedly stealing over $290K from Hernan.

Of the 21 checks he testified that Hernan wrote from her account, 20 were made out to Kurczewski, with varying things written in the memo section.

"Fair to say you could not and did not talk to Lynn about the memo on any of these checks, whether this money was being given to Jessy as a gift or elsewise," Defense Attorney Brad Novreske said.

"I did not speak to Lynn at all about the checks that were issued out of her account," Waukesha County Detective Nathan Plennes said.

In his findings, the detective said over $134K was signed over to Kurczewski, who frequently made ATM withdrawals, while Hernan did not.

"Did you take any steps to try to verify if Jessy ever made cash payments at a car repair place, for example, to try to trace that income?" Novreske asked.

"I can't say that I checked at any cash transactions," Plennes answered.

The detective said there were many irregularities in Hernan's spending, like loan applications and spending at places she never visited, including Potawatomi Hotel & Casino and various Milwaukee County bars.

"Did you come to some opinion about what was going on with these financial accounts?" Waukesha County Assistant District Attorney Randy Sitzberger asked Plennes during redirect on Thursday, Nov 2.

"That these accounts were being used by Jessy Kurczewski," Plennes said.

Late Thursday the state called their final witness, the lead detective in the case against Kurczewski. Witness testimony continues Friday.