Monday, June 12, 2000
Woman set for release today
By Susan Vela
The Cincinnati Enquirer
A woman convicted of murdering her abusive brother-in-law in 1995 is expected to walk free today, leaving her sister, Kimberly Springer, to face charges alone.
Mrs. Springer is scheduled for retrial next month.
A Kenton Circuit Court jury ruled last week that her sister, Alexander “Sandra” Eads, wasn't the one to shoot Ernie Springer, 44, of Ludlow, despite an initial confession.
Jurors bypassed a murder charge in Ms. Eads' second trial, which the Kentucky Supreme Court demanded last year, and instead convicted Ms. Eads, 34, of Detroit, of criminal facilitation. She knew her sister was going to kill Mr. Springer but didn't do anything to stop it. The crime is punishable for up to five years.
Ms. Eads already has served that time and is expected to be released after she is formally sentenced today.
Mrs. Springer's attorney, Mike Williams of Covington, believes the toughest challenge will be finding jurors who never heard of Mrs. Springer and Ms. Eads.
They have received media attention since May 21, 1995, when Mr. Springer was found dead in his bed. He had been shot in his left temple while asleep.
It was two months after he completed a YWCA program for abusive men. He went through the program after pleading guilty to abusing Mrs. Springer. An evaluation indicated he had a “low to moderate” likelihood of repeating the abusive behavior.
The sisters originally confessed that Ms. Eads, visiting from Detroit, pulled the trigger, apparently upset about Mr. Springer's treatment of her sister and family.
In their 1996 trial, when they were tried together, Mrs. Springer took the blame. She said she shot her husband because he had been abusing her and was threatening to sexually assault her teen-age daughter, who was living in Virginia at the time.
The jury believed their original confessions, convicting Ms. Eads of pulling the trigger and Mrs. Springer of helping her. Then the Kentucky Supreme Court overturned their convictions and ordered new trials.
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Woman set for release today
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