Court denies convicted double murderer Jacob Cayer's appeal of life sentence in mental health institution
GREEN BAY – An appeals court has denied a 33-year-old Ashwaubenon man's request to be eligible for conditional release from a life sentence in a mental health facility for the 2016 slaying of his ex-girlfriend and her mother.
In 2020, a jury found Jacob P. Cayer guilty of murdering 23-year-old Sabrina Teague and her mother, Heesun “Sunny” Teague, but not responsible due to mental disease or defect. Brown County Circuit Court Judge Tammy Jo Hock ordered that Cayer would not be able to apply for conditional release due to potential harm he may pose to others.
Cayer appealed the decision, claiming that Hock was wrong in denying his motion to present evidence that a third party may have committed the murders and that there was insufficient evidence to support the guilty verdicts.
On Tuesday, the Wisconsin Court of Appeals District III issued an order rejecting each of Cayer's claims and affirming Hock's ruling of a lifelong mental health commitment with no possibility of release.
What happened?
During his opening statements at the 2020 trial, Brown County District Attorney David Lasee called the murders "a real-life horror movie." On the evening of June 7, 2016, Sabrina Teague and her boyfriend, Joel Kennedy, arrived at the Hobart home they shared with Sabrina's mother, Sunny Teague, and found Sunny Teague dead in the bathroom, according to Kennedy's testimony.
When Sabrina Teague attempted to call 911, Cayer emerged from a laundry room and attacked her, then Kennedy, with a knife, according to court documents.
Kennedy testified that after being stabbed through his arm into his chest, he went to the garage and got a shovel, which he swung at Cayer, hitting him in the head. He then went to a bathroom, locked himself in, and called 911.
When police arrived at the house, they found Sabrina Teague laying in a neighboring backyard. First responders tried to save her life, but were unable to, according to court documents.
Police dogs found Cayer covered in blood, hiding in a nearby wooded area.
After his arrest, Cayer told police he rode his bicycle to the Teagues' house that day angry and ready to “get back at the entire world," according to court records. He told police Sabrina Teague was blackmailing his family, and court records and prosecutors said he went to her home with a backpack full of zip ties, duct tape, rope, gloves and knives.
In the police interview, Cayer described how he climbed through Sabrina's bedroom window and attacked her with a knife. He also said he fought with a man who was with Sabrina, and described attacking a woman in a bloody bathroom, court records say. Cayer also drew a detailed map of what the home looked like after the incident that helped police find weapons.
Despite this, at his trial Cayer denied killing Sabrina and Sunny Teague or attacking Kennedy. He said statements he made to police afterward were merely assumptions about what happened, and he did not recall most of what happened the day of the murders, only "discombobulated" "visuals," according to court records. He claimed he was abducted and dragged through the home after the attacks.
After a three-day trial, a jury unanimously decided Cayer was guilty of all charges — two counts of first-degree intentional homicide, one count of attempted first-degree intentional homicide, one count of burglary and two counts of felony bail jumping. In a second phase of the trial, which took just one day, the jury determined in a 10-2 decision that Cayer was not responsible due to mental illness. As a result, he was sentenced to life in a mental health institution rather than prison.
How did the appeals court decision dispute Cayer's claims?
Cayer appealed his order for lifelong commitment to a mental health institution on the grounds that he was wrongfully denied the ability to present evidence at trial that a third party committed the attacks, that he was deprived of his constitutional right to present a defense, and that there was not enough evidence to support the guilty verdicts.
According to court records, Cayer had hoped to present evidence at trial that the murders were carried out by Kennedy and two other men who worked to frame Cayer.
In the Wisconsin Court of Appeals' decision, judges pointed out that evidence shown for the purpose of casting blame onto another person is only admissible in court if it has a "legitimate tendency" to show that the other person may actually be guilty.
This "legitimate tendency" requires the evidence shows that the third party had both a motive and the opportunity to commit the crime, and that there is some evidence that directly connects the person to the crime, the decision states. Cayer's claims that Kennedy was responsible for the murders did not fit these requirements, and thus Hock did not deprive Cayer of a fair trial by not allowing him to present related evidence to the jury, the appeals judges ruled.
As for Cayer's claim that there was insufficient evidence to support the guilty verdicts, the decision states his argument is "are entirely undeveloped and, frankly, absurd."
"The evidence of Cayer’s guilt was overwhelming and more than sufficient to support the verdicts on all six counts," the decision reads.
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Contact Kelli Arseneau at (920) 213-3721 or karseneau@gannett.com. Follow her on Twitter at @ArseneauKelli.
This article originally appeared on Green Bay Press-Gazette: Court denies Jacob Cayer's appeal of life sentence in double murder
