Gypsy Blanchard's release from prison looms as Nicholas Godejohn fights for new trial

Gypsy Rose Blanchard will soon exit a prison in Chillicothe, Missouri and experience freedom for the first time in eight years.

The man with whom she conspired to kill her mother faces a lifetime of incarceration.

Nicholas Godejohn, Blanchard's boyfriend in 2015 when he brutally stabbed Dee Dee Blanchard several times at a Springfield home before he and Gyspy fled to his native Wisconsin, continues to fight for a new trial.

His new public defender, Tyler Coyle, filed another appeal Tuesday, citing ineffective counsel. He claims Godejohn's previous lawyers failed to fully investigate and present evidence from a qualified neuropsychologist specializing in Autism Spectrum Disorder in the defendant's diminished capacity defense.

Godejohn had long been diagnosed with autism; the defense in his previous trial was that he was unable to distinguish fantasy from reality due to the level of his neurodevelopmental condition. He was charged with first-degree murder and armed criminal action, but Cole believes he should have been charged with second-degree murder due to his condition, which would have included the possibility of parole and potentially shaved decades from his prison sentence.

An amended Dec. 5 court filing said "Godejohn was prejudiced as a result, in that had counsel not been ineffective, there is a reasonable probability that he would not have been convicted of first degree murder and armed criminal action and would not have been sentenced to life without probation and parole and twenty-five years."

Godejohn was sentenced to life without parole in 2018. Gypsy, his former girlfriend, pleaded guilty and was sentenced for second-degree murder for helping orchestrate the crime. She was recently paroled and is scheduled for a Dec. 28 release.

A Greene County jury found Godejohn guilty, a highly publicized case with national interest. It has since inspired movies and documentaries due to its bizarre circumstances and the nature of the abuse the murder victim had apparently inflicted on her daughter. According to a letter she wrote the News-Leader in 2021, Gypsy plans to write her own book about what transpired and her time in prison.

Dee Dee Blanchard made Gypsy appear to have a series of serious illnesses during her childhood and young adult life, including leukemia and epilepsy, forcing her daughter to also use an oxygen tank and a wheelchair to help maintain the facade. Believing Gypsy was fighting for her life, the community rallied around her and helped pay the family's bills.

More: Gypsy Rose Blanchard will be released from prison on parole this December

Godejohn said he killed Dee Dee — a woman who appears to have suffered from Munchhausen syndrome by proxy, a mental condition in which someone makes another person ill or maintains the illusion of being ill — to help free Gypsy from the extreme physical and psychological abuse.

“I would’ve done it again. I might have done it differently but I would’ve done it again. I couldn’t see her suffer anymore," Godejohn said in a prison interview for a documentary.

Gypsy, who is now 32 and has since married another man, said in prison during an ABC 20/20 segment that "I feel like I'm more free in prison than living with my mom. Because now, I'm allowed to just live like a normal woman."

Godejohn's new attorney cited in court documents that the 2018 jury did not hear evidence that Godejohn’s autism played a role in his relationship with Gyspy, and that she manipulated him.

This was also brought to the court's attention along with other arguments in 2022 during a post-conviction hearing. Judge David Jones, who has since retired, denied a motion earlier this year to vacate the sentence.

"The prosecutor was able to argue in closing that (Gypsy) did not deceive Mr. Godejohn into killing her mother because she merely asked him, and he made the decision."

Greene County prosecutors have said that they previously offered plea deals for second-degree murder to Godejohn before he took his case to trial.

Godejohn is currently serving time at the Potosi Correctional Center in Mineral Point, Missouri.

This article originally appeared on Springfield News-Leader: Gypsy Blanchard's release from prison looms as ex fights for new trial