'I shot him, even if I didn't pull the trigger': Woman sentenced to 23 years in prison for role in 2021 murder of Kaukauna man
APPLETON – In March 2021, Tanya Stammer commented on a Facebook picture of her and her boyfriend, referring to the two of them as a modern-day Bonnie and Clyde.
Days later, the Milwaukee couple robbed and killed 37-year-old Brian Porsche at his home in Kaukauna, authorities said.
Stammer had been let into Porsche's home under the guise of a planned sexual encounter. But she and her boyfriend, Dontae Payne, discussed a plan to rob and, if necessary, murder Porsche.
"Mr. Porsche died an unnecessary death. It was a violent death. It was a planned death. It was avoidable for a lot of different reasons and in a lot of different ways," Outagamie County Circuit Court Judge Mark McGinnis said Wednesday at Stammer's sentencing.
Stammer, 31 pleaded guilty to second-degree intentional homicide as party to a crime in July. A second charge of armed robbery as party to a crime was dismissed as part of a plea deal.
Payne is charged with first-degree intentional homicide and armed robbery, both as party to a crime. He has entered a plea of not guilty by reason of mental disease or defect, and has a jury trial scheduled for July 2024.
At a sentencing hearing that lasted over four hours, McGinnis sentenced Stammer to 23 years in prison, followed by 20 years of extended supervision, for her role in the homicide.
McGinnis said he believes Stammer should be under court supervision for the rest of her life.
"My goal would be that the day you die, you still will be on extended supervision," McGinnis said.
On March 30, 2021, Stammer's friend drove Stammer and Payne to Porsche's home in the 100 block of West Division Street. The vehicle parked at a gas station across the street, and Stammer exited the vehicle and walked to Porsche's house around 7:24 p.m., surveillance video showed. Less than two minutes later, Payne left the vehicle and walked into the residence.
Both Payne and Stammer left the house less than 10 minutes later. Stammer's friend driving the vehicle told police that Payne came back to the vehicle holding a gun, and Stammer carried $500 in cash, some change and a set of keys. On a drive to Oshkosh, they stopped at a park to throw Porsche's phone and keys in Lake Winnebago. Investigators later recovered the phone and were able to extract information from it.
Porsche's brother called police around 3:30 p.m. the next day after finding Porsche dead at his house. An autopsy determined he died of a single gunshot wound to his head.
Outagamie County District Attorney Melinda Tempelis requested a sentence of 25 years of initial confinement and 20 years of extended supervision. Stammer's defense attorneys, Mindy Nolan and Aaron Nelson, requested a sentence of 10 to 15 years of initial confinement followed by 15 to 20 years of extended supervision.
Days after Porsche's death, Stammer told investigators, "I shot him, even if I didn't pull the trigger."
In court proceedings over the last couple years, Stammer has claimed she was a victim of human trafficking and forced by Payne and her friend — who drove Stammer to Porsche's house the evening he was killed — to engage in sex work.
Tempelis, however, argued that evidence from text conversations and social media paint a different picture. Stammer was not forced into sex work, Tempelis said, and Payne was her boyfriend, not her pimp. In fact, in conversations with both Payne and Stammer's friend, Stammer seemed to be the leader and decision-maker.
Messages sent from Stammer's phone to Payne's phone indicate the plan to kill Porsche was Stammer's idea, and Payne agreed to it, Tempelis said.
"She never has a plan, in my opinion, to have sex with (Porsche) that day. This is all a plan — they don’t have money, they’re coming up here, she wants to be Bonnie and Clyde, and she has the plan to come up here and kill him and then rob him," Tempelis said.
In the defense's sentencing argument, Nolan presented a PowerPoint that included childhood pictures of Stammer and a diagrams showing how Stammer's trauma from physical and sexual abuse she suffered in her youth at the hands of family members reflected in mental health issues and behaviors she has engaged in as an adult.
Stammer was hospitalized for mental health issues numerous times in her childhood, the first at age 11. She got involved in sex work at age 16. She became addicted to drugs, and never learned what a healthy relationship looks like, Nolan said.
Nolan also argued that sex trafficking has a broad definition, and can include a person withholding drugs or threatening violence unless a victim participates in a commercial sex act — both of which Nolan claimed Stammer faced while engaging in sex work to help provide funds for herself, Payne and Stammer's friend.
Still, Nolan said Stammer recognizes she needs to spend some years in prison and address "major, glaring" treatment needs before she can once again be a part of the community.
Before McGinnis delivered his sentence, Stammer gave a statement to the court.
"I am here today because I am making no excuses for my actions. And I am truly, sincerely and genuinely sorry for what happened and that I even played a part in it. I have regretted all of it since the idea came about," Stammer said, through tears and shaky breaths.
Stammer described a plan to utilize resources offered in prison to help her issues with mental health, substance abuse and trauma.
Stammer had two other cases that were dismissed but read in: a 2020 misdemeanor battery incident and an August 2023 incident in the jail that in which she was charged with expelling bodily substances and disorderly conduct, as part of what her attorney described as a manic episode. McGinnis said these cases did not have a significant impact on his sentencing decision.
RELATED: Woman convicted for role in 2021 robbery, murder of Kaukauna man at his home
Contact Kelli Arseneau at 920-213-3721 or karseneau@gannett.com. Follow her on Twitter at @ArseneauKelli.
SUPPORT LOCAL JOURNALISM: Our subscribers make this coverage possible. Click to see The Post-Crescent's special offers at postcrescent.com/subscribe and download our app on the App Store or Google Play.
This article originally appeared on Appleton Post-Crescent: Woman sentenced to 23 years in prison for role in 2021 murder of Kaukauna man
