Woman, 62, receives 30 years in prison for suffocating husband to death

Sherry Midstokke clutched a piece of yellow paper as she moved toward the front of the lone courtroom in the Steele County Courthouse Wednesday. On the paper were some of the last words her children would hear her speak before she was sentenced by District Judge Steven Marquart to 30 years in prison for killing their father. “I still don’t believe Lyle is dead,” she said through tears. Midstokke, 62, will spend the next 20 years in prison for killing her husband Lyle Midstokke, 66, by suffocation last February. The remaining 10 years will be suspended if she does not violate her probation.   “In my history as a district court judge, I have sentenced murderers to life imprisonment without parole,” Marquart said. “In my mind, this murder was as calculated and senseless as any of those.” The sentence came after her children met and discussed the terms with Steele County Prosecutor Charles Stock. They and other community members gathered in the courtroom for the sentencing. Only one spoke during the proceedings, the couple’s foster daughter Angie Charette. She did not require a piece of paper. “I will never deny anything you have ever done for me,” Charette said from the prosecutor’s table, asking her once-foster mother to look at her as she spoke. “I still love you. I do. But what you did - how could you take someone that meant so much us?” Her tearful statement rousted soft crying from others in the audience. “What have you done?” Charette asked, before breaking down and walking back to her seat where another tearful woman held her. Tearful remarks Midstokke also broke down during her own statement to the court. “I loved Lyle and I always will,” she said. Her attorney, Blake Hankey, sought at the hearing to have his client serve 15 years of the 30-year sentence with the remaining 15 years suspended. He brought forward examples of other Class AA murders from around the state. Some crimes, though arguably more violent, saw their perpetrators serving less than 20 years. Both Midstokke’s age and lack of a criminal past warranted a lighter sentence, according to Hankey. Charette disagreed. “You’re talking about 15 years,” she said during her statement. “You gave him a life sentence of nothing. No more anything. No more chances to be with his grandkids, no more chances to watch them grow up.” Midstokke also mentioned those grandchildren in her statement, listing the things, such as first steps and football games, she and Lyle have missed. Stock said he heard no apologies in Midstokke’s words, which prompted her to say “I’m sorry,” several times following his statement before she was hushed. A ‘planned’ crime Midstokke was allowed to speak one more time before Marquart sentenced her. “I know I did it, but I still don’t know why I did it. It’s done and over, and I’m sorry. I want the kids to know that,” she said. Both Marquart and Stock emphasized that, contrary to the defense’s statements, the crime was premeditated. Charette shared the same thoughts. “It’s was planned,” she said during her statement. “Don’t say no, you know it was true, we all know it was true.” Midstokke told investigators that she had spent the weekend drugging Lyle - her husband of more than 40 years - in an attempt to make him go to sleep and never wake up, Stock told the courtroom. When that failed, she placed a plastic bag over his head and choked him with a dog leash. First responders arrived at the home Feb. 3, 2014, to find Lyle dead and Sherry Midstokke claiming she found him that way. Later that day, she would be arrested after telling investigators that she killed him. While addressing the court, Marquart noted the motive was one of the oldest in history - greed. Last February, Midstokke applied for a public defender after her son David Midstokke froze her assets, which Sherry Midstokke listed as $2.3 million on her application, most of it in 480 acres of farmland Lyle inherited from his family. “There’s no justification for what happened,” he said before passing the sentence. Midstokke was sentenced one year and seven days after her husband’s murder and barely two weeks before what would have been his 68th birthday. On Wednesday, Midstokke locked eyes with her children one last time before bursting into tears on her way to the rear of the courtroom.
Sherry Midstokke clutched a piece of yellow paper as she moved toward the front of the lone courtroom in the Steele County Courthouse Wednesday.On the paper were some of the last words her children would hear her speak before she was sentenced by District Judge Steven Marquart to 30 years in prison for killing their father.“I still don’t believe Lyle is dead,” she said through tears.Midstokke, 62, will spend the next 20 years in prison for killing her husband Lyle Midstokke, 66, by suffocation last February. The remaining 10 years will be suspended if she does not violate her probation.  “In my history as a district court judge, I have sentenced murderers to life imprisonment without parole,” Marquart said. “In my mind, this murder was as calculated and senseless as any of those.”The sentence came after her children met and discussed the terms with Steele County Prosecutor Charles Stock.They and other community members gathered in the courtroom for the sentencing.Only one spoke during the proceedings, the couple’s foster daughter Angie Charette. She did not require a piece of paper.“I will never deny anything you have ever done for me,” Charette said from the prosecutor’s table, asking her once-foster mother to look at her as she spoke. “I still love you. I do. But what you did - how could you take someone that meant so much us?”Her tearful statement rousted soft crying from others in the audience.“What have you done?” Charette asked, before breaking down and walking back to her seat where another tearful woman held her.Tearful remarksMidstokke also broke down during her own statement to the court.“I loved Lyle and I always will,” she said.Her attorney, Blake Hankey, sought at the hearing to have his client serve 15 years of the 30-year sentence with the remaining 15 years suspended.He brought forward examples of other Class AA murders from around the state. Some crimes, though arguably more violent, saw their perpetrators serving less than 20 years.Both Midstokke’s age and lack of a criminal past warranted a lighter sentence, according to Hankey.Charette disagreed.“You’re talking about 15 years,” she said during her statement. “You gave him a life sentence of nothing. No more anything. No more chances to be with his grandkids, no more chances to watch them grow up.”Midstokke also mentioned those grandchildren in her statement, listing the things, such as first steps and football games, she and Lyle have missed.Stock said he heard no apologies in Midstokke’s words, which prompted her to say “I’m sorry,” several times following his statement before she was hushed.A ‘planned’ crimeMidstokke was allowed to speak one more time before Marquart sentenced her.“I know I did it, but I still don’t know why I did it. It’s done and over, and I’m sorry. I want the kids to know that,” she said.Both Marquart and Stock emphasized that, contrary to the defense’s statements, the crime was premeditated.Charette shared the same thoughts.“It’s was planned,” she said during her statement. “Don’t say no, you know it was true, we all know it was true.”Midstokke told investigators that she had spent the weekend drugging Lyle - her husband of more than 40 years - in an attempt to make him go to sleep and never wake up, Stock told the courtroom. When that failed, she placed a plastic bag over his head and choked him with a dog leash.First responders arrived at the home Feb. 3, 2014, to find Lyle dead and Sherry Midstokke claiming she found him that way. Later that day, she would be arrested after telling investigators that she killed him.While addressing the court, Marquart noted the motive was one of the oldest in history - greed.Last February, Midstokke applied for a public defender after her son David Midstokke froze her assets, which Sherry Midstokke listed as $2.3 million on her application, most of it in 480 acres of farmland Lyle inherited from his family.“There’s no justification for what happened,” he said before passing the sentence.Midstokke was sentenced one year and seven days after her husband’s murder and barely two weeks before what would have been his 68th birthday.On Wednesday, Midstokke locked eyes with her children one last time before bursting into tears on her way to the rear of the courtroom.