It cites evidence of a suicide attempt, accidental fire

A national justice group says there are three different stories of Sandy Maloney's death - and the most likely is that she died by accident. 

The story accepted by a jury is that Sandy's estranged husband, John Maloney, a former Green Bay police detective and arson investigator, strangled her with his bare hands, bashed her over the head, then set her house on fire and left her to burn Feb. 10, 1998. 

But Truth in Justice, a Virginia-based group that tries to free prisoners it believes were wrongly convicted, believes there was no crime at all, the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel reported in Sunday's editions. 

Another version, argued at John Maloney's trial by defense lawyer Gerald Boyle, is that Maloney's girlfriend at the time wanted Sandy, 40, out of their lives so badly she went to the house and killed her. 

But it's the story the jury believed that landed John Maloney, now 45, in prison with a life sentence, and left his three teenage boys without a parent to raise them. 

The newspaper reported that the couple's 20-year marriage began to fall apart after Sandy became addicted to anti-anxiety medication and began abusing alcohol. The couple were divorcing, but Sandy kept missing court dates and custody hearings. 

Her mother found her body in the Green Bay house the morning of Feb. 11, 1998, so charred she at first didn't notice it in the burned sofa. 

The first two fire investigators on the scene ruled the fire accidental and believed it started with careless cigarette smoking. 

Throughout the basement, investigators used a chemical that detects blood even if it's been cleaned up, finding blood on the coffee table, floor, in the laundry room and in the bathroom. Bloody rags and tissues were found in the trash nearby, and a bloody women's shirt was in the laundry hamper. 

The basement shower door revealed even more blood, and in that blood was the fingerprint of Sandy's best friend, Jody Pawlak. 

But a search of the house yielded other potential clues. A kitchen garbage can with five crumpled suicide notes. An extension cord was tied around a basement ceiling pipe, with one end hanging down. Two VCRs were stacked on a coffee table beneath the dangling cord - nowhere near the TV. 

An autopsy showed Sandy had taken a few breaths of smoke, but her lungs did not have a fatal level of carbon monoxide, which puzzled investigators. Blood alcohol tests showed her blood-alcohol level was 0.25 percent at the time of the autopsy, but was at least 0.36 percent at the time of her death, believed to be between 6 and 8 p.m. the night before. 

Milwaukee County Deputy Chief Medical Examiner John Teggatz listed the cause of death as "probable manual strangulation," after finding evidence of bruising around her neck. 

The Wisconsin Department of Justice took over to avoid a possible conflict of interest, ruling that the fire was deliberately. Local investigators ultimately accepted that decision. 

John Maloney became the prime suspect, but his alibi appeared unshakable. His girlfriend, Tracy Hellenbrand, told investigators she was with John the whole night, except when he left to pick up his son Matt from baseball practice. 

But eventually she came to believe he might be guilty. She said she might have taken a nap that night, during which time John could have left the house. 

Hellenbrand agreed to let police secretly videotape their conversations - after securing immunity from prosecution. 

They got what they were looking for in 18 hours of tape filmed at a Las Vegas hotel. He repeatedly denied killing Sandy, lacing his denials with obscenities. One scene is particularly incriminating, in which it sounds as though John admits going to the house the night of the death. 

"The guy admitted on videotape that he was in the house that night, and that means he did it," said Winnebago County District Attorney Joseph Paulus. "This whole case was the videotape. ... If the videotape hadn't gotten in, we may not have charged the case." 

Defense attorney Boyle said he was suspicious of Tracy ever since meeting her. John's sister Judy said she remembers Tracy saying "Oh, my God, what if they find my hair there?" after learning of Sandy's death. She told the girlfriend that since she'd never been at the house, they couldn't possibly find her hair there. 

After the videotapes were admitted, Boyle said he focused on the only strategy he had: Tracy did it. Her answers on the stand continually changed. She was picked up by police after the first day of her testimony, found trying to leave town. 

But the jury never heard about that, because Boyle thought it might cast her in the role of victim. 

John did not testify in the eight-day trial. 

Truth in Justice began investigating within months. Eight arson investigators from around the country reviewed the fire and all considered it accidental. 

Jurors never learned of the possible suicide scene at the house, said Sheila Berry, a leader of the group. 

She and others say Sandy Maloney drank vodka that night, then composed draft after draft of a suicide note. 

Then, she went to the basement, tossed the electrical cord over the ceiling pipe and tied a crude noose. She stacked the two VCRs on the coffee table, stepped on top of them and prepared to hang herself. But the noose didn't hold and Sandy crashed to the ground, smashing her head on the table. 

They say her friend found her like that and helped her to a bathroom to clean up, leaving behind bloodied rags and tissues, along with Sandy's bloodied shirt. Pawlak guided Sandy upstairs to the couch and covered her with a blanket, where she left her friend on the couch with her cigarettes. 

James D. Dibdin, a California forensic pathologist hired by Truth in Justice, said her blood-alcohol level was potentially lethal. He theorized that Sandy was in an irreversible, alcohol-induced coma for five to seven hours before she died. He said she died from a combination of blood-alcohol poisoning and carbon monoxide poisoning. 

But none of the contrary evidence made it into court. Pawlak told police she didn't go to the home that day, and forensics could not determine when her fingerprint was left. 

Boyle appealed the case to the Court of Appeals, but lost in September 2000, and the state Supreme Court. He planned to argue the appeal to the federal court, but was fired in early 2001. 

John Maloney filed a grievance this spring with the Office of Lawyer Regulation, alleging misconduct by Boyle for failing to provide a thorough defense. 

He said he wishes he could go back to court and testify now, to explain to a jury that no matter what his problems were with Sandy, he never would have taken her out of their children's lives. 

His sister, Ginny Maloney, is raising Matt, 17, Sean, 15, and Aaron, 14.