Siblings serving life for murder didn't kill victim, inmate says

Two siblings are serving life sentences for killing Thomas (T.J.) Cady Jr. in 2003, but on Monday a man who knew them and the victim testified that someone else committed the murder.

Danny Collins, a friend of both Cady and his girlfriend, Jamie Larson, took the witness stand in Ramsey County District Court and said that another man told him in a jailhouse conversation that he had killed Cady.

Collins, 25, said he and the other inmate were talking about "snitches" at the Anoka County jail in 2006 when the inmate said of a man who testified against Collins, "I'd kill him just like I did T.J. Cady."

Defense attorney Craig Cascarano said Monday's evidentiary hearing is just "one piece in the puzzle." He has asked Judge Edward Wilson to order a new trial or reverse the Larsons' convictions.

A decision isn't likely to be made soon. Cascarano has until March 17 to submit a memorandum to the court; the state has until April 7 to respond.

Cady, 19, was killed Thanksgiving Day 2003. According to court documents, Jamie L. Larson, her brother Robert V. Larson and Cady attended a party that night at a motel in St. Paul. When Cady left the party to sleep outside in his pickup truck, witnesses said the Larsons began talking about killing Cady, who Jamie Larson complained had hit her.

The brother and sister hijacked the sleeping Cady in his truck, according to trial testimony. After driving to Little Canada, Robert Larson fought with Cady, strangled him and dumped his body in a ditch.

Collins testified Monday that after his conversation with the inmate, he wrote Larson and told her to contact her attorney. When questioned by Assistant County Attorney Mark Lystig, Collins said he never told jail authorities about the conversation.

Cady's mother, Beverly Sowden, said she's not too worried about her son's killers being freed. The Larsons tried to pin the murder on the other inmate during their trials, she said.

"The way I see it, they're grasping at straws," she said. "They know they did it and now they need to sit."

All first-degree murder convictions are automatically appealed to the state Supreme Court; Cascarano said he has asked for and been granted a stay of the appeal.

"If the judge denies our motion, this then becomes part of the appeal to the Supreme Court," Cascarano said.