lvan Teleguz
No one disputes that Ivan Teleguz did not kill Stephanie Sipes. The man who killed Stephanie, Michael
Hetrick, is serving a life sentence. Hetrick’s accomplice in the murder is scheduled for release from prison
in 2018. Both these killers faced possible death sentences until they agreed to testify against Ivan.
Jn their lengthy interrogation of Hetrick, police gave him extensive information about how and why police
thought Ivan was involved, going so far as to share the investigator's affidavit to the court outlining the
case against Ivan. Hetrick absorbed the information and agreed to testify in order to avoid a likely death
senience, ulti offering testi it with the police’s theory of the case. His accomplice also
agreed to implicate Ivan.
Al trial the two men testified that Ivan hired them to kill Stephanie so that Ivan could avoid making
payments to support their two year-old son. Of course, death of one parent does not relieve the other of
child support responsibilities, and Ivan had faithfully made his payments without complaint.
But jurors accepted the two men’s testi and it Ivan and him to death. When the
Supreme Court of Virginia reviewed the case, it found that the evidence against Ivan was so thin that it
required testimony from Hetirck, his accomplice, and a third man, Alexsey Safanoy, to convict Ivan.
After the trial, both Safanov and the accomplice recanted their trial testimony in sworn statements. The
accomplice admitted that he wanted to avoid the death penalty and was willing to implicate Ivan as
required by the prosecutor. Safanoy conceded that he promised to provide the information in exchange for
the prosecutor’s promise to help him keep from being deported. Based on this information and other
evidence, the federal courts decided to hold a hearing to consider Ivan’s innocence.
But prior to the hearing, the State again raised the threat of a possible death sentence for Hetrick and his
accomplice - this time if they veered from their original trial testimony. Not surprisingly, Hetrick stuck to
the story that meant he avoid a death sentence. The accomplice refused to answer any questions at all, and
the State never asked him whether his testimony or his recantation was the truth. Safanov was living in
Kazakhstan and outside the authority of the federal court to be made to testify.
Despite the fact that the case against Ivan was thoroughly dismantled, the federal court refused to vacate
the conviction or death sentence unless Ivan proved that someone else was responsible for Stephanic’s
death. Unable to identify who this person is, Ivan remains on death row.
