Taylor Schabusiness and her attorney were in court on Wednesday after filing a motion to dismiss a sexual assault charge ahead of her upcoming murder trial.
The Wisconsin woman accused of murdering a man, sexually assaulting his corpse, and then dismembering his body is seeking to suppress statements she made to police in the wake of the alleged meth-fueled massacre.
Taylor Schabusiness and her attorney were in court on Wednesday after filing a motion to dismiss a sexual assault charge ahead of her upcoming murder trial.
The judge later ruled for the motion to be unsealed, providing harrowing new details about the attack and providing a glimpse into how Schabusiness might defend herself against that charge if the judge rules against the motion.
Schabusiness is charged with murder, mutilating a corpse and sexual assault. Her arrest came after she told police that she murdered Shad Thyrion, dismembered his body and sexually assaulted his corpse.
She has pleaded not guilty by reason of mental disease or defect, and in the unsealed motion obtained by Inside Edition Digital claims she "blacked out" while confessing her alleged crimes to police.
TAYLOR SCHABUSINESS MOTION TO DISMISS
The defense argues that "[Thyrion] was not a person at the time of the alleged incident as [Thyrion] was deceased," reads the motion. "The defense asserts that once the person is deceased, then they no longer are a person as defined under the jury instructions and statute."
That motion also argues that the badly dismembered body would have made it impossible for Schabusiness to sexually assault Tyrion.
"The defense asserts and argues that it would be unlikely and almost impossible for any sexual assault to occur with how the dismembered body was found by law enforcement," writes defense attorney Christopher Froelich in the motion first filed on May 24. "The appendage (penis) was not attached to the body when it was found and the appendage was unable to function due to its condition."
The most interesting development however is the defense team's bid to suppress the statements made by Schabusiness about the alleged assault.
"The defense argues that there is no evidence to support a sexual assault other than the defendant’s own statements when she was under the influence of meth and trazadone," reads the motion. "Those statements are going to be the subject of a motion to suppress hearing."
The motion circles back to this argument a second time, saying "the defendant’s alleged answers to questions are not reliable due to being under the influence of drugs."
The state filed a response objecting to the defense's motion, claiming that it is far too late into the proceedings for the defense team to seek dismissal of a charge in the case.
In that filing the prosecutor also took aim at the defense for the imagery included in the motion, which remains under seal despite the judge unsealing the rest of the document.
“[T]he State is utterly at a loss why the defense felt it necessary to attach Exhibit C to this motion. It is inflammatory, irrelevant, unnecessary, and potentially violative of the crime victims’ rights to be treated with dignity, respect, courtesy, sensitivity, and fairness,'" writes Deputy District Attorney Caleb Saunders.
Looking ahead, the motion to suppress could have major implications in the case since Schabusiness also confessed to the murder and mutilation of Thyrion's corpse in that same interview with police.
TAYLOR SCHABUSINESS CRIMINAL COMPLAINT
Schabusiness willingly spoke with police after her arrest and told officers she decapitated Thyrion, 25, during sex according to the complaint.
"At one point during the interview, Schabusiness stated she could feel the Victim’s heart beating still as she was choking him, so she kept pulling and choking him harder, but the Victim would not die and that he just kept 'rebuilding into muscle,'” says the complaint.
Thyrion's "face turned purple, blood was coming out of his mouth, but she did not stop."
At that point, Schabusiness allegedly dismembered Thyrion's lifeless body with knives she found in his kitchen.
She also allegedly told officers that she sexually assaulted his corpse.
"Schabusiness stated the plan was for her to bring all of the body parts with her but she got lazy and only ended up putting the leg/foot in the van and she forgot the head," says the complaint.
The Green Bay Police Department began searching for the victim's body parts, a task that Schabusiness allegedly found very amusing.
“Schabusiness responded that the police were going to have fun trying to find all of the organs,” wrote Caleb Saunders, assistant district attorney for Brown County, in the complaint.
The motion unsealed on Wednesday shares new details about the location of Thyrion's body parts.
"There were apparently other alleged body parts found in a Jimmy Choo bag, alleged body parts in an Under Armour bag and in a Crock Pot box found in the Chrysler mini-van," reads the motion. "The defendant apparently blacked out as she reported to police."
Schabusiness will next in appear in court on June 16, and her trial date has now been pushed back to late July court records show,
