Man Pleads Guilty To Stealing Garland’s Wizard of Oz Ruby Slippers
His attorney says Terry Jon Martin is in very poor health and wanted to get his "end-of-life affairs" in order.
DULUTH, Minn.– The man who stole ruby slippers worn by Judy Garland in the Wizard of Oz, pleaded guilty Friday in a Duluth courtroom.
It was part of a plea agreement that 76-year-old Terry Jon Martin hopes will result in a sentence that will keep him out of prison.
Martin was in a wheelchair and using an oxygen bottle as he showed up at the Federal Courthouse in Duluth in the morning.
He was there to change his not-guilty plea, and to admit he took the slippers.
With the sound of his oxygen machine filling the courtroom, Martin admitted checking out the Judy Garland Museum back in 2005.
Then on an August night–the alarm system mistakenly off–he went inside with a sledgehammer. He told the court he “smacked the glass case, and the slippers were there.”
Martin said he then kept the slippers in a trailer near his home in the area.
Thinking the ruby slippers actually had rubies, he said he eventually took them to who he described as a jeweler friend who was a fence.
But, when he showed the jeweler the slippers, Martin said, “He showed me they were glass. Instead of rubies, they were glass.”
Outside the courtroom after the guilty plea, his attorney, Dane DeKrey, explained the decision to enter a guilty plea rather than go to trial. He said Martin has advanced COPD, is on oxygen 24/7, and in hospice.
“I think when someone is at the end of their life, they are making decisions that are right for their affairs. I mean the short answer is because he is guilty,” said DeKrey.
“I don’t want anyone to think anything differently. Especially not Judge Schiltz. We just went in there and under oath he admitted his guilt. So, I think he wanted to take responsibility and move on with his life, what little life he has left,” said DeKrey.
“A trial hanging over your head, or doing these things while you’re also trying to get your end-of-life affairs together just didn’t seem like it was something worthwhile to him. And the evidence would have been difficult to overcome. So, in our judgement, it was best to do this,” DeKrey said.
The trail of the slippers after their theft is less clear.
They remained missing for thirteen years, until 2018, when the FBI recovered them. But it would be several more years before Martin was charged with a crime.
John Kelsch was a founding director of the Judy Garland Museum, and got the call the morning after the slippers disappeared. He said he actually found a sequin from the slippers on the floor and pointed it out to police.
Present in the courtroom Friday for a guilty plea from a dying man, there were mixed feelings.
“It’s difficult to see a man that age facing some of this,” said Kelsch.
“We have some closure. We know at least who broke into our museum.”
When asked if there are still any questions he has, Kelsch said, “Well, where did they [slippers] go? What state lines did they cross? Was a wealthy collector behind all this? I mean all these things are unanswered yet,” said Kelsch.
Under the proposed plea agreement, Martin would stay out of prison. Chief Judge Patrick Schiltz will wait for a probation report before sentencing in the next few months. The judge is not bound by the plea agreement.
Until sentencing, Martin remains free, and Friday he was allowed to return home. Because of his health, his attorney says it is not clear if Martin will live long enough to “get to sentencing.”
