New Trouble For 'Dr. Phil' Guest
A former Milwaukee police officer trying to prove her innocence in a 21-year-old murder case had her right foot amputated Friday because of injuries suffered when she fell trying to flee out a Los Angeles hotel window three weeks ago, her attorney said.
Laurie Bembenek fractured two major bones and severed an artery in the foot when she fell from the window of a second-story hotel room where she was being kept for the "Dr. Phil" television show, said Mary L. Woehrer of Milwaukee, Bembenek's attorney.
Woehrer said the foot later developed a serious infection as well.
"It has been a very painful situation since the beginning, but she's seen a lot of doctors and they've all concluded that she needed it amputated," Woehrer said Friday night.
She declined to say where the surgery was done.
Bembenek, who is hoping that DNA evidence will exonerate her of a 1981 murder, was in Los Angeles for a taping of the nationally syndicated TV show when the accident happened Nov. 10.
The program paid for DNA testing of evidence in her case and put her under "bodyguard type" surveillance in an effort to shield her from the media reports, Woehrer said. Bembenek was expected to hear the test results for the first time on the show.
But Woehrer said the restrictions the show placed on Bembenek were excessive and triggered memories of Bembenek's imprisonment, causing her to try to escape.
A spokeswoman for the "Dr. Phil" show said at the time Bembenek was free to go wherever she pleased. She also said the only person from the show with Bembenek was a female field producer.
A "Dr. Phil" spokeswoman reached Friday night declined comment.
Bembenek, 44, was convicted in 1982 in the murder of Christine Schultz, her then-husband's former wife. She was sentenced to life in prison but escaped in 1990 and sought asylum in Canada.
She reached a deal with prosecutors in 1992 in which she pleaded no contest to second-degree murder and was released from custody.
Bembenek filed a court order asking for the testing in August, after completing a 10-year probation term.
Bembenek has always maintained her innocence and hopes the testing will prove her innocent.
She was diagnosed in 1995 with hepatitis C, a liver illness, and was also under treatment for depression.