A judge refused Monday to release a San Diego woman wanted in Michigan for allegedly escaping from prison 37 years ago on a misdemeanor larceny conviction, giving prosecutors more time to obtain a governor's warrant from Michigan to send her back to that state.
Attorneys for Judy Lynn Hayman told Judge Michael Smyth that she had her sentence suspended in 1982 and has no time left to serve for the underlying 1976 charge.
Smyth granted prosecutors a 30-day delay to see if a governor's warrant from Michigan arrives in San Diego. Prosecutors have up to 90 days to receive the governor's warrant. In the meantime, Hayman remains held without bail.
"We've been working hard with Michigan authorities to get this cleared up," said Andrew Hillier, one of Hayman's attorneys.
Hillier said he and attorney Lisa Damiani are working with prosecutors in Michigan to correct the official record and accurately reflect Hayman's suspended sentence.
Hayman, 60, was arrested at her Balboa Park-area home Feb. 3. Police said she admitted that Hayman was her name, but refused to admit that in court until Monday.
On Feb. 7, she pleaded not guilty to a criminal complaint charging her with being a fugitive from justice.
Michigan corrections officials said Hayman pleaded guilty in June 1976 to a misdemeanor charge of attempted larceny in a building for trying to steal clothes from a Detroit-area store and was sentenced to serve between 16 months and two years in custody. Ten months later, she walked away from the Women's Huron Valley Correctional Facility.
Damiani said Hayman went back to Michigan in 1982 to resolve the case, and a judge suspended her sentence, essentially sentencing her to time already served.
Hayman legally changed her name to Jamie Lewis in 1983.
In 1996, Hayman was arrested in Nevada. Authorities determined her attempted larceny sentence had been suspended, and she was freed from custody, according to Damiani.
