MINNEAPOLIS, Minnesota –
A hearing in which a Minnesota man was expected to plead guilty to hiding a pair of stolen ruby slippers worn by Judy Garland in “The Wizard of Oz” was postponed indefinitely Wednesday after his attorney told the court that the man is hospitalized.
U.S. District Judge Patrick Schiltz granted the stay at the request of Jerry’s attorney Hal Saliterman, 77, of Crystal, who planned to change his plea to guilty at a hearing scheduled for next Friday.
Defense attorney John Brink said Saliterman was hospitalized on Jan. 3 “for inability to walk and sepsis,” a potentially life-threatening infection. He wrote that Salliterman remained hospitalized Wednesday and that doctors do not know when he will be available. Federal prosecutors did not object.
Saliterman attended his arraignment Monday via video from what appeared to be a hospital room. He was wheelchair-bound and on supplemental oxygen last March at his first court appearance. He was later charged with theft of an important work of art and witness tampering for his role in the ruby slippers case.
Jerry Hal Saliterman, of Crystal, Minnesota, is led out of U.S. District Court in St. Paul, Minnesota, on March 15, 2024, after making his initial appearance on charges related to the 2005 robbery of a pair of used ruby slippers. of Dorothy in “The Wizard of Oz.” (AP Photo/Steve Karnowski, File)
The sneakers were stolen in 2005 from the Judy Garland Museum in her hometown of Grand Rapids. Their whereabouts remained a mystery for nearly 13 years until the FBI recovered them in 2018. Last month they fetched a record $32.5 million for movie memorabilia, according to Heritage Auctions.
The man who robbed them, Terry Jon Martin, now 77, of Grand Rapids, pleaded guilty in 2023. He was sentenced last January to time served due to poor health.
