Man claims his wife was killed by pipe coming through car windshield

Todd Kendhammer said his wife Barbara was killed in a freak accident when a pipe smashed into the windshield of their car in 2016. A Wisconsin jury didn't believe him, and he was sentenced to life in prison. Their children believe he's innocent. Now, his new legal team says there is evidence the jury never heard. Will a judge grant a new trial? TODD KENDHAMMER [on the stand]:  …just one of those things where you know immediately that's the girl you want. 911 OPERATOR: 911 what is the address of the emergency? OFFICER: There was a pipe in the ground? TODD KENDHAMMER: Is she OK? TODD KENDHAMMER: [in police car] I thought it was a bird at first … And then at the last minute I seen it was a pipe. OFFICER (at the scene): Take pictures of Todd. His front, all the blood, his knuckles, everything. TODD KENDHAMMER: It was a older, like a bigger flatbed-looking truck … Like a pickup truck with a flatbed on it. TODD KENDHAMMER: I'm gonna put a windshield in a truck for a guy. INVESTIGATOR: Did you call the guy? TODD KENDHAMMER [in interrogation room, opening pill container]: Is it OK if I take that? I didn't take my medicine this morning. TODD KENDHAMMER [distraught, holding his head in his hands]: And — I — I — I — just don't — remember, I remember — and I don't know how … I remember — I remember the worst part was when I looked — the pipe was — the pipe was there …" INVESTIGATOR: How did the pipe get through the windshield, let's start there. INVESTIGATOR: There's no explanations for it. You can't — the injuries that were on Barb did not occur from that accident, from a pipe going through your windshield. INVESTIGATOR: I talked to Justin. TIM GRUENKE (trial opening): What started out looking like a tragic car accident would soon become more complicated. DR. KATHLEEN MCCUBBIN | Medical examiner: The cause of Barbara Kendhammer's death was blunt impact injuries of her head and neck. DR. KATHLEEN MCCUBBIN: I did not believe that these injuries are consistent with the end of a pipe striking the back of the head. STEPHEN HURLEY: If her head were moving at the time of the pipe coming through, the pipe had the potential, because it is some 5 feet long, to strike her head in more than one place, is that correct? MARK MESHULAM (showing photo of the windshield): This is the view of the inside of the car looking out. MARK MESHULAM: By observing the crack branching ...  MARK MESHULAM: The first one was a hand impact, when Mr. Kendhammer's fist went into the glass.   NICK STAHLKE: The lines that are highlighted here would indicate those impact points.  JUDGE TODD BJERKE: Mr. Hurley, you'll be calling your next witness? STEPHEN HURLEY: Did you ever strike Barbara Kendhammer? TODD KENDHAMMER: When I watch that video it's me in the picture, but it's not me talking. I'm not in the right state of mind talking in that. I wasn't thinking of where I was going or what I was doing. I was thinking of Barb. JUDGE TODD BJERKE: Mr. Gruenke, you may begin your cross-examination. TODD KENDHAMMER: I don't recall if I said that or not. TIM GRUENKE: And today you say you were trying to find the house of Mr. Loging? TIM GRUENKE: Did you change your story for trial because you knew police had figured out your lies? JUDGE TODD BJERKE: We the jury find the defendant Todd A. Kendhammer guilty … GERIANNE BUCHNER WETTSTEIN [on the stand]: I am here today. I do not stand alone. GERIANNE BUCHNER WETTSTEIN: Barbara found the courage that day to fight back. Therefore, we stand here today, united with that same courage asking you to sentence her killer to the maximum penalty possible. TIM GRUENKE [at sentencing]: Pardon my language, but to be perfectly frank they need to get their head out of their ass. They need to start looking at this in reality …   JERRY BUTING: Did you observe anything on her body that was consistent with Barbara Kendhammer having been beaten with fists? DR. KATHLEEN MCCUBBIN: Yes, some of her injuries certainly could be consistent with an assault or beating as well, yes. DR. SHAKU TEAS: I don't see any injuries on Barbara that I would say are suggestive or consistent with strangulation. JERRY BUTING: So, if she had that in her lap when she's moving forward, could that have caused the cricoid fracture DR. SHAKU TEAS: Barbara Kendhammer died as a result of … an automobile accident.  DR. GEOFFREY LOFTUS [testifying via Zoom]: Something very traumatic and attention-grabbing had occurred, which would likely obliterate any short-term memory that Mr. Kendhammer would have had. KATHLEEN STILLING: Would you say that this was a situation that was ripe for an inaccurate memory? Which contradicts state investigators who, from the beginning, had suggested that a pipe slamming through Todd's windshield was next to impossible.

TODD KENDHAMMER: … She's hit in the head and in the throat. I think in the throat or something. TODD KENDHAMMER: No, it came out of that tree, off a truck. OFFICER: I can't tell you that. I don't know.  INVESTIGATOR: What color was the cab? INVESTIGATOR: So, is the windshield you were going to replace in somebody's driveway or? TODD KENDHAMMER: No, I didn't call him. … I was just gonna swing over and if it was there grab it. INVESTIGATOR: Yeah, that's fine.  TODD KENDHAMMER: The pipe — I don't — It came off a truck. DR. KATHLEEN MCCUBBIN: That may be possible, yes. STEPHEN HURLEY: Yes, I call Todd Kendhammer. TODD KENDHAMMER: No. TODD KENDHAMMER: I don't remember that. TODD KENDHAMMER: Correct. TODD KENDHAMMER: No. DR. SHAKU TEAS: No. PROSECUTOR SUSAN DONSKEY: Consistent with strangulation? DR. SHAKU TEAS:  It could be the mug. DR. GEOFFREY LOFTUS: Yes. INVESTIGATOR [during interrogation]: What are the odds that that would happen to a guy that changes out windshields?  I mean, what do you suppose those odds are?  One in a trillion if at all?

Every year, where the Mississippi widens out on its steady journey south alongside the river town of La Crosse, Wisconsin, bald eagles gather. OFFICER: Off a truck? TODD KENDHAMMER:  I don't even remember. It was darker, I don't — that's all I know. Dark green or dark blue. TODD KENDHAMMER: In his truck. I was gonna take it to my house. TODD KENDHAMMER: I can't recall for sure. JERRY BUTING: Or that she was a woman who had been in a fight? DR. KATHLEEN MCCUBBIN: It could be, yes.