The Luke Wenke Files

Less than a week after being released from the Cattaraugus County Jail on an ankle monitor while awaiting sentencing for a probation violation conviction, Luke Wenke was remanded back into custody due to his alarming online behaviour. The transcript below contains a word-for-word account of the discussion that occurred during the hearing, which took place before the Honorable Frank L. Sinatra, Jr. on December 14th, 2023.

Parties representing the U.S. Government, including U.S. Attorney Michael DiGiacomo, Wenke’s probation officer, and the probation officer’s supervisor, cited the defendant’s multiple references to murder in a barrage of public posts he flooded social media with following his release. DiGiacomo emphasised that Wenke’s victims feared for their safety while essentially pointing out that there was no reason to believe his troubling behaviour would stop.

The parties also referenced Wenke’s repeated statements that he has a right to refuse psychotropic medication, which came days after he had promised to cooperate with treatment during a previous hearing, and his documented history of mocking court-mandated mental health requirements. Both probation and the prosecution urged the judge to detain Luke Wenke as he awaited sentencing for a probation violation charge.

Defence: Luke Wenke Needs, Wants, & Will Cooperate w/ Treatment

Luke Wenke’s public defender, Frank Passafiume, argued for the continuation of his pretrial supervision, claiming that Wenke wants mental health treatment while refuting allegations that he does not take treatment seriously. Passafiume also claimed that Wenke had indicated a willingness to take medication and that he should, at the very least, be given a chance to refuse it before having such assertions held against him.

Furthermore, the defence blamed certain mental health agencies’ apparent refusal to work with Luke Wenke for his lack of a comprehensive treatment plan, stating that Wenke was unable to access care “by no fault of his own.” Probation responded to this claim by arguing that Wenke had cooperated with treatment on a surface level at best, but that he hadn’t truly invested himself in it.

When confronted with the concerning nature of Wenke’s recent social media posts, Passafiume denied that the content contained any overt threats and chalked them up to “commentary.” He also respectfully reminded the judge that Wenke was not wrong in saying that he has a right to refuse psychotropic medication, but urged the court to continue with plans to treat Wenke for mental illness on an outpatient basis.

Judge: Court Has “Bent Over Backwards” to Accommodate Luke Wenke

After concluding that there was no way to release Wenke and ensure the community’s safety, Judge Sinatra ordered him back into custody pending the outcome of his probation violation case. While announcing his decision, he cited Wenke’s repeated mockery of mental health treatment and his begrudging cooperation with previous court-ordered treatment requirements.

The judge also mentioned how the court had bent over backwards to accommodate Luke Wenke’s previous requests for mental health treatment as an alternative to detention, but that he had repeatedly demonstrated a failure to take the program seriously. Although Judge Sinatra agreed that treatment was paramount to making Luke Wenke a safe member of society, he was forced to consider the defendant’s dangerousness to the public.

Toward the end of the hearing, the parties discussed whether it would be appropriate to trigger a formal hearing under 18 U.S.C. § 4244, a federal law allowing for the hospitalisation of a convicted person for a mental disease or defect. The judge scheduled a follow-up status conference for January 2nd, 2024 to continue the discussion.

Judge: “This is a Mess, Mr. Wenke”

After Luke Wenke was freed on GPS monitoring the week before this hearing took place, I wrote directly to the judge overseeing the case. Until that point, I had communicated primarily with other parties regarding Wenke’s continued slander, harassment, and obsessive behaviours, including unwanted letters that I received from him after he was banned by court order from contacting me.

During the hearing on December 14th, the judge acknowledged receipt of my letter, and the other parties involved (prosecutor, probation, Wenke’s public defender) confirmed that they had reviewed its contents. Judge Sinatra raised the issue of people (presumably associated with Luke Wenke) “reaching out” to me, and DiGiacomo responded that “We’ve always been concerned about people reaching out to Katie [last name], Judge.”

DiGiacomo clarified that someone who Wenke was previously incarcerated with had contacted me against my wishes, at which point the judge ordered his staff to add my letter to the public record with sensitive information, like my address, redacted. He then shifted his focus, stating, “This is a mess, Mr. Wenke” while admonishing the defendant for failing to take his situation seriously.

After the hearing, Luke Wenke was booked into custody at the Orleans County Jail in Albion, New York, where he remained for the next nine months while continuing to barrage the court with letters obsessing over his victims.

My Opinion: Evil is Incurable, Treatment is Therefore Pointless

In my opinion, probation did the best job at arguing straightforwardly for Wenke to be detained. It seems, to me, like DiGiacomo hesitated several times when the judge asked him what his position was and whether he believed Luke Wenke needed to be locked up. Even when he affirmed probation’s recommendation for detention, he seemed to avoid explicitly stating it.

All along, I’ve felt as though the people involved in this case tiptoe around Luke Wenke while disproportionately prioritizing mental help that he doesn’t want and arguably does not stand to benefit from. They also seem to underestimate Wenke’s self-awareness, the deliberateness of his actions, and his understanding of the distinction between right and wrong.

In my opinion, several people involved in this case harbour unrealistic hope that treatment can lead to a true turnaround in Wenke’s behaviour. Simply put, I think Luke Wenke is inherently evil and that it’s incurable. Someone who lacks a conscience and/or a sense of empathy to begin with can’t be instilled with those traits through therapy. They can’t be taught to genuinely care about how their actions affect others, and the most any legal authority should hope for is superficial cooperation at best.

I haven’t attended Luke Wenke’s court hearings because I don’t want to reward him with my presence, but I received an update after this one took place. And while I was relieved that Wenke was back in custody, I realistically understood that he wasn’t facing hard time and I already felt doomed by the court’s overemphasis on treatment rather than accountability and consequences. After reading this transcript, I believe that I was justified in my lack of hope that the case would remain a strictly criminal matter or that Luke Wenke would be appropriately held responsible for his actions.

USA v. Luke Wenke – Transcript
December 14^th, 2023

CASE #1:22-cr-00035, DOCKET ENTRY #208