39 years later, St. Paul cop's widow can move on

In the 39 years since the ambush slaying of her police-officer husband, Jeanette Sackett-Monteon raised four children and welcomed seven grandchildren, she is "proud to say."

But it wasn't until Thursday, she said, after a Ramsey County District Court proceeding, that the widow of St. Paul police officer James Sackett felt she truly could move on.

"It's over," Sackett-Monteon said after Larry L. Clark accepted a plea deal wrapping up the celebrated cold case. "I can breathe a sigh of relief."

Sackett, 27, was felled by a sniper's bullet on May 22, 1970. It was a killing that shocked St. Paul then -- and again four years ago, when Clark and Ronald Reed were arrested and later convicted of the crime.

Last year, however, Clark's conviction was overturned, and a new trial ordered, spurring the plea deal that now requires him to spend one more year in prison.

His Alford plea to a charge of conspiracy to commit murder allowed Clark to maintain his innocence while acknowledging there was sufficient evidence to convict him.

In return, prosecutors dropped a first-degree murder charge and agreed to a six-year sentence requiring Clark to serve five years in prison, with credit for the four years he already has spent in custody.

Sackett's family did not object to the deal.

A charged era

Sackett had been on the force 18 months, and was on his first day back after the birth of his fourth child, when he and his partner were lured to a Selby-Dale area house by a fake medical call about a pregnant woman. He was shot once.

At Reed's trial, witnesses testified that Reed plotted to kill a white officer in hopes of inspiring the Black Panthers to start a chapter in St. Paul.

Evidence against Clark was more circumstantial. He lived a few doors down from the shooting, and was seen that day with Reed, who was carrying a high-powered rifle like the one used to kill Sackett.

Sackett-Monteon sat with her son, Jim Jr. Behind them were investigators and, throughout the courtroom, people who had won a national cold-case award for their combined work on the case.

At the end, Jim Jr., one of the four "J's" -- along with Jennifer, Julie and Jerel -- born to James and Jeanette Sackett, deferred comment to his mother, who was hugging a prosecutor.

Sackett-Monteon spoke of restless nights wondering, "What's next?" But, now, it was done, she said. As she looked toward the elevators, she added: "I'll walk away, and live my life happily ever after."