Guilty Plea Reached in Southeast Minnesota Murder Case

Preston, MN (KROC-AM News)- The defendant in a southeast Minnesota murder case has entered a plea agreement that would keep her out of prison. 

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50-year-old Jeanne Penhollow of Albert Lea was charged last February with third-degree murder, accomplice to third-degree murder through distributing a controlled substance, third-degree drug sales and fourth-degree drug sales. She was accused of supplying a lethal dose of narcotics to her sister, who was found dead in a detached garage at the family's home in Fillmore County on February 2, 2021. 

On Tuesday Penhallow entered a guilty plea to the accomplice third-degree murder charge. In exchange, the state will dismiss the other three counts. 

Both parties also agreed to a downward sentencing departure of a maximum five-year stayed prison sentence that includes 60 days in jail per year for the first two years. That would be followed by two 30-day jail stints each served over the next two years of the punishment, the plea agreement says. 

Penhollow would also serve six months of home confinement upon completion of the 60-day jail term in the first year of the sentence, the court document says. Penhollow initially pled not guilty to the charges in February. 

The criminal complaint says Penhollow told an investigator she knew her sister used oxycodone and family members reported the victim had significant back pain, migraines, and a history of asthma. An autopsy determined her death was caused by the toxic effects of fentanyl and oxycodone. 

About 10 months later, Fillmore County investigators were contacted by the victim's daughter who indicated she had information regarding the source of the pills that may have led to her mother's death. 

The criminal complaint says the daughter showed the investigators text messages between herself and Penhollow during which Pennhollow admitted supplying the victim with some pills the night of her death. It read, "I got a few pills for her. I have gotten them before from that person, nothing happened to anyone else. She had a few different pills." 

Penhallow is scheduled to be sentenced in February of next year.