Investigation Launched After Inmate’s Death at Minnesota State Correctional Facility St. Cloud

(KNSI) – An investigation is underway after a man who was set to begin a 25 year prison sentence for killing his wife was found dead at the Minnesota State Correctional Facility in St. Cloud.

The Department of Corrections says 67-year-old Raymond Julian arrived at the prison on December 20th and died by suicide that same day.

Julian was charged in Carlton County in December of 2021 with second-degree murder after police were called to a home for a welfare check. According to court records, someone told police they had gotten an email from Julian saying he planned to kill his wife, so deputies went to the house and found Julian walking out of a pole barn on the property. The deputy approached Julian and told him why he was there. Julian said he was fine, but his wife was sick and didn’t want him to check on her. The deputy said they weren’t in any trouble, and Julian said, “That’s the problem. You’re going to have to arrest me,” before saying, “My wife is dead. She’s in the bed. I killed her.”

Julian was arrested, and investigators say they found a shotgun on the kitchen counter and a .357 in a black zip case in the empty house, according to the criminal complaint. Police said they went to the pole barn and found the woman dead from two gunshot wounds.

Julian pleaded guilty to second degree murder with intent/not premeditated in September and was facing up to 40 years in prison. Julian contended it was an assisted suicide and a mercy killing as his wife was extremely ill.

Assisted suicide is illegal in the state of Minnesota, and anyone found in violation of the state statute can be charged.

Letters to the court by friends of Julian petitioned for leniency, with one saying, “Ray is a good, kind-hearted individual that would help a person out any way he could.” It added that he was “crazy in love” with his wife Tracy from early in the relationship, and through the years, “his feelings never wavered.” The letter said the last time they saw Tracy, she was “weak,” “in bad shape,” and in one letter, “beyond ready to leave this world.” The letter said, ” I know Ray must have agonized over his decision to do the right thing for his beloved Tracy, to end her suffering. In the end, I believe Ray did the right thing.”

The judge disagreed, saying the case didn’t present a substantial and compelling circumstance to support a mitigated dispositional departure. Attorneys said they weren’t arguing about his wife’s health, but without medical documents to support a terminal diagnosis, other options were available, including palliative care.

Julian was sentenced to 25 years in prison on December 18th.

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