After nearly 24 years in prison, a man found guilty in the murder of Tom Monfils, is now free.
Fifty-four-year-old Michael Hirn is known as one of the Monfils 6. He was granted parole this month and released from a minimum-security prison in the Tomahawk area this morning.
Hirn and five other men were convicted in 1995 of killing Monfils. Monfils’ body was found in a pulp vat at a Green Bay paper mill in 1992.
Hirn talked with our TV partners at Action 2 News after he walked out of prison this morning. He says he’s going to take things one day at a time, and enjoy spending time with family.
Hirn says things have changed since he’s been behind bars. He says he’s never used a cell phone, so that will be a big challenge.
Three of the men are still in prison. Keith Kutska’s next parole date is in 2021, and Michael Johnson and Rey Moore have parole dates next year.
Michael Piaskowski’s conviction was overturned by an appeals court in 2001. Dale Basten was granted parole in September of last year because of failing health. He died in June.
At trial, prosecutors said the men killed Monfils as revenge, because he told authorities that Kutska stole an electrical cord from the paper mill where they worked.
The parole commission called Hirn a model prisoner.
