ST. CHARLES – Russ Faria may have spent three years in prison for a crime he didn’t commit but he wants the woman who put him there to receive a fair trial.

Mercy though? Well, that’s a different story.

In an interview with the Lincoln County Journal, Faria said he’s “okay” with the five-year delay from when Pam Hupp was charged with the murder of his wife, Betsy, and the start of her trial, Aug. 3, 2026.

“If she was out on the street still causing havoc, I might feel a little bit differently,” Faria said of Hupp, who is currently serving a life sentence for the murder of Louis Gumpenberger. “I’m kind of okay with it as long as we get a good thorough trial and a fair trial at that.”

While it was an unfair trial, complete with lying investigators and legal maneuvers that hamstrung Faria’s defense that led to his conviction, he said he truly wants Hupp to have a different judicial experience.

“I think everyone deserves that no matter who they are,” Faria said. “They are trying to do everything right and make sure everything is done the proper way so there are no do-overs or things like that.”

Betsy’s Murder

Stabbed more than 50 times in her Troy home, Betsy Faria died Dec. 27, 2011. Lincoln County Sheriff Deputies subsequently arrested Russ on murder charges despite the fact he was with a group of friends at the estimated time of Betsy’s death.

Hupp served as a key witness during Russ’ trial in November 2013. A jury found him guilty, giving him a life sentence in prison without parole.

However, Faria received a second trial when his attorney, Joel Schwartz, discovered sheriff’s detectives lied about crime scene photos. Those photos, coupled with evidence that Betsy made Hupp a beneficiary on a $150,000 life insurance policy, led to Faria’s exoneration and a not guilty verdict.

Faria also received a $2 million settlement from Lincoln County for his wrongful conviction.

The Alford Plea

Hupp later killed Louis Gumpenberger in an attempt to divert suspicion back on Faria.

She entered an Alford Plea to that murder charge in 2019, in which she received a sentence of life in prison without parole in exchange for avoiding the death penalty.

And while he may be “okay” with a delayed trial, Faria feels differently about Hupp avoiding the death penalty again.

“I’d be a little disappointed if they took an Alford plea,” he said. “To me that’s a cop out.”

Lincoln County Prosecuting Attorney Mike Wood told The Journal the same thing Faria had already heard from him.

“I will not take an Alford Plea, period. I’m not going to play that game,” Wood said. “I don’t think you should get off easy by just serving life in prison. But I think a jury should make that decision. And the jury could decide life without parole. They aren’t obligated to give her the death penalty. But I don’t think I’m doing my job if I don’t present it to them.”

A Delayed Trial

While originally targeting a summer 2025 trial, Wood remains content waiting another year after having the trial moved from Springfield to St. Charles.

“If pushing this back 12 months and us getting the benefit of getting to prosecute this in St. Charles, I’ll take it everyday,” he said. “I can not understate how much it will benefit us in our case by having the lion share of all of our witness to be available in a courthouse convenient for everybody. The scheduling with having everyone coming down to Springfield would have been untenable.”

Like Wood, Faria isn’t as concerned with the Gumpenberger plea as he is with what’s yet to happen.

“We can’t change what happened there (Gumpenberger case),” he said. “What we can do is move forward with this one because if they had done their job right 10 years ago, we wouldn’t be having this conversation because she would have been in jail a long time ago and we wouldn’t have to worry about other people who were her victims.”