News 02.22.17
22 February 2017 News
A Fond du Lac judge sets a new trial date a month after rejecting a motion to dismiss first murder charges against an over the road trucker from Kenosha. Judge Robert Wirtz set a new trial starting February 12th of next year for Dennis Brantner. Brantner is charged in the 1990 death of Berit Beck in Fond du lac County. A status conference will be held this summer with motion hearings scheduled for this fall. A mistrial was declared last summer after jurors told the judge they could not reach a unanimous verdict. Wirtz was assigned to the case after Judge Gary Sharpe stepped down after he made comments to the jury about the case shortly after declaring the mistrial.
-30-
A plea and sentencing hearing will be rescheduled for a Berlin woman charged in a shoplifting incident and standoff with police near the Fond du Lac Forest Mall. Thirty two year old Patricia Bushey did not appear in court Friday for the hearing because she is being held in the Waushara County Jail in a separate case. Bushey is charged in Fond du Lac with retail theft, battery and two counts of resisting an officer. According to a criminal complaint Bushey shoplifted $500 worth of items from Kohls Department store last April and assaulted the store security officer. When police arrived Bushey refused to get out of her car and officers had to forcibly remove her from the vehicle.
-30-
Green Bay’s mayor survives an effort to remove him from office. Mayor Jim Schmitt’s future was at stake Monday night during a meeting of the City Council. A citizen filed a petition seeking Schmitt’s removal after the mayor was convicted of violating state campaign finance laws. A judge earlier Monday refused to block the petition hearing. Schmitt’s attorney argued the convictions do not meet the state law’s criteria for removal. After a couple hours of discussion in a closed session, the council voted 9-3 on finding cause to remove Schmitt from office. But when the vote was taken on the actual removal, one alderman changed sides making the vote 8-4, which is one vote shy of the number needed for removal.
-30-
A judge rules a second Wisconsin girl’s statements to police will be admissible at her trial on charges she tried to kill a classmate to please a fictional horror character called Slender Man. Judge Michael Bohren on Monday also rejected a defense request to move the trial of 15-year-old Anissa Weier (ah-NEE’-sah WY’-ur) out of Waukesha County. Weier’s trial is set for Sept. 11. Last week, the judge made similar rulings against 14-year-old Morgan Geyser. Geyser’s trial is set for October. Weier and Geyser have pleaded not guilty by reason of mental disease to attempted homicide charges in adult court. Both girls were 12 when prosecutors say they stabbed classmate Payton Leutner (LYT’-nur) 19 times in a Waukesha park in 2014. Payton survived.
-30-
The Wisconsin Department of Transportation would have to account for inflation in its cost estimates for highway projects under a bill by the Legislature’s Audit Committee. The panel introduced the measure Tuesday at the conclusion of a hearing on a scathing audit of the Transportation Department. One of the biggest problems the audit found was that the department did not account for inflation that led to dramatic cost overruns. The bill would incorporate recommendations of the audit. It would require the DOT to include all costs associated with the project, including inflation, when making an estimate for approval by the Transportation Projects Commission. The DOT would also be required to report annually to the Legislature and explain any changes in initial cost estimates and whether projects are still on time.
-30-
Two Democratic state lawmakers have proposed subjecting powdered alcohol to the same regulations as liquid alcohol. Sen. Tim Carpenter and Rep. Debra Kolste say they’ve introduced a bill to expand the state’s definition of alcohol to include powdered forms. The federal government in 2015 approved a powdered alcohol product called Palcohol. Since then, states have been scrambling to ban or regulate it. A bill to ban sales of powdered alcohol in Wisconsin failed to pass in the last legislative session. According to the National Conference of State Legislatures, at least 25 states have already banned it. Carpenter and Kolste say this session’s bill has bipartisan support. The bill includes regulatory exceptions for the use of powdered alcohol by hospitals or scientific research. Four other states have passed similar legislation.
-30-
Share |