Public Defender Maggie Hogan is asking a judge to consider moving a possible trial for a man accused of homicide to another venue.
40 year old Shannon Wolf is charged with first-degree homicide in the June 2003 death of Kenneth Wells in Rhinelander. Wells' death initially was ruled a drowning until testimony from Shannon Wolf's ex-wife Latoya allegedly implicated Shannon Wolf.
In court Tuesday, Hogan showed the court a local TV news story about the case which she claims is an example of inflamed pre-trial publicity...
?
"....it is the state's key evidence that was replayed and repeated at least five different times on the local news broadcast and as I said I don't think that it's informative, I think it's inflammatory...."
A number of news outlets, including WXPR, have covered this case and another case involving Shannon Wolf.. Hogan also noted the information was widely processed on social media as well.
District Attorney Michael Schiek outlined the core issues of a fair trial and a free press.
Judge Michael Bloom said the state had done nothing unusual in making the information available to the public. Judge Bloom said he would consider the evidence and make a ruling on changing the trial venue in May.
