UPDATED: California trucker killed in two-semi crash

Posted at 2 p.m. on November 25, 2019 The Brillion News TOWN OF MAPLE GROVE – Manitowoc County Sheriff Dan Hartwig said a 55-year old man from San Jose, Calif., lost his life Tuesday in a crash between two tractor-trailer units at County K and County W in Manitowoc County. The crash happened at 1:40 p.m. about three miles south of Wayside and four miles north of Reedsville. The deceased was driving a 2020 Freightliner tractor-trailer eastbound on K when he failed to stop at the stop sign at the intersection of County W and into the path of a southbound tractor-trailer with a flatbed trailer carrying a load of raw logs. The California man,Jose Luis Perez, was ejected and died at the scene, despite attempts to revive him by the crew of Valders Ambulance. His death was due to multiple blunt force trauma. He was not wearing a seat belt. The driver of the logging truck, a 27-year old Kiel man, was trapped in the cab of his truck and was seriously injured. He was taken by ambulance to the Aurora BayCare Medical Center in Green Bay and is expected to survive. There was also a fire in the engine compartment of one truck. The roads in the area were closed to all traffic until 6:30 p.m. and were completely reopened around midnight. The crash was violent and there was a large debris field at and around the intersection. Emergency responses to the scene were made by the Manitowoc County Sheriff’s Department, Wisconsin State Patrol, Manitowoc County Coroner’s Office, Wayside Fire Department, Reedsville Fire Department, Valders Fire Department, Valders Ambulance, Brillion Ambulance, Reedsville First Responders, Manitowoc County Highway Department and Hi-Way 42 Garage. “Our thoughts and prayers are with those affected by this tragic event,” Sheriff Hartwig said.

Death and drugs on the highway

Posted at 12:30 p.m. on November 19, 2019 MANITOWOC – An Iron River, Mich., woman was killed in a car crash last Saturday morning on I-43 near Schley Road in the Town of Cooperstown in Manitowoc County. Sheriff Dan Hartwig said the bizarre incident began shortly after 6 a.m. with a report of two men fighting next to a parked 2006 Honda Accord at the I-43 off ramp at County K. When Manitowoc County sheriff’s deputies arrived, the men got in the car and it took off northbound on 43. It abruptly entered the east ditch and rolled. Emily LaPointe was ejected from the car and died at the scene. The car was driven by Corey Knepp, of Republic., Mich. He and his twin brother, both 33, were taken to a hospital and treated for non-life threatening injuries. On Monday, they were in Manitowoc County Circuit Court for a bail hearing and remain jailed in lieu of $2,500 cash bail each. They were arrested for drug possession as a repeater, possession of drug paraphernalia, and disorderly conduct. Manitowoc County Coroner Curtis Green said LaPointe died from blunt force trauma. The incident – including both the fight and the crash – remains under investigation by the coroner, sheriff’s department and Wisconsin State Patrol. Maribel First Responders, Maribel Fire Department, Mishicot Ambulance, County Rescue, Manitowoc County Highway Department and PK’s Towing all worked the crash scene.

Letter from ‘experts’ calls for clemency for Dassey

Posted at 2:35 p.m. on October 24, 2019 The Brillion News MILWAUKEE – Advocates of clemency for Brendan Dassey, one of the two people convicted for the murder of freelance photographer Teresa Halbach on Halloween of 2005, have filed an open letter addressed to Wisconsin Governor Tony Evers. The letter has 250 signators and asks the governor to grant Dassey’s petition for executive clemency. Evers has said he would consider requests for pardons and clemency, unlike his predecessor, former Governor Scott Walker. “We call upon you, Governor Evers, to use your sovereign power of executive clemency, whether in the form of a pardon or a commutation, to end the incarceration of Brendan Dassey,” the letter says. The 250 represent a wide range legal experts, including dozens of former prosecutors and senior U.S. government officials, as well as the psychologists who pioneered the study of false confessions, many of the nation’s top juvenile justice experts, leading law enforcement authorities, and exonerees. Among them are 45 current and former state and federal prosecutors; Barry Scheck and Peter Neufeld, co-founders of the Innocence Project; and leading psychological experts, including the current President of the American Psychological Association and the psychologists who pioneered the study of false confessions. “Brendan’s case is so much more than just a Netflix series,” said Laura Nirider, co-director of the Center on Wrongful Convictions of Youth at Northwestern Pritzker School of Law (CWC) and an attorney representing Dassey. Incarcerated since age 16, Dassey celebrated his 30th birthday on October 19. He is not eligible for parole until 2048, at which time he will be 59 years old. The petition for executive clemency asks Evers to consider both a pardon, which would result in Dassey’s immediate release and the restoration of some of his legal rights, and a commutation, which could result in his immediate release or shorten his sentence and would leave the convictions intact. The arguments for clemency site Dassey’s claims of innocence and the length of his sentence. The Center on Wrongful Convictions at Northwestern University’s Pritzker School of Law is co-directed by Nirider and Steven Drizin. It is a non-profit legal clinic that represents children and teenagers who have been convicted of crimes they claim they didn’t commit. Housing some of the world’s leading experts on interrogations and confessions, the CWC has exonerated nearly 50 individuals. ~ Source: CWCY at Northwestern University