Messenger 041014

Page 1

of Juneau County

The Messenger HILLSBORO JUNIOR PROM “WISH UPON A STAR”

VOL 15, NO. 35

LOOK INSIDE FOR YOUR LOCAL NEWS:

Elroy: Page 5 Mauston: Page 4 New Lisbon: Page 6

Necedah: Page 7 Wonewoc: Page 11 Hillsboro: Page 10

County: Page 3 Classifieds: Page 12 Legals: Page 13

THE AWARD WINNING OFFICIAL LEGAL NEWSPAPER OF JUNEAU COUNTY THURSDAY, APRIL 10, 2014

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Jury returns with split verdict in murder trial BY EVA MARIE WOYWOD Last Wednesday a Juneau County jury returned with a split verdict in the State's case against 31 year old John G. Tetting. Jurors found Tetting guilty of being party to the crime in the 2007 second degree homicide of Tabitha Nealy, 23, of Wisconsin Rapids. Tetting was found not guilty for the death of Joshua Alderman, 31, of La Crosse. The verdict did not come quick. Last Monday, the 11th day of the trial, Tetting took the stand and gave testimony that on the night of the murders he did not witness David Turner, who has been convicted of the murders, shoot Alderman, but did witness the shooting of Nealy. Tetting drove Turner to the rural Juneau County location to meet with Alderman, but claims that he was not aware that the murders would occur. The following day jurors heard the closing arguments from both Special Prosecutor Gary A. Fryberg and defense attorney Cole Ruby. Jurors headed to deliberations Tuesday evening at approximately 6:15 p.m and stayed until 10:30 p.m. at which point Judge John Roemer, at the jurors request, allowed them to go home. The jury reconvened on Wednesday morning, and remained in deliberations until later that afternoon when they returned with the verdict just after 2:00 p.m. According to online court records, while in deliberation jurors requested quite a number of exhibits including video interviews conducted between Tetting and law enforcement, and aerial photographs of the crime scene. After receiving the verdict, Judge John Roemer ordered that bond for Tetting be revoked. A scheduling conference has been scheduled for May 28th at which point a sentencing hearing may be scheduled. Tetting faces a possibility of serving 40 years of prison and up to 20 years of extended supervision.

FIRE SENDS SOME TO THE HOSPITAL Last Friday an equipment fire at Stroh Precision Die Casting in Mauston sent a few of the company's employees to the hospital as a precautionary measure for possible smoke inhalation. The call for help came into dispatch just prior to 11 a.m. and emergency crews were gone off the property before 2:30 p.m. The fire was caused by aluminum dust building up on a piece of machinery. Employees reacted quickly by using extinguishing equipment. Responding to the fire were the Mauston Fire and Ambulance departments as well as Mauston Public Works. EVA MARIE WOYWOD PHOTO

Detective resignation agreement includes $10k severance BY EVA MARIE WOYWOD Last week Juneau County Corporation Counsel David Lasker released the resignation agreement between the County and Detective Randy Georgeson. As voted on at the March County Board of Supervisors meeting Georgeson's resignation will

become effective on April 30, 2014. According to the agreement, Georgeson's resignation is being considered as such in lieu of termination. The agreement goes on to state that the parties understand that the Unemployment Insurance Division should treat the matter as a termination. The County will not contest unemployment claims. According to the agreement, the County will pay out to Georgeson all accrued and unused vacation, compensatory time, sick pay, and holiday pay provided to him under the Contract through April 30, 2014, regardless of his years of service with the County. In addition the county will pay an additional ten thousand ($10,000) dollars (gross, prior to taxes and withholding) to Georgeson as a severance payment. Georgeson's resignation comes just months after The Messenger reported on a 2013 accident involving a county owned vehicle he was driving and was investigated by the Wisconsin State Patrol. According to information attained, Georgeson

reportedly hit a mailbox, damaging both the county owned vehicle and the mailbox. Information and documents attained by The Messenger showed discrepancies in Georgeson's reporting of the accident. Those discrepancies included when the accident happened, when it was reported, and the weather conditions at the time of the accident. That incident was recently a matter brought to issue in the State's murder trial against John G. Tetting where, in 2007, Georgeson was the lead investigator. Although unrelated to the 2013 accident, defense counsel for Tetting argued that the discrepancies leave questions about Georgeson's truthfulness. According to reports Georgeson was questioned on the stand and before jurors at the Tetting trial where he reportedly admitted to mishandling the 2013 reporting of the accident by not reporting immediately and leaving the scene of an accident. As for the 2007 murder investigation, Georgeson received a 2010 Michael Vendola Death Investigator

of the Year Award from the Wisconsin Association of Homicide Investigators. Juneau County Sheriff Brent Oleson has confirmed that currently an internal review of the 2013 accident is currently underway. The recent resignation agreement with the County states that "any investigative file, findings of fact, determinations, or other documentation or recording regarding incidents discussed in Georgeson's investigative interview January 20, 2014, will not be made part of his personnel file, but instead will be kept in an internal investigation separate from his personnel file. Such investigation shall be closed upon the full execution of this document, and since no action was taken on such investigation, no notation of the same shall be made in Georgeson's personnel file. Neither the County nor Georgeson makes any admission of wrongdoing or liability regarding any such incident(s). Georgeson will have the right to respond in writing to any warning, write-up or other disciplinary document in his file, and have that response

Detective Randy Georgeson received the Michael Vendola Death Investigator of the Year award for his role in solving the 2007 homicide of Alderman and Nealy. attached to the disciplinary document, per Wis. Stats. §103.13(4). Nothing in this paragraph restricts the County from complying with Wisconsin's Open

Records law or any order entered by a court of law."


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