Star Tribune
Wisconsin appeals court says teenager accused of killing 10-year-old girl will stay in adult court
MADISON, Wis. — The case against a Wisconsin teenager accused of killing a 10-year-old girl he allegedly lured into the woods will remain in adult court, a state appeals court ruled Tuesday.
Prosecutors charged the teenager, identified in court documents only as C.T.P.-B, as an adult with first-degree intentional homicide and two counts of sexual assault in connection with the death of Iliana ”Lily” Peters. Investigators say Peters was riding her bike home from her aunt’s house in Chippewa Falls on April 24, 2022, when the teenager, who was 14 at the time, persuaded her to leave a trail and explore the surrounding woods with him.
The girl’s body was discovered the next day. An autopsy determined she had been beaten, strangled and sexually assaulted.
The teenager’s attorneys, Michael Cohen and Alicia Linzmeier, asked Chippewa County Circuit Judge Steven Gibbs last year to move the case into juvenile court, where proceedings are secret. They argued that the teenager would not receive the mental health treatment he needs in the adult criminal justice system. The judge refused, finding earlier this year that such a move would depreciate the seriousness of the offenses.
The 3rd District Court of Appeals upheld that decision Tuesday, finding that Gibbs properly exercised his discretion. The appellate court noted that Gibbs detailed the severity of Peters’ injuries, that the teenager told investigators that he attacked her, that he lured her into the woods and that the crime was premeditated.
A message left at Cohen’s office wasn’t immediately returned.
LAFAYETTE, Wis. — About 25 children and adults were injured Wednesday when a wagon carrying them overturned at a western Wisconsin apple orchard.
The children, parents and chaperones were on a field trip to the orchard in Lafayette when one of two wagons being pulled by a tractor turned sideways and rolled over, Chippewa County Sheriff Travis Hakes told reporters. Hakes said the tractor was traveling at a low speed when the wagon rolled over while going downhill.
Three people suffered critical injuries, while injuries to five others were considered serious. Authorities didn’t say how many of the injured were children.
The elementary school-age children attend a school in Eau Claire. Lafayette is northeast of Eau Claire.
After about five minutes and several warnings that students participating in the protest would be suspended,, the protesters exited Northrop and Cunningham continued her speech. They later gathered outside on the mall afterwards to shout, “Cunningham, you will see, Palestine will be free.”
Cunningham recounted the story of Norman Borlaug, the U alumnus and agronomist whose research in wheat saved millions from starvation, and said she would prioritize keeping a college education affordable for students.
Cunningham actually took over presidential duties on July 1, replacing Interim President Jeff Ettinger. She oversees a budget of more than $4 billion to run the university’s five campuses, which enrolled more than 68,000 students and employed 27,000 people during the last academic year.
She was chosen for the job last winter over two other candidates: Laura Bloomberg, president of Cleveland State University and former dean of the U’s Humphrey School of Public Affairs, and James Holloway, provost and executive vice president for academic affairs at the University of New Mexico. She is the U’s second woman president, following Joan Gabel who held the office from 2019 to 2023.
Cunningham will be paid more than $1 million per year — about $975,000 in base pay and an additional $120,000 in retirement contributions. The compensation puts her in the top quarter of Big Ten university presidents.
Sgt. Gordon Blackey, once a security guard to Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey, allegedly admitted to tracking the woman’s movements in her vehicle, according to a criminal complaint.
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