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Parent in prayer death case gets legal aid

March 31, 2009 By

A Marathon County judge has appointed an attorney at taxpayer expense to represent one of the Weston prayer death parents.

Leilani Neumann will keep the attorney she has now, but he'll be paid $70 an hour by the county, less than what he currently makes. The judge granted the county-appointed attorney after Leilani failed to qualify for a public defender.

He also granted the defense team up to $5,000 for a special investigator. The decision will not impact the start of her trial in mid-May.

Dale Neumann, meanwhile, is already represented by a county-appointed attorney. He's scheduled to go on trial in late July.

The Neumanns are charged with second-degree reckless homicide for choosing prayer over medicine before their daughter died from untreated diabetes last Easter. 

AUDIO: Matt Lehman reports (MP3 :30)

Filed Under: Crime & Courts

Anniversary of a hoax

March 31, 2009 By

Audrey Seiler Cold cases and unsolved murders are making the news these days, but today marks the anniversary of one Madison's more bizarre cases. March 31st, 2004, five years ago this afternoon, a UW co-ed's story of abduction hadn't yet started to unravel.

Audrey Seiler was found alive in a marshy area across from Madison's Alliant Energy Center. Her disappearance, and the eventual disclosure that she lied about being kidnapped, put then Acting Police Chief Noble Wray in the glare of a national spotlight. Wray says he received a letter from Seiler about a year ago, apologizing to Madison police for the impact her disappearance had on the police department and the city. Seiler has since paid back the money it cost to search for her, and her phantom abductor. Wray says the department continues to periodically review policies on missing persons. 

AUDIO: Jennifer Miller reports (:55 MP3)

Filed Under: Human Interest, Top Story

A "soaking" for UW-Madison students

March 31, 2009 By

A state lawmaker says the UW-Madison is trying to "soak" students with a proposed tuition surcharge.

State Representative Scott Suder says the plan to charge students an extra $250 a year, if their family makes more than $80,000 a year, amounts to a tax on students. He says it's not fair to raise the expectations of what students have to pay, after they've already started attending the school.

Chancellor Biddy Martin insists students need to pay more to address the quality of undergraduate education. However, Suder says it's a misstep by the UW to hit families with the extra cost when many are already struggling.

AUDIO: John Colbert reports (MP3 :33)

Filed Under: Education

Man charged for 1980 murder

March 31, 2009 By

DNA evidence from blood found in a bathroom sink has linked a 51-year-old man to the murder of Marilyn McIntyre nearly 30 years ago. The husband of the victim, Lane McIntrye, found her beaten and strangled in their home in 1980.

On Monday when the Columbia County judge announced bail for the suspect, Curtis Forbes, at a $750,000 cash bond, the victim's sister-in-law says it's not enough money for what he did.

"He let my brother take the blame for the last 29 years and that's so unfair," says Rhonda Erickson.

Prosecutors had asked for a $5 million bond, claiming Forbes could be a flight risk and a threat to some witnesses. They say DNA links him to the crime scene. Forbes' attorney calls the case weak, saying much of the evidence against his client has been known since the time of the murder. George Strother says even the scientific claims of the evidence are "ambiguous."

Forbes and Lane McIntyre were friends from high school.

Contributed by Jason Fischer-WIBA

AUDIO: Brian Moon reports (MP3 :55)

Filed Under: Crime & Courts

Questions raised on campaign finance filing system

March 31, 2009 By

The state's new electronic campaign finance reporting system isn't working very well. That's according to Mike McCabe with the Wisconsin Democracy Campaign , who's documented some of the system's shortcomings. McCabe brought his case to the state's Government Accountability Board on Monday.

"They certainly are beginning to acknowledge the extent of the problems, that's some progress," McCabe said. "For awhile it just seemed like they were just putting on a brave face and kind of insisting that the system was working okay. At least they're acknowledging that the system doesn't work so hot."

Among the questions McCabe has, how can GAB fine campaigns for being out of compliance with a system some haven't been able to make work? "We do have plenty of evidence – e-mail and that sort of thing – to show that the campaigns seem to have been trying to file the reports, but they've not been successful," said McCabe. "To me, when it's two months overdue, and they still haven't been able to master the system, that says pretty loudly that there's something wrong with the system."

Can the bugs and glitches be worked out? "Right now the system doesn't work . . . there are too many bugs and too many glitches for it to be considered a reliable, usable system," McCabe said "Whether it's fixable I think is still an open question."

AUDIO: Bob Hague interview (5:00 MP3)

Filed Under: Elections, Politics & Government
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