On Wednesday July 22, 2015 in Green Bay, Wisconsin, former Lead Detective, Randy Winkler, will take the stand at an evidentiary hearing for Keith Kutska; one of six defendants in the 1992 paper mill death of Tom Monfils.
The first two days of this hearing were much earlier in the month on July 8th and 9th. The reason for the large gap in dates was to accommodate Mr. Winkler. He had a vacation planned during that time and was given permission to take it despite having been subpoenaed to testify.
During the first phase of the hearing, we heard testimony from witnesses that recalled unethical and illegal actions taken by Winkler during the investigation. In this video clip, he describes tactics far differently. On Wednesday, he will have the chance to clear the air once and for all.
Brown County courtroom during evidentiary hearing
Incidentally, after the convictions were handed down and Mr. Winkler had achieved an amazing victory by solving the most notorious case in Wisconsin history, he disappeared into obscurity and was never heard from again…that is…until legal action once again resurfaced nearly two decades later…
Joan, I thought of you and your work today when I watched an interesting documentary on Netflix today, “Crime after Crime”, about Deborah Peagler. Although her case was very different, there seem to be many similarities in terms of prosecutorial misconduct and deception. I look forward to your next post about the outcome of the hearing!
Thank you Carol for your wonderful comments and for the heads up. I will have to look for that program. It sounds very interesting. Most wrongful conviction cases are very similar in nature indeed. I am almost finished with the last phase of the hearing blog. It was a tough one with a lot of legal content I do not always follow. I had to do a lot of consulting but I hope to post it later today.