Judge grants delay in double vehicular homicide trial
A 2-week jury trial scheduled earlier for the Humbird man accused of killing two Neillsville women while driving drunk in 2017 has been removed from the court calendar and is awaiting rescheduling. A judge reluctantly granted the motion to adjourn the case last week after new prosecutors in the case asked for more time to prepare.
The double homicide by intoxicated use of a motor vehicle case against 28-year-old Trenton Bemis of Humbird has already been in the court system since February 2018, about two months after an accident that killed 29-year-old Michelle Kunze and 35-year-old Genie Carrillo of Neillsville. The court had scheduled a 2-week trial to begin on March 23, but new Clark County District Attorney Melissa Inlow filed a motion on Jan. 29 requesting an adjournment for “a short time” so she and another prosecutor could familiarize themselves with the case.
Inlow did not start working in Clark County until late December when she was appointed by Gov. Tony Evers to fill the vacancy created by the resignation of Kerra Stumbris in late October. The Bemis case had been in the hands of Assistant District Attorney Holly Wood Webster, but she also left employment in the county earlier this year.
In her motion to adjourn, Inlow wrote, “given the complex nature of this case, the lengthy procedural history, and the extensive discovery, the State will need additional time to prepare for trial.”
At a hearing on the motion held on Feb. 28, Judge Robert Shannon said the court is “distressed” by the request to delay the trial as it has already taken nine months to schedule the first trial. As court calendars are full, Shannon noted that any trial that is rescheduled will be pushed months into the future.
Shannon said the only two options for the court would be to either reschedule the trial as requested, or have prosecutors dismiss the case and refile it. He eventually granted the motion to adjourn, but declared there will be no more opportunities for lawyers in the cse to file additional motions or add names to the list of witnesses who may be summoned to testify.
No new date for a trial had been scheduled as of Tuesday.
Bemis was the driver of a vehicle that allegedly crossed the center line of Highway 10 west of Neillsville on Dec. 15, 2017, striking an oncoming car and killing Kunze and Carrillo. He was not arrested until February 2018, when he was charged with two counts of homicide by intoxicated use of a vehicle and two counts of homicide by negligent operation of a vehicle. He has not been in custody since February 2018, when he posted a $15,000 cash bond.
