Justice is still on hold in a sexual assault case as Pedro Noriega-Avila continues to wait for an attorney through the public defender’s office.
A Dec. 21 status conference showed that there is still no counsel for the defendant after his previous attorney withdrew from the case. Shawano-Menominee County Circuit Court Judge William Kussel Jr. received a report from the public defender’s office two days earlier indicating there were no attorneys available to take the case.
Kussel noted during the conference that a shortage of attorneys has been a problem for the courts in Wisconsin for some time; but this is especially true in the case of Noriega-Avila, who speaks little English and requires an interpreter for court hearings.
“There is a general shortage of attorneys taking cases, not only with Shawano-Menominee County Circuit Court but I understand throughout the state there’s a shortage of attorneys taking these cases,” Kussel said.
Noriega-Avila was initially charged in 2016 with one count of sexual assault of a child under age 13, two counts of sexual assault of a child and two counts of incest with a child by stepparent. Court records show that Noriega-Avila appeared for his initial hearing in June of that year, paid a $5,000 cash bond and then did not return for the next hearing.
Noriega-Avila was missing from the court for almost five years until his arrest in Arizona in 2021. Law enforcement responded to a U.S. Border Patrol station on March 13, 2021, regarding the warrant issued by the Shawano-Menominee County Circuit Court for Noriega-Avila, and the defendant was already in custody when officers arrived. Noriega-Avila was brought back to Shawano County in July 2021.
Noriega-Avila remains in the Shawano County Jail on a $500,000 cash bond. He has been incarcerated for more than two years, mainly because of the difficulty in finding an attorney the first time around. It took until late 2022 before Sara Stertz was found to defend the case.
The defendant’s trial was set to start in August, but the day before it was due to commence, Stertz withdrew from the case for two reasons — disagreement on defense strategies and the fact that she was in the late term of pregnancy.
Another status conference was scheduled for 3 p.m. Feb. 14 in Branch II of the Shawano County Courthouse.
lpulaski@newmedia-wi.com
Attorney shortage slows Noriega-Avila case
