One of the attorneys for Michael Ingold, a Shawano man accused of killing his girlfriend, Sheila Laudon, in June 2022, made his opening statement April 10, and he noted that Laudon’s story is going to be front and center through various witnesses.
Albert Moustakis said that medical experts, neighbors and others would vindicate his client and lead to a not-guilty verdict by the jury by the time the trial ends on April 30.
“There is a witness that wasn’t talked about (by prosecutors), and this witness is going to be giving you information throughout the entire trial, and that’s Sheila,” Moustakis said. “She’s going to talk to you through the eyes of the other witnesses, and she’s going to talk to you through the medical records. She’s going to talk to you through the autopsy.”
Moustakis noted that there’s an amended autopsy report dated April 7 of this year indicating that the marks on Laudon’s neck were likely caused by a scalpel when the autopsy was conducted, even though the legal cause of death remained strangulation and suffocation.
Laudon’s medical records show a history of health problems, according to Moustakis, and neighbors are expected to testify about her health condition in the days prior to her death. He said Laudon had about 16 different prescriptions strewn through the home she and Ingold shared.
A conversation between Ingold and a neighbor will indicate that Ingold expressed concern about Laudon’s health the day before her death and that “she looked so unwell, he wanted to take her to a hospital.”
The medical records include reports that she’d made complaints about chest pressure and also that she drank heavily, according to Moustakis. He noted that the blood-alcohol level for Laudon at the time of her death was 0.144, almost twice the legal limit for being able to operate a vehicle. He said witnesses would testify that Laudon had even stopped doing simple tasks the week before she died.
Other diagnoses through the medical reports also indicate she had high blood pressure, sleep issues and chronic obstructive pulmonsary disease, something primarily caused by long-term exposure to irritants like cigarette smoking and air pollution.
Moustakis told the jury that Ingold, who works several hours away from Shawano as a truck driver five days a week, was cooperative when deputies from the Shawano County Sheriff’s Department arrived after he called dispatch about Laudon’s death. Ingold supposedly told deputies to go inside the home and take whatever they needed, according to his attorney.
“Michael cooperated fully with the police,” Moustakis said. “He allowed entry. He allowed searches. He talked to them whenever they wanted to talk to him. He even talked to them after they arrested him. His interviews are going to show that he consistently denied harming Sheila or having anything to do with her death. He even offered to take a lie detector test. The evidence will show that more than once.”
Moustakis claimed that a deputy’s body camera shows a report being filled out and initially indicated Laudon’s health was good but later changed to poor. He said the deputy also indicated in the initial report that Laudon appeared to have died from natural causes.
Other testimony expected to be addressed includes the comforter that prosecutors claim was used to strangle Laudon. Moustakis said that crime scene photos indicate the comforter was being held in Laudon’s left hand, and there is expected to be testimony that nothing seemed out of place at the time law enforcement was documenting the scene.
“The evidence that you’re going to see in this case, at the conclusion of this case, I’m going to ask that you find Michael Ingold not guilty because the state will not have met its burden,” Moustakis said. “There will be a reasonable explanation based on the evidence that you hear and see during the course of the trial that will prove his innocence.”
After Moustakis’ opening statement, the state began calling its witnesses. The trial is expected to continue for another three weeks, until April 30.
