Attorneys in the case of the woman who shot an Oconto Falls police officer finished some wrangling over motions March 7, setting the stage for the mental health portion of her trial to begin April 1.
Alisha Kocken, 31, of Oconto Falls, is charged in Oconto County Circuit Court with attempted first-degree intentional homicide, resisting an officer with a result of great bodily harm, battery or threat to a law officer and disarming a peace officer, all felony counts, in the wounding of Officer Nicole Blaskowski on Aug. 6, 2021.
Kocken has pleaded no contest to the charges but also not guilty by reason of mental disease or defect. The plea jumps the proceedings to what would be the second part of a two-part trial. The jury no longer has to consider whether Kocken is guilty, because she is no longer contesting the facts. In the second part of the trial, her mental condition at the time of the incident is at question.
During the motion hearing special prosecutors Mark Williams and Norman Gahn again sought to clarify and limit the planned testimony of defense witness Marshall John Bales, a psychologist who examined Kocken a week after the incident and concluded that she was suffering from a psychosis at the time.
The prosecutors had challenged Bales’ relevance as an expert witness but later withdrew that motion. Defense attorney John Miller Carroll said Bales filed another report that concluded Kocken was indeed not guilty by reason of mental disease and defect, and that hurts the prosecution’s case.
“There’s a reason they took Dr. Bales’ … motion off — he was going to come in here and tell you why it’s directly relevant,” Carroll said.
“We conceded that he is qualified and did an examination,” Williams said. “I don’t know what else he’s going to testify to.”
“I have the affirmative duty of proving this defense so I have to put a case on, and they’re trying to limit me by hiding facts from the jury that clearly are problematic to their case,” Carroll said.
Judge Michael Judge said that under the law governing the so-called insanity plea, “Dr. Bales can testify as to the defendant’s mental condition, as to the nature of the examination, the diagnosis of the mental condition of the defendant at the time of the commission of the offense charged, which he has found, he said that she had a psychosis … and the doctor can testify as to the ability of the defendant to appreciate the wrongfulness of her conduct and to conform to the requirements of the law, and if sufficient information is available to Dr. Bales to reach an opinion as to whether the defendant needs any medication or treatment.”
If the testimony drifts from the allowable information, prosecutors are free to make an objection, Judge said.
The judge and attorneys also did some housekeeping regarding jury selection. A pool of 60 jurors will be summoned, with an initial panel of 27 county residents, Judge said. Each side will be allowed to strike seven prospective jurors as they settle on a group of 12 jurors and one alternate.
Judge scheduled a final pre-trial conference for 3 p.m. March 28 to resolve any lingering issues, but he said that session may be canceled if the two sides are ready to proceed.
wbluhm@newmedia-wi.com
Trial set to go in police officer shooting
