Shawano-Menominee County Circuit Court Judge William Kussel agreed Nov. 21 to delay the first-degree homicide trial for Michael E. Ingold after his attorney filed a motion to withdraw.
The trial was originally scheduled to start Nov. 18 but was pushed back to Nov. 25 due to a number of motions filed prior to the start date. Among those was a motion to suppress statements from witness Hassan Malley, who faces criminal charges in Menominee and Calumet counties. A final pre-trial on the matter took place Nov. 18, where the motion was set to be heard Nov. 20.
When the Nov. 20 hearing rolled around, Ingold was not in the courtroom. Currently, being held in the Shawano County Jail, Ingold refused to go to the court or appear via Zoom. That is when his attorney, Julianne Lennon, requested to withdraw from the case, which Kussel approved, according to online court records.
A status conference was scheduled for the next day, Nov. 21. Ingold was present for that hearing, and Elisabeth Stockbridge with the public defender’s office appeared via Zoom as a friend to court, saying that Ingold was eligible for her office’s attorney services, but that it would not be possible to have someone appointed and ready to try the case within four days.
“I have no idea how an attorney would be able to represent someone in a first-degree intentional homicide in a competent manner and provide effective assistance and counsel with basically less than two business days,” Stockbridge said. “It would be impossible.”
Kussel asked Ingold if he wanted an attorney before proceeding with trial, to which Ingold said he did and was willing to waive timelines. The question was asked due to Ingold’s multiple requests for a speedy trial.
Assistant District Attorney Laura Nelson expressed frustration about the delay during the hearing, saying her office was ready to proceed.
“I appreciate the defendant’s circumstances at this time, but I want to make it very clear that the state is ready and has been ready to proceed to trial whether it commenced this past Monday or whether it would commence Monday, Nov. 25,” Nelson said.
Nelson spent over 15 minutes laying out the history of the court proceedings over the last two years and how the delays occurred.
Kussel pointed out that his decision to delay proceedings was necessary to take justice into account.
“The overriding factor in this matter is that Sixth Amendment right to have an attorney and have effective assistance of counsel,” Kussel said.
Another status conference is expected to take place at 1:30 p.m. Dec. 5 in Branch II of the Shawano County Courthouse to see if an attorney has yet been appointed, or if the public defender’s office will have to look for an outside attorney to take on the case.
This is the third time an attorney has needed to be found for Ingold. Lennon took on the case in April 2023, taking over after Christopher Froehlich withdrew May 9, 2023, after being appointed Oct. 18, 2022.
This is also the third scheduled jury trial that has been called off for the case involving a charge of first-degree homicide with a domestic abuse modifier. Ingold was originally scheduled to stand trial Jan. 8, but then the trial was rescheduled for May 14 before having to be rescheduled again for Nov. 18. The trial was expected to take four weeks.
The criminal complaint against Ingold states that at 4:13 a.m. June 25, 2022, the Shawano County Sheriff’s Department received a 911 call from Ingold, where he stated that he woke up and checked on his girlfriend, only to find her deceased.
An autopsy showed that Sheila A. Laudon, who was 59 at the time, was strangled to death.
Ingold told the deputies that he got home at 6:30 p.m., talked with the victim, turned on the television and fell asleep on the couch, the complaint said. He stated he woke up around 2:30 a.m. and heard the victim in the kitchen saying that she was getting a beer. He then claimed that he woke up again at 4:01 a.m. and found her deceased in the bedroom.
Detectives received the autopsy report of the victim’s death on July 21, 2022, stating that the cause of death was manual strangulation.
On July 27, 2022, two detectives interviewed Ingold at the sheriff’s department, told Ingold that the victim died from strangulation and that the detectives believed that he caused it. Ingold responded, saying, “No it’s not, no it’s not, I didn’t touch her,” according to the complaint. Ingold acknowledged he and Laudon were the only two people in the house but continued to deny touching her, according to the complaint.
If convicted, Ingold faces life in prison if convicted of first-degree intentional homicide with a domestic abuse modifier.
lpulaski@newmedia-wi.com
Ingold murder trial delayed for third time
