Forty-year-old Milwaukee cold case reopened with evidence from deposition transcripts
A 73-year-old man is now on trial for the murder and sexual assault of a 9-year-old girl in 1970, just outside of Milwaukee. It's not often that cold cases are able to get reopened, let alone go to trial, but the family of Donna Willing, the girl that was murdered more than 40 years ago, has been able to get a second chance on closure, according to the Associated Press.
In 2007, the Willing Family began working with a cold case team on Donna's case. Authorities focused on a man named Robert Hill, who was already serving a 10-year sentence for sexually abusing children between 1995 and 2002.
According to the AP, Hill confessed to sexually assaulting Willing in the early transcripts of his trials. In one deposition transcript, he even stated that murder was not his first encounter with Willing in a sexually abusive way. He later recanted all these statements. Then biological evidence associated with Willing's case was lost in the 1990s.
But, Hill was ordered on November 20 to stand trial for the crime, via videoconferencing technology in the Milwaukee court system. Prosecutors are arguing that he should be kept in a mental institution indefinitely as his original sentence is nearly up and he is likely to abuse again.
In this case, it may help litigators to partner with Milwaukee court reporters that offer video conference services. This is especially true as Hill has fallen under bad health and does not travel well, which may require him to stay in the institution. By partnering with realtime court reporters that offer videoconferencing services, litigators can effectively communicate with Hill without needing to use a courtroom or an insecure platform.
November 26th, 2012 at 7:10 am
It is important for court reporters to know the applicable statutes for certified transcript retention in their respective states. Brown & Jones Reporting keeps all transcripts on their secure repository for their clients. At any time, our clients just need to call our office and we will be able to provide them with their deposition transcripts, whether it was taken last week or ten years ago.