Saturday State News Briefs: AG wants police to collect DNA from suspects

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MADISON - The Wisconsin Attorney General is again starting a push for police to collect DNA from some suspects when they are arrested.

Current state law requires felons to submit a DNA sample to a state database when they are convicted. Attorney General J.B. Van Hollen says he wants the samples to be taken when a person is arrested on felony charges, or convicted of a misdemeanor. Right now about 12 thousand DNA samples are collected each year. Under Van Hollen’s suggestion, the number of samples would increase to about 68 thousand each year at a cost of more than seven million dollars a year at the start. Governor Scott Walker reportedly supports the change which could come during the next legislative session.

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Seven juveniles have been arrested for mob-style street robberies in Kenosha dating back to July. Most of the crimes occurred after dark in the central and eastern parts of the city. Police say most of the victims were approached and attacked by groups of four to eight teenagers, but one incident involved almost two dozen teens overwhelming two undercover officers. Reports say a responding detective was also assaulted. Despite that incident, the undercover patrols will continue in Kenosha. The suspects under arrest are 14-to-16 years old. Some of them are likely to face adult charges.

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The prosecutor had argued for two years in prison, while the defense wanted probation. The judge split the difference, giving 21 year old Stephanie Kanoff a one-year prison sentence for her role in a fatal car accident which happened while she was texting and driving. Kanoff apologized to the court. A jury found the Sun Prairie woman guilty of homicide by negligent driving last July. University of Wisconsin-Madison student Dylan Ellefson was standing behind his disabled car October 24, 2010, when he was hit by the minivan Kanoff was driving.

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The Sheboygan County district attorney says he will oppose moving the murder trial for two 13 year old boys to juvenile court. The teenagers are accused of using a hatchet and hammer to kill 78 year old Barbara J. Olson. One of the suspects was her great-grandson. Prosecutors say they went to the woman’s home intending to rob and kill her last Monday. Her body was found two days later in her garage in Sheboygan Falls by her daughter. The boys made a court appearance yesterday. They reportedly told detectives they took jewelry and loose change, then stole her car and drove to get a pizza. Both are charged with being a party to the crime of first-degree intentional homicide.

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Teenager Casey Bennett has been ordered to stand trial on charges he shot a young girl with an arrow. The 16 year old was in a Fond du Lac courtroom for a preliminary hearing yesterday. Bennett told investigators he was shooting at squirrels last May when one of his arrows hit seven year old Aryanna Schneeberg in the back while she was playing. The girl’s injuries were serious, but she did survive. No date for a next court appearance for Bennett was set while he was in the Fond du Lac courtroom yesterday.

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Wisconsin Congressman Jim Sensenbrenner (R-Menomonee Falls) is a co-author of a bill giving congress more oversight of the anti-doping agency which is accusing Lance Armstrong of using performance-enhancing drugs. The U.S. Anti-Doping Agency has stripped Armstrong of his seven victories at the Tour de France. The bill would force the USADA to provide accused athletes with specific written notice of allegations of doping. The agency would have to give Congress an annual report on the actions it has taken and notify lawmakers when it changes its rules. Armstrong denies doping, but he has dropped his fight against the USADA.

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A jury in northern Wisconsin has found a man guilty of killing 93-year old Irena Roszak three years ago. Jurors convicted 30 year old Christopher Roalson yesterday of first-degree intentional homicide. Prosecutors had told the court Roalson shouted satanic curses as he stabbed the elderly woman to death while she was begging for her life. The other man allegedly involved in the murder, 18 year old Austin Davis, had already pleaded guilty to a lesser charge and testified in this trial as a prosecution witness.

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