Heated Exchanges Over Deadlines In Schaffhausen Hearing
HUDSON, Wis. (WCCO) -- A father accused of murdering his three daughters in western Wisconsin headed to court Wednesday.
Aaron Schaffhausen is accused of killing 11-year-old Amara, 8-year-old Sophie and 5-year-old Cecilia at their River Falls home four months ago.
Police found the girls in their beds while the girls' mother was at work. Investigators believe an unexpected visit by Schaffhausen turned deadly.
Cameras were in court today, but the defense wants that to end.
Heated exchanges between defense attorney John Kucinski and Judge Howard Cameron took place in court today over deadlines.
Kucinski questioned whether his client would get a fair trial, which the judge quickly put to rest.
"He will get a fair trail, Mr. Kucinski, stop. We all have full deadlines, I still have a full caseload," he said. "We all have to work hard. We're all going to do it."
The case contains thousands of pages of evidence. The defense wanted more time to review whether or not they plan to enter an insanity plea.
"I don't prepare a case backwards," Kucinski said.
Judge Cameron gave them a couple weeks. Another showdown involved cameras in the courtroom.
The defense argued cameras have no right to be in the court room, saying the Supreme Court even says so. The judge said he'd take it under advisement.
There was no decision, but prosecutors pointed out it's actually worked for the defense in other cases.
"Casey Anthony was aquitted, as was OJ, so it doesn't seem in either of those cases it changed the jurors minds there," Gary Freyberg said.
Schaffhausen's next court appearance will be Dec. 3.
That should be an all-day hearing about what evidence the jury should and should not be allowed to see.
