Criminal complaint to be released in death of 10-year-old Lily Peters
May 5—CHIPPEWA FALLS — The criminal complaint for the 14-year-old boy accused of killing 10-year-old Iliana "Lily" Peters will now be made available to the public.
At a hearing Thursday, Judge Ben Lane said there is a "presumption of access" to court records in Wisconsin, and he ordered it to be released with names and dates of birth redacted. Lane said several media outlets had contacted his office seeking for the document to be made public. Lane had ordered it sealed last week.
The two-page document will likely become available Friday or Monday. Chippewa County District Attorney Wade Newell didn't object.
However, defense attorney Michael Cohen objected to its release. Cohen took over representation of the suspect, identified in court records as as C.P-B., earlier this week.
"I don't want this case to be tried in the media," Cohen told Lane. "I don't want this information in the public arena before I get a chance to address it. I don't see a need for the media to have this information at this minute. I don't want to be finding out about it first from some media outlet in England or California or Texas."
While the criminal complaint will be released, a search warrant that led to the suspect's arrest will remain sealed at this time.
"It has a lot of identifying information," Newell told Lane.
Lane set the next court date for 9:30 a.m. June 24.
Like last week, the suspect appeared via video from the Northwest Regional Juvenile Detention Center in Eau Claire during Thursday's hearing, and he will likely also appear remotely at the next court date. Lane said he was fine with the suspect appearing remotely, as long as both parties agreed to it.
Cohen told Lane he had no intention of requesting a change in the $1 million cash bond set last week, or a change to time limits for future hearings.
"He understands he will remain here in the detention facility during the case," Cohen said. "We aren't rushing for speedy dispositions. I am asking for 45 days for Mr. Newell to give me information."
Newell said he his hopeful of getting the rest of the reports from the Chippewa Falls Police Department by the end of next week.
The suspect has been charged with first-degree intentional homicide and two counts of sexual assault.
At his first court hearing on April 27, the suspect was represented by public defenders Karl Schmidt and Kirby Harless. They waived time limits on his preliminary hearing.
Peters was reported missing Sunday, April 24. Her body was found Monday morning, April 25, near a trail by Leinenkugel's Brewing Company. The suspect reportedly told authorities he struck the girl with a stick, strangled her and sexually assaulted her. He was arrested April 26.
