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That has changed.
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Mister Holderson would like to give a statement to your.
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Honor, and I would only ask that you read slowly,
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simply because my court reporter has to take down what
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you're saying, and sometimes we read faster than we mean to.
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Here, Hunter, I want to take this opportunity to stay.
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Tapes from the Dark Side contains descriptions of violence and sexuality.
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Listener, discretion is advised.
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The Chandler holders than trial lasted ten days, and I
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watched all ten days of testimony more than once, probably
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more than twice. On January twentieth, twenty and twenty two,
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the jury returned a verdict in just over two hours.
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Let's not beat around the bush.
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The verdict form on count one, as signed by the
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presiding Juror and dated today, reads, we the Jury find
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the defendant Chandler m Alderson guilty of first degree intentional
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homicide as to bart A Holderson, as charged in count
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one of the amended information. As to the verdict form
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for count two, as signed and dated, we the jury
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find the defendant Chandler m. Holderson guilty of providing false
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information about a missing person as to bart A Holderson
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Count three, we the jury find the defendant Chandler M. Halderson,
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guilty of mutilating a corpse as to bart A. Holderson.
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Count four, we the jury find the defendant Chandler M.
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Holderson guilty of hiding a corpse as to bart A. Holderson.
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For count five, as signed and dated reads, we the
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jury find the defendant Chandler M. Alderson guilty of first
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degree intentional homicide as to CHRISTA. R. Alderson. Count six
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guilty of providing false information about a missing person as
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to CHRISTA R. Halderson. The verdict form has to count
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seven guilty of mutilating a corpse as to CHRISTA R. Halderson.
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And finally, the verdict form for count eight, as signed
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and dated reads, we the jury find the defendant Chandler M.
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Halderson guilty of hiding a corpse as to CHRISTA R. Holderson,
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as charged in count eight of the amended information.
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Judge John Hyland then thank the.
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Jury, ladies and gentlemen. At this point in time, you
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have finished your service here as the jury in this case.
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I have to tell you that words are difficult to
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come with to express the gratitude that I feel and
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that I believe those people within the criminal justice system
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which we serve feel regarding the time and concentration and
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sacrifices which you gave for this process. You are committed,
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holly and wholeheartedly to this process, and I thank you.
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I'll be happy to with you after I've finished here
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in the courtroom, if you wish to stay and please
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go with our thanks and gratitude.
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Brandy, all right, bond or lack thereof is set and
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a sentencing hearing is then discussed.
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I will revoke bail at this time, and we have
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a date in March for a sentencing hearing. I think
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we have a full day available, but I don't know
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if the parties anticipate needing a half day or a
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full day. Do you have any thoughts on that, Attorney Brown?
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And the tentative date for a sentencing hearing is set
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for March seventeenth or eighteenth. Bond is revoked, meaning Chandler
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Holderson will unquestioningly remain behind bars for at least the
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next three months. Not that it really matters, because Chandler
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had no one left to pay his bond even if
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it was set. His parents are obviously gone, his brother
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Mitchell wants nothing to do with him, and at this
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point him and Kat were broken up. I got an
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interview with Chandler's bunk made from County Jail, who told
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me a little bit about the specifics of Chandler and
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Cat's break up, the phone calls between them on YouTube.
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I think people are curious about as far as how
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or whyatt ended, because I think the last call we
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got was, you know, just a very happy, cheery call,
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and then that there were no more calls after that.
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But yeah, to be.
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Honest, I think that it actually happened over a text,
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if I remember correctly. I remember just one day he said,
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well me catter over. I was just like you all right,
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and He's like, yeah, yeah, I'll be fine, And I
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kind of want to say that was a little bit
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of the end of it. He had some strong opinions about,
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you know, about what happened, but he always is very
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into her. It really upset and that Kat had cooperated
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with the police to the point that she did a
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lot of things that he had said were like he
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didn't have to give them anything. She could have just
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declined an interview.
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I'll play the rest of that interview later, but for now,
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let's hear from a jury member in the trial of
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Chandler Holderson. I was curious to hear if she was
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as surprised as I was in how lack lust hers
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defense was.
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First time we're hearing from one of the jurors and
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Chandler Halderson's homicide trial last week.
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Halderson was convicted of killing and dismembering his parents, Bart
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and Christa. During the two week trial, Halderson did not
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testify and his attorneys did not call any witnesses. Only
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on twenty seven News, a juror reveals how that decision
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played a key role in the verdict.
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What did you think about the fact that Handler Holderson's
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attorneys called no witnesses.
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We were all shocked. I mean we we didn't None
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of us had ever been in a jury like this, obviously,
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in a trial this like this, So it was we
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were shocked because you think that you're going to hear
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two sides to a story, and when they said they
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had nothing, we were shocked. So it obviously made our
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deliberations a lot shorter than they might have been if
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we had anything to go on we had, We had
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no nothing.
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And you'll remember that one of the defense attorneys in
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her closing argument, made it clear that they conceded that
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Chandler Holderson had told lies about his life and other things,
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but she emphasized that, you know, from her perspective, we
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didn't know what happened in that home. She even suggested
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that we can't rule this out as an accident. How
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did you and how did you respond to that?
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It just the timeline and the technology in this case
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was just too great for us to ignore. They're just
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it just there was just no question. We just we
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didn't have anything else to go on except for what
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the state presented, and it was all there for.
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Us after the evidence was presented. Testimony, the closing arguments.
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You received your instructions from the judge when you and
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the other jurors went into the jury room, did you
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immediately take a vote? How did you go forward?
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No, we did not take a meeted vote. We kind
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of all got our notes together and decided to put
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some things on a whiteboard and each charge and kind
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of discuss each charge and you know, go from there.
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How difficult was it to look at those photos of
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body parts and know that they were Bart and Crystal Halderson.
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It was It was pretty gruesome for sure. I mean,
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and we were warned, but you know, it's just something
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you look at and look away. It's it was something
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a lot all of us had never seen before, obviously,
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so it was not very it was gruesome.
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Darcy. What did you think of the testimony of Andrew Smith,
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Chandler Holderson's friend who came from Kansas and brought that
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brought that rifle.
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He was quite a carecharacter. We thought he was pretty
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straightforward and shot from the hip, and you know, told
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us everything that he thought would be important. And I
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think he was honest. Would I swear that they would
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have moved heaven and earth for him if he would
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have came to them and said, mom, Dad, I don't
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know what happened to me. I snapped, I've been telling
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lies for the last how many years to you and
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my friends and my girlfriend, and I need help.
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Darcy. Why do you think Chandler Halderson did this abominable thing?
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I don't you know. I don't know, Tony, I really don't.
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I just think he got caught up in the lies
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and it was just his whole life was a lie.
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His friends didn't know him, his girlfriend didn't know him,
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his parents had been caught up in these lies the
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past couple of years. We didn't know what kind of
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person Chandler was before this happen. We were given no
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information about his life, nothing about him, so I can't
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say I know anything about that. The only thing I
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can say, and that I think I do know, is
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that his parents loved him very much, and for their
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fate to be what it was is just it was incomprehensible.
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Tony Galli of WKOW News had one last question for
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Darcy Widmer. What should his sentence be? This would be
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the question on the forefront of everyone's mind going into
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the next phase of this case. We knew that Chandler
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Halderson would get a minimum of life in prison, but
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would he or should he be eligible for parole at
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some point during this sentence?
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Do you have an opinion on what his sentence should be?
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And I'll qualify that he will get a mandatory life sentence,
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but the question will be whether the judge set's a
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eight when he potentially could be eligible for parole. The
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earliest I believe would be twenty years, So whether he
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said it at twenty forty sixty or never, do you
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have an opinion.
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On that, I don't. I think it should be longer
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than twenty for sure, but I don't really have an
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opinion on that.
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Before the date of the sentencing hearing had arrived, Chandler
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Holderson's attorney filed one last, quite surprising motion, and that
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was a motion to waive his appearance at sentencing. It
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seems that Chandler Holderson didn't want to be there in
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person to accept the consequences of his actions. His lawyers
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cited in nineteen ninety six case which allegedly allowed defendants
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to waive their right to be present. District Attorney William Brown,
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whose voice you've heard throughout this series, opposed this request, adamantly,
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arguing that Wisconsin law mandates the defendant's presence at sentencing.
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This whole debacle post an important question. Is it possible
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that Chandler's absence could be permissible under the law? Could
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he dodge accountability one last time?
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The man convicted of murdering and dismembering his parents his
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schedule to be sentenced later this week, but Chandler Holderson
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does not want to be there.
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Holderson's attorney filed an affidavid with the court verifying he
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wants to skip it.
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UW Associate law professor John Gross notes Marcy's law guarantees
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a victim's right to address a court on the harm
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done to them.
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The question really becomes, well, you know, does the defendant
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have to be present to hear that?
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If Chandler Holderson must be in court, Gross says he's
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unlikely to be able to sabotage that.
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If a defendant is on a hunger strike or a
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threatened self harm or will will not cooperate in any
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way to be taken to court where we left, then.
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The judge always has the capacity to order that the
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defendant be brought to court.
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In a document to Judge John Hyland by Attorney Brown,
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he acknowledged that Alderson had constitutional and statutory rights, but
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that these were not endless. Quote.
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He's a convicted murderer, body mutilator, and a liar. His
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request to skip his sentencing hearing is absurd, in an
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affront to the public's interest and expectation of his court system.
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The defendant has no right to simply eskip court hearings
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that might be uncomfortable, or to avoid finally being held
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responsible for his behavior.
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We only know of two exceptions to the law that
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a defendant must attend their sentencing hearing. One is for
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misdemeanors and the other is when a defendant refuses to
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attend the trial. I want to give a quick thank
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you to Channel three thousand News and Sierra rem and
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Tony Galli at WKOW for their reporting on this specific
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situation and the entire Holderson case. We've referenced their articles
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a number of times in this series. When we come back,
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we'll hear the judge's decision. Would Chandler be forced to
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attend sentencing? If you want to skip the ads in
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be right back. Don't go anywhere. Judge John High issued
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his order Wednesday morning a response to the motion filed
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by Alderson's defense. His specific request that he not be
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required to attend the sentencing hearing.
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The Dane County man convicted of killing and dismembering his
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parents will have to face his family and the public
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at his sentencing hearing tomorrow.
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Judge Hyland cited a ruling from nineteen ninety seven in
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which a Wisconsin Supreme Court said a defendant in a
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felony case could not voluntarily waive the right to be
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present at sentencing. We must consider if a factor in