Outside jurors to decide in stabbing case

Published 9:45 am Thursday, July 16, 2015

BALSAM LAKE, Wis. — A Wisconsin judge said jurors will be selected from outside Polk County for the trial of a Minnesota man accused of fatally stabbing a St. Croix River fisherman.

Judge Molly GaleWyrick on Wednesday cited intense pretrial publicity. But the judge said 19-year-old Levi Acre-Kendall of Cambridgewill still be tried in Polk County where Peter Kelly was killed.

According to reports, the judge decided that jurors from outside Polk County will be brought to Balsam Lake for the trial because the courthouse is bigger than others in the area.

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The county that the jury pool will come from has not been determined. Trial is set for December.

Authorities said Acre-Kendall stabbed Kelly after an argument along the river in April. Acre-Kendall has pleaded not guilty to first-degree reckless homicide.