KENOSHA ⏤ The prosecution and defense are holding out for a resolution to the criminal case against Jacob Blake without a trial.
Blake faces charges of criminal trespass to dwelling, a misdemeanor; third-degree sexual assault, a felony; and disorderly conduct, a misdemeanor.
According to a criminal complaint filed in the case in July, Blake allegedly entered the house of a woman he knew in the early hours of the morning. After entering, he allegedly sexually assaulted her. Before fleeing in her vehicle, he also took a debit card and car keys before fleeing in her vehicle.
The Kenosha County District Attorney’s Office charged Blake in the case on July 6, 2020, within two months of when he would be shot by Kenosha Police Department Officer Rusten Sheskey.
That shooting has sparked unrest locally and nationally.
Blake made an initial appearance in that case on Sept. 4 from a hospital bed, paralyzed from the waist down in the shooting.
Blake’s appearance
Blake appeared via live video Wednesday. He wore a white dress shirt instead of a hospital gown.
When his attorney cracked a joke, he even smiled.
Blake has been confined to a hospital bed since Sheskey shot him seven times in the back on Aug. 23.
Wednesday hearing
In court Wednesday via YouTube Live, defense attorney Patrick Cafferty told Judge Bruce Schroeder that the case had not been resolved.
However, both Cafferty and prosecuting attorney Zeke Weidenfeld asked Schroeder to set a trial date closer to the Nov. 9 trial date, to leave the door open for a resolution before trial.
“We have had some discussions about a potential resolution but we do not have a resolution to present to the court.
“I believe that Mr. Weidenfeld and I wish to continue those discussions. And we have a joint request for the court to not hold a Ludwig hearing at this point and hold open the possibility of resolution until the fourth of November.”
Patrick Cafferty, defense attorney
The state has also filed a motion for admission of other “violent attacks on the complaining witness in the case,” Schroeder said.
Schroeder will hear that motion during a new pre-trial on Nov. 2.
Cafferty and Weidenfeld are to notify the court whether the case has been resolved in writing by 5 p.m. on Nov. 4.
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