MILWAUKEE – The former Milwaukee Police Officer who shot and killed Sylville Smith in the summer, will stand trial in Milwaukee County.
Dominque Heaggan-Brown faces a homicide charge, but his attorneys wanted to change the location of the trail, due to the press the shooting received and the days of unrest that followed last August in the Sherman Park neighborhood.
The Milwaukee Journal Sentinel reports that keeping the trail in Milwaukee is only fair.
District Attorney John Chisholm said other high-profile criminal cases here have remained in the county and jurors had been able to reach verdicts. He also pointed to other cases across the country, including the federal trial of Boston Marathon bomber Dzhokhar Tsarnaev, whose court proceedings took place in the city he and his brother attacked.
Circuit Court Judge Jeffrey A. Conen agreed with Chisholm, saying the county has more than 900,000 people and prior examples have shown it is possible to pick a fair and impartial jury even in high-profile cases. Even if the trial was moved, he said, that would not stop the spread of online news and social media.
“It’s not limited to Milwaukee County, it’s blasted all over the world,” Conen said.
He also said it was important for the residents of Milwaukee County to decide a case that unfolded in their own backyard.
For more on this trail and juror selection, visit Milwaukee Journal Sentinel.
