FOND DU LAC, WI (WTAQ) – The man convicted in the 1989 murder of Michael Fitzgibbon in Winnebago County will not get a new trial.
Mark Price had argued the prosecutor in his case, then Winnebago County DA Joe Paulus, used false testimony to get a conviction.
The 55-year-old Price attended a hearing on Friday by phone from the New Lisbon Correctional Institute.
Price was convicted in the 1989 shooting death of Fitzgibbon. However, the defendant claims he did not shoot Fitzgibbon, but was present during the murder and helped put Fitzgibbon’s body under the ice of Lake Butte des Morts.
Price says two other men actually committed the crime.
On Friday defense attorney Jeremy Newman told the judge the prosecutor in Price’s original case bribed witnesses and allowed false testimony to convict Price of murder.
“Assuming there was false testimony and assuming the prosecutor knew or should have known about that testimony and it wasn’t corrected and it was presented before the jury, a new trial is mandated if there is any likelihood that the false testimony could have affected the judgment of the jury,” Newman said, according to FOX 11.
Paulus was later convicted of misconduct in other cases, but he was never found guilty of misconduct in Mark Price’s case.
Friday’s hearing was held in Fond du Lac, although it is a Winnebago County case. Winnebago County judges removed themselves from the case.
On Friday Winnebago County Deputy District Attorney Scott Ceman admitted Paulus mishandled Price’s trial.
“But it was on points that were so minute compared to the overall, overwhelming guilt of Mark Price that justice, in this case, at the end of the day, was served. The evidence was overwhelming of Mark Price’s guilt,” said Ceman.
Judge Richard Nuss agreed with Ceman. He told the court Price’s own testimony proves his guilt in Fitzgibbon’s death.
“But for his actions at the apartment on the date in question, you know, it’s highly likely Mike Fitzgibbon might be alive today,” Nuss explained.
The judge decided Price will not get a new trial. As of now, Price has served about 25 years of his life sentence.
(Additional reporting from FOX 11).
