Gerald Turner PC: Fox 11 Online
FOND DU LAC, WI (WTAQ-WLUK) – A trial to determine if the state will be allowed to keep the “Halloween killer” in custody will start April 16, a court decided Thursday.
Gerald Turner, 74, was convicted of sexually assaulting and killing 9-year-old Lisa Ann French while she was trick-or-treating in Fond du Lac in 1973. Her body was found a few days later in the town of Taycheedah. His prison term complete, the state filed suit in 2018, seeking to have Turner deemed a sexually violent offender, and ordered to remain at a secure mental health facility under the Chapter 980 sexual predator law. His attorneys have opposed the request and want him released. Five years later, that process is still going on.
While the attorneys are still waiting for an evaluation by the state Dept. of Health Services – and the defense will have its own expert produce a similar report, defense attorney Robert Peterson told Judge Anthony Nehls Thursday he believed a trial date should be set. Asst. Attorney General Devra Ayala agreed.
A four-day is trial is planned.
Turner is currently held at the Sand Ridge Secure Treatment Center in Mauston.
After serving 17 years in prison for a 38-year sentence, Turner was released from prison in 1992 but returned to prison that same year following a court decision challenging calculation of time served. Turner was again released on parole in 1998 but returned to prison in 2003 for 15 years after pornographic images were found on his computer.
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