Kenneth Hudson appears before Marinette County court via Zoom, February 24, 2023. PC: Fox 11 Online
KAUKAUNA, WI (WTAQ-WLUK) – After years of hearings, motions, and delays, a judge has dismissed all of Kenneth Hudson’s motions seeking new a trial on conviction for the murder of Shanna Van Dyn Hoven, but the case is likely to continue in the appeals court.
Hudson is serving a life prison term for the June 25, 2000, murder of Van Dyn Hoven, 19. She was killed while jogging in a Kaukauna park. Hudson was also sentenced to consecutive sentences after that for kidnapping, attempted homicide and recklessly endangering safety, totaling another 70 years in prison. Since sentencing, Hudson has filed more than a dozen appeals and motions — usually focusing on claims he was framed — and all have failed.
Hudson’s case has most recently been handled by Marinette County Judge James Morrison, who has called this Hudson’s last chance to address whatever issues he wants to raise. Hudson was to have filed an all-encompassing motion this fall, with a hearing scheduled for next month for arguments and a decision.
However, after disavowing his own motion filed in August and then missing a Sept. 21 deadline, Judge Morrison filed a 12-page decision Wednesday dismissing the case at the circuit court level.
“In an abundance of caution and because the Defendant has filed so many motions, himself, at other times by attorneys, and apparently at other times by Attorneys without his permission, the Court is making clear that the Defendant has no viable, valid motion brought under Wisconsin 974.06 for any relief in any way whatsoever,” Morrison wrote.
While Hudson’s initial appeals were rejected by the Court of Appeals – which called the theory he was framed “preposterous” – Morrison noted Hudson’s pattern of non-cooperation and delay tactics.
“That is precisely what has occurred here. All of the Judges who came before me have bent over backwards to be certain that Mr. Hudson’s constitutional rights were protected. That was done not only to protect the rights of the accused, which is always very important, but also to protect the victims, the family of the murder victim in this case, from having to go through a trial a second time. That second purpose has been totally frustrated by twenty years of delay tactics and preposterous claims made by Hudson post trial,” the decision states.
Judge Morrison rejected the notion any of Hudson’s motions would succeed.
“In all of the various motions that were filed since the Court of Appeals denied Mr. Hudson’s original 45 issues on appeal, Mr. Hudson has never been able to raise a single new fact which could have any conceivable impact on the determination of guilt or innocence,” he wrote.
Judge Morrison’s ruling notwithstanding, Hudson currently has one case pending before the court of appeals, seeking to appeal one of Judge Morrison’s previous rulings on the case. Hudson could also appeal Wednesday’s ruling to the Court of Appeals.
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