L-R: Alejandro Cantu, Gustavo Cantu and Jacob Ventura (Photos source: Brown County Jail)
GREEN BAY, WI (WTAQ-WLUK) – No ruling was made Tuesday on prosecutors’ request to merge the cases of three Green Bay murder defendants, a decision which means the trial for one of the suspects won’t start this week.
Gustavo Cantu, Alejandro Cantu and Jacob Ventura are each charged with being party to the crime of first-degree intentional homicide for the shooting death of Randall Denny at Perkins and Western avenues on April 30, 2022. Police have said the murder appeared to be tied a drug deal. Alejandro Cantu was scheduled for trial starting Friday with jury selection. Trial dates have not been set for the other two.
Because of the way cases are assigned as they are filed, all three are appearing before different judges. However, Brown County District Attorney David Lasee filed a motion Jan. 25, asking for the three cases to be merged. He argued that with more than 50 identical witnesses in each case, it makes logistical sense to try them together, rather than hold three trials.
In court Wednesday, attorneys for all three defendants opposed the merger motion. Among the reasons cited: Alejandro Cantu is ready to go to trial this week and doesn’t want a delay; since the state hasn’t identified the specific shooter, antagonistic defenses may be inevitable; it would be fairer for the jury to judge each defendant individually based on the evidence only against them; and given the substantially similar criminal complaints, prosecutors should have known earlier how similar the cases would be.
After hearing the oral arguments, Judge Thomas Walsh gave the defense teams two weeks to file written arguments on the matter, and prosecutors time to reply. He plans to issue a ruling from the bench March 18.
“Judicial economy is important. Prompt resolution is important. Timeliness is important. Fairness is of paramount importance in my mind. And when I consider all those things, even more important to me is what I said earlier, which is, I’m going to try to get it right, not just get it done,” Judge Walsh said.
As of now, Judge Hammer has a Feb. 23 status conference set for Ventura’s case, while Judge Kelley has a March 26 status conference in Gustavo Cantu’s case.
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