APPLETON, WI (WTAQ-WLUK) – Gene Meyer will not get a new trial for the 1988 sexual assault and murder of Betty Rolf, a judge ruled Friday.
Meyer, 68, was sentenced in July to life plus 20 years for the two crimes. Judge Mark Schroeder ruled that Meyer would be eligible for parole after 34 years.
Meyer’s attorneys argued for a new trial, based on a recent U.S. Supreme Court decision. At issue is the trial testimony of Dr. Robert Corliss, who discussed the autopsy reports and records from 1988. Corliss, however, did not perform the autopsy on Rolf; Dr. Robert Huntington did. Huntington died in 2015. Despite the reason for Huntington’s unavailability at trial, Meyer’s attorneys say the Supreme Court ruling regarding the defense’s right to confront a witness means Corliss’ testimony should not have been allowed at trial.
At Friday’s hearing, Judge Schroeder reviewed a list of a series of statements Corliss made during testimony about Huntington’s report, which, based on the Supreme Court decision after the trial, would be considered inadmissible. However, in almost every instance, the same information was properly presented to the jury in another way or through other testimony.
“In weighing the factors on the ‘harmless error’ analysis, the court finds that the majority of those factors weigh in favor of denying the motion for a new trial, and finding that the error that was made by the court in admitting, given the issuance of the Smith v. Arizona case, the out of court statements from Dr. Huntington, was harmless in nature. This court, by the totality of the evidence properly introduced at trial, and outside of any evidence introduced in error, concludes, beyond a reasonable doubt, that the error was harmless, and that a reasonable jury could be convinced beyond a reasonable doubt, based on that admissible evidence that that evidence was sufficient to return a guilty verdict,” the judge said.
Additionally, there was substantial other evidence which supported the verdicts. Also, the defense’s theory was that a third party killed Rolf, and the evidence in question didn’t address that issue, Judge Schroeder said.
Friday’s decision could be appealed to the Wisconsin Court of Appeals.
Rolf’s body was found Nov. 7, 1988, in Grand Chute, just outside the Appleton city limits. Meyer was charged in December 2022 after DNA from the scene matched evidence taken from Meyer’s truck.
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