GREEN BAY, WI (WTAQ-WLUK) — The trial for the murder of a teenager killed during a drug deal started Monday with jury selection.
Federico Abarca, 18, was shot and killed on Feb. 22, 2019. Colton Kehoe, Jared Williquette, Jarid Stevens and Gavin Rock were charged with being party to first-degree intentional homicide.
Jury selection for Williquette, the alleged shooter, began Monday afternoon at the KI Convention Center. Brown County judges are using the exhibition space to allow for social distancing, particular in cases such as this one, where a pool of 70 prospective jurors were assembled.
The trial is scheduled to last through Thursday.
Williquette’s previous attorney maintained the shooting was self-defense. Williquette is also charged with conspiracy to commit armed robbery, as well as misdemeanor counts of obstruction and bail jumping. He told police he used a 9 mm Smith & Wesson in the shooting, according to the complaint.
Green Bay police said Rock set up a drug deal with Abarca on Snapchat. The four went to Abarca’s apartment planning to steal five vaping cartridges that contained THC, the active ingredient in marijuana. A dispute occurred, and Abarca was killed.
Kehoe was previously sentenced to 18 years in prison.
Rock and Stevens had been scheduled enter pleas and be convicted in February, but the hearings were postponed, as their attorneys want to wait and see how Williquette’s trial turns out. Both men return to court May 17.
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