GREEN BAY, WI (WTAQ-WLUK) –- Evidence from a 1981 sexual assault conviction in Racine County will be allowed at Lou Griffin’s upcoming trial for the murder of Lisa Holstead in Green Bay in 1986, a judge ruled Thursday.
The body of Holstead, 22, was found partially submerged in a swamp in an area now known as the Ken Euers Nature Area in August 1986. Griffin was charged in October 2020 after investigators linked Griffin to the scene by a DNA match.
Griffin, 66, pleaded not guilty to first-degree intentional homicide, with trial scheduled to start July 11.
Prosecutors sought permission to introduce evidence of the 1981 sexual assault. In court Thursday, Brown County District Attorney David Lasee said the violent attack was consistent with the sexual assault of Holstead, and that Griffin killed her because he didn’t want a witness who could send him back to prison.
Defense attorney Peter Heyne argued there were enough differences in the circumstances and location of the two attacks that the jury should not be told of the 1981 incident.
But Judge Timothy Hinkfuss ruled the evidence is permissible, and allowed prosecutors to use it.
According to the criminal complaint, Griffin initially denied ever seeing Holstead. However, when presented with the DNA evidence, he said he must have had sex with her, but did not kill her. He said he did not remember having sex with her.
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