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The move came after a 14-member jury from Rusk County was picked Monday for the trial of Harry John Rogers. The trial was expected to last a week.
Rogers, 55, is charged with first-degree murder in the August 1979 death of 27-year-old Robert Pfeil outside his rural Ladysmith home.
Judge Frederick Henderson told attorneys after the panel was picked that he would consider moving the trial to another location because each of the jurors selected indicated they had read or heard something about the murder, raising questions whether Rogers could get a fair trial.
Henderson granted a defense motion seeking a change of venue Tuesday and mentioned Polk County, which is also in northwestern Wisconsin, as a possible location. A new location and trial date may be determined during a telephone conference next Tuesday, Clerk of Courts Renae Baxter said.
District Attorney Kathleen Pakes objected to moving the trial, saying the jurors, who were interviewed at great length Monday, did not say they were influenced by news coverage.
Prosecutors contend then-Rusk County District Attorney Robert Rogers recruited three of his brothers, including Harry John Rogers, as hit men because he feared Pfeil wanted to kill him and his family after sheriff’s deputies killed some of Pfeil’s dogs.
Tuesday’s development was just the latest twist in the unusual case.
Harry John Rogers had been sentenced to life in prison after pleading no contest in the killing. But last year, Henderson allowed him to withdraw the plea, ruling that a plea agreement Rogers signed was insufficient to make sure he understood what he was doing.
During a 2005 hearing involving charges against his former sister-in-law, Rogers told a judge that he and his brothers drove to Pfeil’s home in a van. While they hid in some woods, he drove up to Pfeil in his driveway, shot him in the head and later buried the shotgun, he said.
No one was charged in the case until a grand jury convened in 2004 and new evidence was found.
Dale Rogers, 51, of Sheldon, was found guilty of soliciting second-degree murder and served 461 days in jail before being released in May 2006. Michael Rogers, of California, wasn’t charged because of he helped police.
Robert Rogers’ ex-wife, Cherie Barnard, 57, formerly of San Mateo, Calif., was charged with being party to first-degree murder and perjury. She was accused of participating in Pfeil’s death by helping recruit Harry John Rogers to kill Pfeil.
But prosecutors later withdrew those charges, telling a judge that Harry John Rogers, a key prosecution witness, would no longer testify against her.
Robert Rogers died more than 20 years ago after moving to California.
