March 12, 2018 at 3:35 p.m.
Wolfe has $1M bond set in Valliere murder case
Wolfe has $1M bond set in Valliere murder case
A fifth man being held in connection with the murder of a Lac du Flambeau man made his initial appearance Monday in Iron County Circuit Court.
Curtis Wolfe, just as the other four suspects in the death of Wayne Valliere Jr., had bond set at $1 million by Iron County Circuit Court Judge Patrick Madden.
Valliere Jr., 25, was reported missing in late December, his body found in Iron County during the first few days of January.
Wolfe, along with Richard F.A. Allen, 27, Joseph Lussier, 26, James Lussier, 19 and Evan Oungst, 28 are all charged with one count each of first degree intentional homicide and one count each of hiding a corpse. The other four made their initial appearances last Monday before Madden. Wolfe's initial appearance was delayed a week because of a scheduling conflict for his attorney, Fred Bourg.
Bourg attended Wolfe's court appearance Monday by phone from Glidden, telling the court he thought Wolfe was to be in court later in the day.
Like last week's court appearance for Allen, the two Lussiers and Oungst, Wolfe waived the 10-day time period allowed prior to a preliminary hearing and his bond set at $1 million.
And like Oungst's attorney, Maggie Hogan, did last week for him, Bourg requested a reduced bail amount for Wolfe, from the $1 million the case's lead prosecutor, assistant attorney general Richard Dufour, was asking for to $100,000, saying "that does not make sense for Mr. Wolfe."
"He's represented through the public defender's office, which means he's indigent," Bourg said. "He has no ability whatsoever to raise that kind of money. Really, the only reason why anyone would ask for $1 million from an indigent person is to send a message to the newspapers that this is a big deal for this particular person and it's not helpful in trying to get a fair and impartial jury if we ever get to that point."
He said if the court were to authorize a $100,000 bail, the difference would be it wouldn't be $1 million "because a million dollars has the proclivity to alarm people."
Dufour said he felt a $1 million bond was appropriate.
"It's consistent with the other defendants," he said. "This is obviously an extraordinarily serious case and under the circumstances, I think that's a very reasonable bond."
"The court agrees with you and the bond will be $1 million," Madden said.
Dufour said the meeting between himself and the five different defense attorneys - currently set for March 26 - would be conducted to schedule arraignments for the five men, which he urged should be held at the same time.
Later Monday, Oungst was set to have a hearing on a motion made by Hogan last week in Iron County court to sever his case from the four other defendants. That hearing concluded after deadline for today's edition.
Brian Jopek may be reached via email at [email protected].
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