August 23, 2021 at 9:56 a.m.
Judge grants adjournment in Iliopoulos appeal
Judge grants adjournment in Iliopoulos appeal
By River News Staff-
A status conference in the Stavros Iliopoulos case was held Wednesday, Aug. 18, at which time defense counsel Jefren Olsen updated circuit judge Michael Bloom on the status of the DNA samples and other evidence collected in the case being reviewed by a defense expert.
Iliopoulos, 68, is currently housed at the Stanley Correctional Institution where he is serving a 14-year prison sentence, to be followed by 16 years of extended supervision, after being convicted of child enticement, false imprisonment and first-degree child sexual assault. He was charged after a fifth-grade student at NCES reported that he had intercepted her as she was leaving a school restroom in September 2018, forced her into a janitor's closet next to the bathroom and touched her upper chest and stomach area.
It took an Oneida County jury less than 90 minutes to return the guilty verdicts on Sept. 5, 2019 following a two-day trial. An appeal was filed on June 15 requesting a new trial on grounds including ineffective assistance of counsel.
At a July 12 hearing, Olsen told Bloom a summary report on the DNA evidence was prepared and received by the prosecutor's office in April 2019, but the state did not file the required notice until August, just weeks before the trial was set to begin.
A state lab expert testified at trial that the material on the swabs matched Iliopoulos's DNA.
In addition, trial counsel did not request all of the material related to the lab's analysis of swabs taken of the child's upper chest and stomach, relying on the summary report of what was found.
In his motion for post-conviction relief, Olsen also lists two other ways in which Iliopoulos' trial attorney was allegedly ineffective, to include not calling the child to testify and not providing evidence of Iliopoulos' denials to investigators to the jury.
In a letter to Bloom dated the day before the Aug. 18 hearing, assistant district attorney Mary Sowinski wrote that Olsen's expert has the DNA material and expects to have his results ready just before Labor Day. Sowinski said since she would like to respond to Olsen's brief once the results of the expert's examination of the evidence is complete, and the defense has asked the Wisconsin Court of Appeals for an extension of time for Bloom to rule on his motion for a new trial, the best course of action would be to adjourn until September.
While Sowinski could not attend Wednesday's hearing, district attorney Michael Schiek told Bloom he saw no issue with waiting, especially since the Court of Appeals will want Bloom's ruling on the motion before it takes up the matter. Olsen had also filed a request for an extension with the appeals court Aug. 16, and Sowinski's letter mentions that.
"I think that the best course of action at this point is to try to pick a status (conference date) shortly after Labor Day," Olsen said, "At that point we would know where we are."
He said the alternative is to set a hearing date further out into the fall.
"I assume the Court of Appeals, like myself, wants to see everything put into proper order before we proceed," Bloom noted.
Another status conference was scheduled for Wednesday, September 8.
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