No lawyer yet for woman charged with reckless homicide

The state public defender’s office is still looking for an attorney to represent a 37-year-old Rhinelander woman charged with first-degree reckless homicide in connection with the death of her four-month-old child in April 2020.

Geana L. Terry appeared in Oneida County Circuit Court Wednesday morning for a status conference. 

She is being held on $100,000 cash bail set by Judge Mary Sowinski who later recused herself from the case due to her prior role as an assistant district attorney. 

Despite the recusal, Terry’s appearance Wednesday was before Sowinski.

The bulk of the hearing was spent scheduling an appearance before a new judge — Leon Stenz of Forest County has been appointed — so that bail can be reviewed.

Sowinski called Forest County authorities from the bench to secure a date in the near future. Eventually, an appearance before Stenz was scheduled for early this week. Sowinski also noted that the public defender’s office has advised the court it is working to find counsel to represent Terry.

According to court records, as of last week, the public defender’s office has made 516 contacts with private attorneys certified to handle reckless homicide cases in an attempt to secure representation for the defendant.

Terry is being held on a $100,000 cash bail set by Sowinski. 

According to the criminal complaint, it was the recent disclosure of new information that prompted the district attorney’s office to file the reckless homicide charge more than four years after the infant’s death.

The complaint states an individual who was in the residence on the day the infant died recently disclosed to a trusted person that they had witnessed the infant being suffocated. 

After the trusted person reported the conversation to police, the witness corroborated the information and advised that they had been threatened to keep silent regarding what they had witnessed. This information prompted officers to re-interview Terry who denied harming her child. 

The charge carries a maximum sentence of 60 years in prison.

Heather Schaefer may be reached at [email protected]