Prosecutors to try murder suspects separately

By Jason Arndt
Editor

Without objections from their defense attorneys, the four Racine men accused in the homicide of Joseph Riley in the Town of Wheatland last November will be tried separately following a request from Kenosha County prosecutors at a March 27 hearing.

The four accused – Anthony L. Harris, 23, Demarco Hudson, 19, Augustine J. Sanchez, 21, and Markeith Wilson, 20 – are all charged with first-degree intentional homicide and attempted first-degree intentional homicide stemming from the Nov. 15 home invasion.

The attempted first-degree intentional homicide charge relates to a woman who suffered gunshot wounds during the home invasion.

Other charges include conspiracy to commit armed robbery, burglary while armed with a dangerous weapon, along with two counts of first-degree recklessly endangering safety, use of a dangerous weapon.

Online court records indicate Sanchez, the alleged getaway driver, will head to trial first on Sept. 30 followed by Wilson on Oct. 21.

The other two, meanwhile, will each appear at a June 7 judicial pretrial hearings before Kenosha County Circuit Court judge Jason Rossell.

The delay in setting an official trial date for Hudson and Harris comes after each of them obtained new defense attorneys.

According to Hudson’s criminal complaint, Harris told investigators the four men had initially planned to rob Riley, 23, of cash and marijuana because he would be “soft.”

Harris, the complaint states, said Sanchez and Wilson were the masterminds of the home invasion and learned about Riley through a girl they knew on Facebook.

Harris, according to the complaint, told investigators he and others visited his home the night before but left after he refused to open the door when they knocked on it.

The following evening, the complaint contends Sanchez drove the other three to Riley’s home in 31500 block of 71st Street and waited in the vehicle.

The plan, however, turned deadly when the other three forced entry into the home by kicking the front door open.

The suspects, the complaint alleges, were armed with handguns.

Harris told investigators Wilson immediately sought out the victim.

Riley, who had a 9-millimeter handgun on his coffee table because of a previous robbery attempt, picked up the gun and started firing in self-defense.

Bullets struck Wilson and Hudson, according to the complaint, adding Wilson told investigators he saw Harris open fire at Riley and the woman.

Wilson and Hudson, who were injured by gunfire, retreated to Sanchez’s vehicle along with Harris and fled the area.

Sanchez stopped at the McDonald’s and BP gas station on Highway 50 in Paddock Lake, where Wilson and Hudson left the vehicle, and were subsequently arrested there by authorities.

Harris and Sanchez were later arrested.

The four suspects, who pleaded not guilty in January, are each held on $1 million cash bonds.


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