Jury chosen for Wood County homicide case

WAUTOMA – It took attorneys about two hours Friday morning to pick six women and eight men from Waushara County to sit on the jury for a Wisconsin Rapids man charged with first-degree intentional homicide.

The trial for Joseph B. Reinwand, 55, who currently is in prison on unrelated charges, is scheduled to start Monday in Wood County. Reinwand is charged in the 2008 shooting death of Dale R. Meister, 35, in Wisconsin Rapids.

Meister was found by a friend in his Wisconsin Rapids home on March 2, 2008. An autopsy showed he had died from multiple gunshot wounds. After six years of investigating, officials charged Reinwand with Meister's death on May 24, 2013.

Using questionnaires, attorneys narrowed an original jury pool of about 150 people down to about 70 who filled a Waushara County courtroom Friday morning. Officials selected 28 potential jurors from which to select 14, which includes two alternates.

Reinwand, who at times has appeared in court wearing a lengthy beard, was clean shaven and wearing a blue shirt, tie and black pants, rather than a prison uniform. He watched the attorneys as they questioned the jury and frequently smiled while talking to officers and court officials when court was not in session.

Attorney Vince Biskupic, acting as a special prosecutor in the Wood County case, focused most of his questions on how the potential jurors feel about law enforcement and the criminal justice system.

"Has anyone ever been the victim of a crime and decided not to report it to police?" Biskupic asked the potential jurors.

Biskupic also asked if anyone in the group of 28 potential jurors had ever been involved in a family court case that became intense. According to court documents, Meister and Reinwand's daughter, JoLynn M. Reinwand, were involved in a custody dispute prior to Meister's death.

Biskupic also asked people if they knew of anyone who had ever committed a crime and then couldn't remember doing it. At one point, Reinwand told authorities he couldn't remember committing a Wisconsin Rapids burglary of which he was convicted.

Attorney Troy Nielsen, one of two public defenders representing Reinwand, asked several of the potential jurors if medical or job issues would make it difficult for them to serve on a jury for a trial that is expected to last two weeks.

Nielsen also asked the potential jurors if they could follow a judge's order not to hold it against Reinwand, if he should chose not to testify during the trial.

After the attorneys finished their questioning, officials took a 25 minutes break before beginning the actual jury selection. By 11:20 a.m. Friday, the 14 jurors, including two alternates, were chosen. Officials will eliminate two jurors by random draw just before the jury starts deliberation in the case.

Once jurors were dismissed from the courtroom for the day, Wood County Circuit Judge Greg Potter expressed frustration with attorneys for bringing up new trial issues on Friday.

Biskupic filed three motions Friday morning, including two asking that Wisconsin Department of Criminal Investigation Special Agent David Forsythe and Wisconsin Rapids Police Chief Kurt Heuer be allowed in the courtroom during the trial. Both officers are on the witness list and normally would not be allowed in the courtroom until they're called to testify. Potter denied the motions.

A third motion from Biskupic asked that the defense not be allowed to bring up accusations made against Meister by several witnesses.

Attorney David Dickmann, also a public defender representing Reinwand, asked Potter not to consider the third motion. Dickmann said he and Nielsen plan to work on their trial preparation over the weekend and don't have time to research arguments regarding the motion so close to the trial's start.

Dickmann said it didn't matter whether accusations were true. The fact that authorities did not investigate them indicate the quality of the homicide investigation, Dickmann said.

Potter ordered both attorneys to write a one-page brief and be in his office by 8 a.m. Monday, an hour before the trial is scheduled to begin. Potter said the motions should have been made weeks, if not months, ago.

"You're kind of putting me behind the eight ball with this," Potter said.

You may contact reporter Karen Madden at 715-423-7200, ext. 6729, or follow her on Twitter: @wrtkmadden