RACINE â A judge and prosecutors were OK with a Racine County Jail inmate being let out to be a pall bearer at his sisterâs funeral. But the Wisconsin Department of Corrections intervened, keeping him behind bars instead of with his family to say his final goodbyes.
Unexpected tragedy
Ramsey
A lifelong sufferer from sickle cell anemia, Shemera Latrice Ramsey died suddenly at the age of 30 on May 15. Her family gathered for her funeral Friday morning. But Damien Bell, Ramseyâs brother who was supposed to be a pall bearer, wasnât there.
Bell, 37, has been in the Racine County Jail since July. With his attorneyâs help, he applied for a furlough. Inmates are allowed to leave incarceration for a short time for various reasons, such as to visit a sick loved one. Furloughs often are granted on a daily basis for someone facing a low-level charge to allow them to keep their job, with the requirement that they return to jail every night before they make bail or the
RACINE â A man in a rage over his ex-girlfriend seeing someone new will spend the rest of his life in prison for the shooting death of his rival.
Troy Hoffman, 41, of New Berlin, was sentenced Friday to life in prison without the possibility of parole for the murder of Chad Bickler, who was 42 years old at the time of his death.
Hoffman pleaded no contest to first-degree intentional homicide in February as part of a negotiated settlement with the Racine County District Attorneyâs Office.
The additional charges of attempted first-degree intentional homicide and mistreatment of an animal â for the shooting death of Tucker, a dog on the property â were dropped but previously read into the record.