GREEN BAY — The trial for the man accused of killing his cellmate at Green Bay Correctional Institution in August will be pushed back until at least mid-March, a judge decided Tuesday.
Jackson Vogel, 25, is charged with first-degree intentional homicide as a hate crime for the strangling death of 19-year-old Micah Laureano. The two were paired as cellmates in the prison’s treatment center just hours before guards found Laureano dead the night of Aug. 27, authorities said.
According to a criminal complaint, Vogel admitted to killing Laureano because he was “bored,” and told an investigator he thought Laureano “checked all the boxes,” including the teen’s race and perceived sexual orientation.
In October, Vogel entered a plea of not guilty by reason of mental disease or defect, commonly known as an insanity, or NGI, plea. His trial had been scheduled to begin Jan. 27, but his defense attorneys were not able to obtain a doctor to complete a second NGI evaluation before that trial date.
In a letter filed Jan. 3, Vogel’s attorneys, Ann Larson and Luke Harrison, explained they had obtained a psychologist to evaluate Vogel before he entered the insanity plea, but due to “new information,” they determined there was a need for a second expert’s evaluation “in order to effectively represent Mr. Vogel” at trial. The attorneys requested Brown County Circuit Court Judge Donald Zuidmulder adjourn the trial set to begin later this month.
At Tuesday afternoon’s hearing, Larson said the second psychologist the attorneys obtained should be able to evaluate Vogel and provide a report by March 15. Larson said the delay is due to forensic psychologists dealing with a backlog of clients in need of evaluations.
Zuidmulder granted the request for adjournment, ordering the Jan. 27 trial be taken off the calendar. The judge scheduled a status conference for 3:30 p.m. March 17 for attorneys to discuss any issues that are not resolved before then and to set trial dates.
Prosecutors and defense attorneys had each filed motions regarding the admissibility of certain pieces of evidence at trial, but at Tuesday’s hearing said they had reached agreements without need for a ruling from Zuidmulder.
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In addition to his homicide charge in Brown County, Vogel faces charges in Racine County for allegedly mailing death threats to a judge and prosecutor months before Laureano’s homicide. He has a preliminary hearing in that case scheduled for 9 a.m. Thursday.
Vogel is currently serving a 20-year prison sentence for attempted first-degree intentional homicide, for a Manitowoc County incident in which he stabbed his mother when he was 16 years old, according to court records.
Laureano was in prison serving a three-year sentence for concurrent cases in Columbia, Eau Claire and Waukesha counties involving assault and vehicle theft.
Contact Kelli Arseneau at 920-213-3721 or karseneau@gannett.com. Follow her on X, formerly Twitter, at @ArseneauKelli.
This article originally appeared on Appleton Post-Crescent: Trial delayed for man accused of killing cellmate at Green Bay prison