Lawyers gave opening statements and selected a jury Monday for the trial of Daniel Kelly, the man accused of killing Austin Bodahl on State Street in May.
Dane County Circuit Court Judge Daniel Moeser said he expects the trial to run through Friday and anticipates a verdict by Saturday.
If convicted of first-degree reckless homicide, Kelly, 31, faces a maximum penalty of 60 years in prison. However, Kelly stated his plan is to present a case based on self-defense.
Kelly is represented by state public defenders Dennis Burke and Tracey Lencioni. The prosecuting attorney is
Assistant District Attorney Lana Mades.
Kelly, who has a history of schizophrenia and mental illness, could also end up testifying in the trial. Last week, Moeser ruled Kelly competent to be tried.
Moeser said one of the reasons this case may stretch into the weekend is that the number of witnesses for this case is enormous - ranging from police officers to bystanders who were at the scene on State Street May 22.
One such witness could be Jesse Miller, the young man accused of putting much of UW-Madison's campus on lockdown due to threats of violence in late September. Miller is relevant to the case because he reportedly held a conversation with Kelly when he was still in jail. In that conversation, it is claimed that Kelly told Miller he killed Bodahl in cold blood.""
The trial is set to start this morning with witness testimonies and possibly evidence from the scene.
