Suspect’s lawyer in death of Lily Peters wants case moved to juvenile court

EAU CLAIRE, Wis. (WEAU) - The lawyer of the suspect in the killing of 10-year-old Lily Peters in Chippewa Falls plans to file for a reverse waiver hearing.

This is an attempt to get the case moved over to juvenile court.

The suspect, who cannot be named because he is underage, is currently charged as an adult because of Wisconsin Law pertaining to intentional homicide cases.

He was 14-years-old at the time of Peters’ death.

Today lawyer Michael Cohen waived the suspect’s right to a preliminary hearing, and the Chippewa County Circuit Court Judge Benjamin Lane found probable cause to bound the suspect over for further proceedings.

The suspect appeared via zoom for Thursday’s proceeding.

A scheduling conflict is the reason why the reverse waiver hearing was not scheduled today, so District Attorney Wade Newell, Cohen and Judge Lane will meet on the morning of September 29th to schedule that hearing.

“Of course, we’re going to be filing a waiver, reverse waiver petition... But I know that the hearing is going to be well, it could be relatively lengthy,” said Cohen to the court. “I do not have calendars available at this point for the witnesses that I’m going to be calling... I don’t know how many witnesses Mr. Newell intends to call.”

The court agreed.

“One of the cases that has dealt with this issue, State vs Kleser, the reverse waiver hearing lasted five days. In that case, there’s other cases across the state where this lasted more than three days,” said Judge Lane.

“The case law says that the rules regarding hearsay still applies. We can’t just bring in documents. We have to bring in live testimony,” added DA Newell.

The suspect is being charged with first degree intentional homicide, first degree sexual assault and first degree assault of a minor.

Back in April Peters’ father went out looking for the 10-year-old after she did not come home one night.

After finding her bicycle along a trial near Duncan Creek law enforcement got involved in the search efforts.

It was not until the next morning when Peters was found.