Jurors from outside Polk County to decide stabbing case

By: Associated Press//July 16, 2015//

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Defense attorneys Eric Nelson, left, and Douglas Hazleton, right, confer Wednesday, July 15, 2015, in Balsam Lake, Wis., before presenting arguments in the case against Levi Acre-Kendall, center, in the stabbing of St. Croix River fisherman Peter Kelly. (Elizabeth Flores/Star Tribune via AP) — Defense attorneys Eric Nelson (left) and Douglas Hazleton confer with their client, Levi Acre-Kendall, on Wednesday in Balsam Lake before presenting arguments in the stabbing of St. Croix River fisherman Peter Kelly. (Elizabeth Flores/Star Tribune via AP)

BALSAM LAKE, Wis. (AP) — A Wisconsin judge says jurors will be selected from outside Polk County for the trial of a Minnesota man accused of fatally stabbing a St. Croix River fisherman.

Judge Molly GaleWyrick on Wednesday cited intense pretrial publicity. But the judge says 19-year-old Levi Acre-Kendall of Cambridge, Minn., will still be tried in Polk County where Peter Kelly was killed.

The Star Tribune reports the judge decided that jurors from outside Polk County will be brought to Balsam Lake for the trial because the courthouse is bigger than others in the area.

The county that the jury pool will come from has not been determined. Trial is set for December.

Authorities say Acre-Kendall stabbed Kelly after an argument along the river in April. Acre-Kendall has pleaded not guilty to first-degree reckless homicide.

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