By: Associated Press//February 2, 2018//
FOND DU LAC, Wis. (AP) — A man charged with killing a young woman nearly three decades ago will avoid a second trial in Wisconsin.
A Fond du Lac County judge Friday accepted Dennis Brantner’s Alford plea in the 1990 strangulation of 18-year-old Berit Beck. She disappeared while traveling from Sturtevant to Appleton. Her body was found in a ditch near Waupun.
In making the Alford plea, Brantner agreed there’s enough evidence for a conviction, but he maintains his innocence. The plea agreement on a charge of second-degree reckless homicide could send Brantner to prison for 10 years. Sentencing is March 1.
Brantner’s first trial ended with a hung jury and a mistrial. Prosecutors later said they planned to re-try Brantner, who is in prison for a separate drug case.