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Wisconsin Supreme Court upholds conviction in cold-case murder

By: Associated Press//June 5, 2019//

Wisconsin Supreme Court upholds conviction in cold-case murder

By: Associated Press//June 5, 2019//

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MADISON, Wis. (AP) — The Wisconsin Supreme Court has upheld the conviction of a man sentenced to life in prison for a 1998 murder that had been cold for more than a decade.

The court on Wednesday agreed with a state appeals court’s ruling last year that upheld the conviction of Peter Hanson in the killing of Chad McLean in Oconto County.

McLean disappeared in February 1998 and his body was found a month later in the Pensaukee River. He had been shot four times in the head.

The case went cold until 2009, when Hanson’s estranged wife told investigators that Hanson had killed McLean.

Hanson argued on appeal that the trial court had improperly admitted parts of his testimony during trial and that his attorney was ineffective.

But the Supreme Court, in agreeing with the appeals court, rejected all his arguments.

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