Derek David Goplin looks at whatever his attorneys, Jessica Fehrenbach and Nicholas Smith, are discussing on Fehrenbach’s laptop before jury selection resumed after lunch Monday afternoon.
Derek David Goplin waits for the start of the Monday afternoon portion of jury selection in the trial in whih he is accused of stabbing his mother to death on Halloween 2021.
Derek David Goplin looks at whatever his attorneys, Jessica Fehrenbach and Nicholas Smith, are discussing on Fehrenbach’s laptop before jury selection resumed after lunch Monday afternoon.
Derek David Goplin waits for the start of the Monday afternoon portion of jury selection in the trial in whih he is accused of stabbing his mother to death on Halloween 2021.
Jury selection on the first day of the trial of the 39-year old man accused of stabbing his mother to death on Halloween 2021 stretched until 7 p.m. Monday and was wrapped up around noon Tuesday in Langlade County Circuit Court.
Derek David Goplin is charged with first degree intentional homicide (use of a deadly weapon) in the stabbing death of his mother, Susan Reese, at an Eighth Avenue residence in 2021. His jury trial is currently scheduled to run through Feb. 10 before Judge John Rhode.
A bailiff said that when the original pool of potential jurors summoned for the voir dire process, half of the pool gathered in the main courtroom on the third floor and the rest watched via Zoom from the County Board Room in the Safety Building.
Rhode read the formal instructions to the jury early Tuesday afternoon. Opening statements are scheduled to begin at 8:30 a.m. Wednesday.
After selecting an initial panel of 29, the questioning process began to see if any had positive or negative bias for law enforcement, the district attorney’s office, the criminal justice system and numerous other questions. If any of the panel were excused, they were immediately replaced by someone waiting in the courtroom.
The goal was to select a total of 15 people, including three alternates, who will hear the trial and follow the restrictions of a juror. The 12 people who will go back to the jury room to deliberate will be selected after closing arguments.
Eleven men and four women were chosen.
Late Monday afternoon, the questioning of potential panelists went behind closed doors where Goplin’s attorneys, Nicholas Grant Smith and Jessica Fehrenbach, Interim District Attorney Kelly L. Hays, special prosecutor Nathaniel E Adamson and Rhode had a chance to let the candidate elaborate on whatever questions they had answered earlier that might lead to their removal from consideration. That process stretched until 7 p.m. before adjourning for the night.
The jury had to report back Tuesday morning in time for the process to resume at 8:30 a.m.
The goal was to make sure that Goplin receives a fair trial before as unbiased a jury as possible.
Smith and Fehrenbach had filed a motion for change of venue or venire on Nov. 12, 2021, citing the adverse media coverage of the crime, the manhunt for Goplin and his arrest. This includes all the comments made by area residents on social media versions of this coverage. The motion asked that the trial be moved to another county or a jury be brought in from another county.
At a motion hearing Dec. 22, Rhode denied the change of venue motion but approved a separate motion that would modify the $1 million cash bond to allow Goplin to write a letter to his 5-year old son, which would be provided to Social Services for review before being given to the child.
According to the criminal complaint, on the morning of Nov. 1, 2021, officers conducted a welfare check at the residence and discovered the crime scene. They soon learned that a neighbor had security cameras that allegedly recorded footage of Goplin leaving the residence with his son at 5:15 p.m. the previous day. That child was later found safe at a Waukesha motel complex.
The search for Goplin went on two more days before Antigo police were notified that Goplin had been arrested in Racine County. He was located at a boat landing by a citizen, who believed Goplin was ill and transported him to a hospital. The Town of Waterford was notified about a red Ford Explorer at the boat landing, a vehicle determined to be Goplin’s. He was positively identified at a Burlington hospital and taken into custody.
If convicted of the class A felony of first degree intentional homicide, Goplin will be sentenced to life in prison, with Rhode deciding if Goplin would ever be eligible for parole.
