Theodore Edgecomb trial postponed due to COVID-19

MILWAUKEE - A Milwaukee County judge postponed the homicide trial of a man accused of killing an attorney after a number of people associated with the case tested positive for COVID-19, including the judge.

Jury selection in the homicide trial of Theodore Edgecomb was set to begin Monday, Jan. 3, but was postponed until Jan. 18 as Judge David Borowski said he has the disease, but remains asymptomatic.

"Obviously the case was set for trial today. Unfortunately, the case is being adjourned due to a couple circumstances, COVID-related. Some COVID-related, I’ll describe them as symptoms of individuals or persons involved in this case," said Borowski during a brief virtual hearing late Monday morning.

"I tested positive. I’m asymptomatic and feel fine, but tested positive within the last couple of days for COVID. The trial is not proceeding today," Borowski said, adding it’s "unfortunate for everybody involved."

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Borowski also set a virtual bail hearing for Wednesday, Jan. 5, and an in-person motions hearing for Jan. 10, after Edgecomb’s attorneys reiterated their objections to adjourning the case, as the demand for a speedy trial expires Tuesday.

In a letter written by one of Edgecomb’s defense attorneys on Sunday and filed Monday, Aneeq Ahmad expressed concern about efforts by the state to adjourn the case.

"Based on previous conversations with (Assistant District Attorney Grant) Huebner, it seems that the State is looking for any reason not to try this case as scheduled," wrote Ahmad. "I would not be writing about this had the COVID issue only been raised today."

Edgecomb, 32, was charged in late 2020 with shooting and killing Jason Cleereman near Holton and Brady on Sept. 22, 2020, after an "altercation", according to investigators. Cleereman, a Milwaukee immigration attorney, was the passenger in a car; Edgecomb was on his bike. Video shows Cleereman's vehicle following Edgecomb on the Holton Street Bridge. The Milwaukee attorney hopped out, and Edgecomb shot and killed him.

Edgecomb fled the state and was arrested months later in Kentucky.

Ahmad wrote to Borowski saying Huebner had made several inquiries to him last week regarding the unsuccessful serving of witnesses, witnesses who had COVID-19, and that "a couple of detectives have symptoms and are awaiting testing results."

According to the letter filed by Ahmad, the state notified Edgecomb’s counsel that Edgecomb was in a quarantined jail pod. Inmates were being tested and if Edgecomb is positive for the disease, it would be an issue come Monday -- the scheduled start of the trial.

In the letter, Ahmad wrote he was told Huebner has symptoms of COVID-19 and is awaiting a lab-confirmed test, despite testing negative from a rapid test.

"If ADA Huebner does test positive, the defense would object to any good cause reason to adjourn the trial," wrote Ahmad, arguing a lack of prosecutors shouldn’t be a reason to adjourn the case, noting the defense is prepared to proceed and several experts subpoenaed are flying in from the east and west coasts.

Messages left with the Milwaukee County District Attorney’s office regarding the circumstances surrounding the postponement have not been returned. 

Jury trials to continue, says Chief Judge

While the trial of Edgecomb has been pushed back because of Covid-19, Milwaukee County Circuit Court Chief Judge Mary Triggiano says in-person proceedings in the courthouse will continue.

"We have put in place safety mechanisms, and frankly, for the last two years have not had an outbreak in the courthouse since we resumed jury trials in 2020," said Triggiano when reached by phone Monday afternoon. "While we certainly have had Covid (case) creep, we have never had an outbreak, and we are proud about that fact."

Triggiano says the court being impacted by Covid-19 was expected, "to a certain degree, post holidays. But we were ready for it."

She pointed to the fact that the county has not stopped its masking policy since the beginning of the pandemic, including in the courthouse and courtrooms, and recently added additional Plexiglas in parts of the complex, knowing another variant was coming that could impact the court’s work.

Triggiano says if there were to be an outbreak in the courthouse, the court would "certainly readjust."

She says there are outbreaks in the county jail, and the House of Corrections, which does impact the work done on a daily basis, but the court will "continue to try to keep people safe with the safeguards we have in place."

In Borowski’s case of testing positive, but being asymptomatic, Triggiano noted it was not related to people coming into the courthouse. Borowski could still come into the courthouse to work – if needed – per county rules. But a line of "demarcation" Triggiano said was being symptomatic in the courthouse.