MASON COUNTY (WKZO) — A Circuit Judge has refused to resign from hearing the Baby Kate murder case Despite requests from prosecutors and the Attorney General.
They believe he should recuse himself because Judge Peter Wadel previously ruled there isn’t enough evidence to take the case to trial when he was a district judge.
That decision was overruled on appeal and the murder charges reinstated against Sean Phillips. Now that Wadel has been promoted to the Circuit Court he has assigned himself to this case again.
The Attorney General argued that Judge Wadel has a conflict and could be prejudiced.
The judge disagrees and has refused to take himself off the case, so the A.G.’s office intends to appeal to the State Court Administrator.
Meanwhile the appellate court’s decision reinstating the murder charge is being appealed by Phillip’s attorney.
