Colton Kehoe (Photo source: Brown Co. Jail)
GREEN BAY, WI (WTAQ-WLUK) – A state appeals court denied an appeal Wednesday by Colton Kehoe, one of the four people convicted for the murder of a Green Bay Preble High School student during a drug deal.
Kehoe, Gavin Rock, Jarid Stevens, and Jared Williquette were convicted for the March 2019 murder of Federico Abarca. The sentences ranged from 12 to 18 years in prison.
Kehoe appealed, making three arguments: his attorney was constitutionally ineffective, his plea was not knowing and voluntary, and DNA evidence on a knife constitutes new evidence. But in a 19-page ruling, the court rejected all three arguments.
For the attorney claim, the court ruled:
We agree with the circuit court, and we independently conclude that Kehoe’s counsel did not perform deficiently as to his investigation and advice regarding the viability of a self-defense claim Because Kehoe has not shown that his counsel performed deficiently, we need not address the prejudice element of the ineffective assistance analysis.
For withdrawing the plea, the court ruled:
Kehoe does not argue that the circuit court’s findings are clearly erroneous, and we see no reason to conclude that they are. As noted above, Kehoe fails to explain how the ADHD diagnosis and his age affected his ability to enter a plea, how those factors affected his understanding of his counsel’s explanation of the plea, and how those factors made his plea not knowing, intelligent and voluntary. Accordingly, we conclude that Kehoe has not shown that his plea was not entered knowingly, intelligently and voluntarily.
For the supposedly-new evidence, the court ruled: “In all, because the DNA analysis report existed and was made available to Kehoe and his counsel well before Kehoe’s plea in July 2020, it is not newly discovered evidence.”
Green Bay police said Rock set up a drug deal with Abarca on Snapchat. The four went to Abarca’s apartment planning to steal five vaping cartridges that contained THC, the active ingredient in marijuana. A dispute occurred, and Williquette shot Abarca.
Kehoe, now 25, is housed at the Dodge Correctional Institution, state records show.
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