Trial date set for man charged with killing UW-Whitewater gymnast Kara Welsh
ELKHORN – A former University of Wisconsin-Whitewater wrestler will stand trial on Dec. 12 on charges he killed his champion gymnast girlfriend last year, a Walworth County judge ruled.
The trial date for Chad T. Richards was set Tuesday during a motion hearing he attended by a video link from the Walworth County Jail.
His attorney Gibson D. Hatch, of Middleton, filed a motion on Monday, requesting that his legal team be given access to the view the crime scene – unit no. 203 of the Whitewater Street apartment complex, where police say Richards shot Kara Welsh to death.
Prosecutors were previously allowed inside the apartment on the day a search warrant was executed there. In recent weeks, DLK Enterprises, the Whitewater-based rental company that manages the complex, barred the defense from entering the unit without a court order.
More: What we know and don't know about the fatal shooting of champion gymnast Kara Welsh
Hatch said touring the apartment would be crucial to helping him and his team form a defense for his client.
Walworth County District Attorney Zeke S. Wiedenfeld didn't oppose the defense request. He said he spoke with the manager before Tuesday's hearing and was told the unit hadn't been renovated since the warrant was executed.
At that time, law enforcement removed a door, some drywall, portions of flooring and other items that could be used as evidence, Wiedenfeld said.
Walworth County Circuit Court Judge Estee Scholtz said she would allow Richards' lawyers to go through the apartment, but with limits – for a specific amount of time and for a single day.
"I don't want it to be a continued invasion of the space," she said.
Members of Welsh's family were in the courtroom gallery and spoke up as discussion during the hearing shifted to discovery.
More: Suspect makes court appearance in shooting death of UW-Whitewater gymnast Kara Welsh
Hatch said his office had received discovery in the case, but needed time to go over it. He requested the next status hearing be held within 45 days, which Welsh's family objected to.
They requested the hearing be held within 30 days, arguing discovery already had been furnished for Richard's legal team in November and has had ample to examine it.
Richards, 23, is scheduled return to court March 20 for a status conference. A final pre-trial hearing also was scheduled for Dec. 3.
Police arrested Richards in August in connection with the killing of Welsh, a 21-year-old University of Wisconsin-Whitewater student and national gymnastics champion.
Welsh was 21 and entering her senior year at the university, when she was found dead Aug. 30 at an off-campus apartment building, police said.
Richards, a member of the university's 2020-21 and 2021-22 wrestling teams, is charged with first-degree intentional homicide in her death.
A report by the Walworth County Medical Examiner's Office determined Welsh had eight gunshot wounds.
Detectives have promoted the theory, based on the evidence, the shooter stood over Welsh and fired as she was curled on the floor in a fetal position.
Richards has pleaded not guilty.
He has been unable to post the $1 million bond needed for his pre-trial release, and remained in custody Tuesday at the Walworth County Jail.
This article originally appeared on Milwaukee Journal Sentinel: Man charged with killing UW-Whitewater gymnast Kara Welsh has trial date set
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