money Brown County judge rules photos in Schabusiness case must remain under seal, at least until June 13 hearing
GREEN BAY - Saying the public could conclude that photos in the homicide case against Green Bay resident Taylor Schabusiness are "disturbing," Judge Thomas Walsh on Wednesday ruled the photos must remain under seal, at least until June 13.
Walsh said he would hear arguments about the photos from both sides as part of a full day in court on June 13 to deal with a number of questions pending in the case. Schabusiness is charged with killing and beheading of Shad Thyrion, 24, on Feb. 23, 2022, in Green Bay.
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The ruling was in response to a motion filed by Schabusiness' lawyer, Christopher Froelich, asking Walsh to throw out the charge of third-degree sexual abuse against his client because the charge is "defective" thanks to what Froelich termed a lack of evidence.
Froelich asked that the motion be kept from public view because the motion includes photographs taken by police the night of Thyrion's killing. Walsh said Wednesday those photos could be "explicit" and "disturbing."
He agreed that the photos be kept under seal, but ruled the rest of Froehlich's motion could be made public.
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Froelich has also filed a motion asking Walsh to toss out admissions Schabusiness is accused of having made to Green Bay Police Officer Garth Russell shortly after Thyrion's death. The lawyer argues that Schabusiness, now 25, wasn't able to voluntarily consent to a police interview because she was under the influence of methamphetamine, trazodone and possibly other substances that can cause intoxication; Schabusiness had admitted to a Green Bay detective that she used multiple drugs the night of the killing.
Froelich also asked Walsh to prohibit prosecutor Caleb Saunders from using evidence collected from a buccal swab -- a scraping of cells from inside the cheek -- in prosecuting Schabusiness. Froelich wrote that police should have given her a second Miranda warning before taking the sample, but did not.
Saunders opposed Froelich's motions.
Schabusiness has been in the Brown County Jail since February 2022 in lieu of $2 million bail.
Email Doug Schneider at DSchneid@Gannett.com, call him at (920) 265-2070 and follow him on Twitter at @PGDoug Schneider.
This article originally appeared on Green Bay Press-Gazette: Judge: Photos in Green Bay beheading case should not be made public
