Hearing suggests insanity plea possible in River Falls triple murder
The judge in the Aaron Schaffhausen case has told John Kucinski, his public defender, that he has approximately three weeks to decide whether to enter an insanity plea, The Star Tribune reports. Schaffhausen, 35, is the father charged with three counts of first-degree intentional homicide for the deaths of his daughters in their River Falls home last July.
KSTP reports that Schaffhausen walked into the courtroom wearing an orange jumpsuit, and was silent during the entire hearing.
Appearing before St. Croix County Circuit Judge Howard Cameron, Schaffhausen's attorney was told that he has until December 14 to file the motion to plead not guilty by reason of insanity.
In addition, Cameron ruled that Kucinski has until December 28 to request a change of venue to move the trial because of pretrial publicity. The trial is scheduled to begin on April 1.
Schaffhausen is charged the deaths of his daughters, 11-year-old Amara, 8-year-old Sophie and 5-year-old Cecilia. He is divorced from the girls' mother but shared legal custody of the girls with her. He was visiting their home the day of the killings. He faces the possibility of life in prison on each of the three intentional homicide charges.
