WISCONSIN
Barron News Shield
By: Eric Quade 10/06/2005
St. Croix Circuit Judge Eric Lundell said strong circumstantial evidence led him to conclude there was probable cause that Rev. Ryan Erickson killed Dan O'Connell and James Ellison back on Feb. 5, 2002.
Lundell made the ruling following an all-day hearing Monday at Hudson.
O'Connell, 39, and Ellison, 22, were killed at a funeral home in Hudson where prosecutors alleged Erickson shot O'Connell for confronting the priest about alleged past pedophilia. Ellison was thought to have been in the wrong place at the wrong time.
Lundell said he was very confident that Erickson was the killer.
"On a scale of one to 10, I would consider it a 10," Lundell said, regarding the case against Erickson.