PORTAGE, Wis. — Trial dates were set Tuesday for one of the three people facing homicide charges for allegedly kidnapping a man in Madison before killing him near Portage.
Online court records show Ja’Kenya Patty, 21, faces one count of first-degree intentional homicide as a party to a crime. A final pre-trial hearing is scheduled for February 13. A plea hearing is scheduled for March 28, and the trial is set to begin on April 24.
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A criminal complaint alleges that Patty, along with 28-year-old Jesse Freiberg and 38-year-old Laura Johnson put a victim in his own vehicle in Madison and drove to an area along State Highway 16 and Klappstein Road northwest of Portage where Freiberg shot him. Freiberg allegedly admitted to authorities that she shot the victim.
Freiberg and Patty reportedly split time driving to Portage while Johnson sat in the back seat. The trio was arrested in June after Madison police stopped Patty for reportedly trying to run over Freiberg while driving the victim’s car on the city’s east side.
During an initial appearance in July, Patty’s cash bond was set at $500,000. During the appearance, the district attorney alleged that Johnson set the crime in motion. Johnson is accused of beating, binding, taking the victim to his car, and encouraging Freiberg to shoot him.
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