RHINELANDER, Wis. (WSAU) – An Oneida County judge has reversed a decision he made last month and will again allow statements a father made to police during questioning to be used at his trial.
Judge Mark Mangerson reviewed the evidence and changed his mind because it appeared to him that deputies did not violate Matthew Lonkoski’s constitutional rights.
Mangerson said Lonkoski first asked for a lawyer when he was not in custody. Lonkoski then waived his right to an attorney after police told him he was under arrest.
Lonkoski will go on trial April 20th on first-degree reckless homicide and child neglect charges in the May 2009 death of his 10-month-old daughter Peyton.
Prosecutors allege Lonkoski failed to stop the girl from swallowing a morphine pill that he had left lying on a table.
A jury acquitted Lonkoski’s girlfriend and the baby’s mother, Amanda Bodoh, on a child neglect charge last month.
