THE DEFENDANT in a decades-old murder with several Madison ties was bound over for trial Wednesday in Ladysmith. Cherie Barnard, 54, will stand trial for being party to the murder of Rob Pfeil, 27, who was shot to death outside his home in rural Ladysmith on Aug. 14, 1979.
The Madison connections include Barnard’s defense attorney, Chris Van Wagner, who was in Ladysmith for the preliminary hearing Wednesday and came away unimpressed with the prosecution’s case. Barnard herself is a UW-Madison Law School graduate.
(An item on Prof. Richard Davidson and the Dalai Lama is also included in Moe’s column, as is a mention of the late Professor James Graaskamp.)