The state Supreme Court will hear the case of a 58-year-old man serving a life sentence for the murder of a Green Bay man in Abrams.
An Oconto County jury convicted Peter Hanson of the 1998 shooting death of 19-year-old Chad McLean. McLean’s body was found in the Pensaukee River in the Abrams area.
The case went cold until 2009, when Hanson’s estranged wife told police that he admitted to killing McLean. She later died.
Hanson argues the jury shouldn’t have heard about her statements, since he couldn’t confront her. He also believes his attorneys were ineffective.
Hanson was charged in 2013, 17 years after Green Bay police started investigating McLean’s disappearance. Hanson was sentenced in 2014 to life in prison without the possibility of parole.
A state appeals court upheld Hanson’s conviction. The judges noted that three other witnesses told jurors that Hanson confessed to them.
