Case set for trial

The case of a Neillsville truck driver who’s accused of causing the death of a Granton man on U.S. Highway 10 appears headed for a jury trial after almost 2 1/2 years of court proceedings.

A 5-day trial is to begin Aug. 9 in Clark County Circuit Court in the case against 57-year-old Roger Waltemate. He was the driver of a Lynn Dairy semitruck in June 2018 that slammed into a car driven by Anthony Phipps of Granton as Phipps was stopped on the highway for a work zone flagman just east of Granton on Highway 10. Phipps was killed in the collision and several others were injured.

The Clark County district attorney filed charges against Waltemate in February 2019, alleging he was negligent in failing to see the stopped vehicles in the roadway and stop in time to avoid hitting them. He faces one count of homicide by negligent operation of a vehicle, and five counts of second-degree recklessly endangering safety.

Waltemate has been in court multiple times since charges were filed. The most recent motion hearing dealt with Waltemate’s request to have the judge in the case recuse himself because the judge was aware of specific terms of a plea deal offered to Waltemate by prosecutors. The judge denied that request. Waltemate turned down the plea deal offered to him and instead will go to a jury trial, according to court records.

Waltemate also had a motion hearing on the exlusion of his cell phone records as evidence in his trial. A judge ruled in his favor, saying that the records from Waltemate’s phone use just prior to the crash could be prejudicial to a jury.