2-26-20 state supreme court ruling affirms brantner drug conviction in fdl county

The state Supreme Court has affirmed in part and reversed in part the drug conviction case of an over the road trucker from Kenosha convicted in the cold case murder of a  Sturdevant teenager in Fond du Lac County.  The Supreme Court reversed an appeals court ruling that Dennis Brantner could be charged twice for violations for possessing pills containing different doses of the same substance at the same time.  The court affirmed Brantner’s conviction in Fond du Lac County.   Brantner argued he should have been charged in Kenosha County where he was initially arrested.  Brantner was convicted of  trying to smuggle prescription medication when he was being booked into the Fond du lac County Jail  and was sentenced to six and a half years in prison.  The case was remanded back to the circuit court for further proceedings.  Brantner was sentenced in March 2018 to the maximum ten years in prison for the 1990 death of Berit Beck.    As part of a plea agreement Brantner avoided a re-trial on charges of  first degree murder  when he  was convicted of second degree  reckless homicide.