Motion Hearing In Brantner Murder Case

A motion hearing this afternoon could determine if another jury trial will be held for the 63-year-old Kenosha man suspected of killing 18-year-old Berit Beck more than two decades ago. A hearing will be held in Fond du Lac County court for Dennis Brantner. In June a jury was unable to reach a unanimous verdict in Brantner’s murder trial. The jury was dismissed. During a court hearing last Tuesday District Attorney Eric Toney said he was ready to retry Brantner, but Brantner was not in court and a trial date wasn’t scheduled. Toney says he has new evidence, testimony of a former girlfriend of Brantner’s, to offer at trial. Brantner’s lawyer, Craig Powell, maintains trying Brantner again would be double jeopardy. Beck stopped in Fond du Lac in July of 1990 on her way to a training session for work. Her van was found in a parking lot and six weeks later her badly decomposed body was discovered in a ditch outside of Waupun.