GREEN BAY, WI (WTAQ) - One of the five men convicted of killing Green Bay paper mill worker Tom Monfils in 1992 is seeking a new trial, while making a stunning claim.
Keith Kutska, who's now being assisted by the Wisconsin Innocence Project, filed motions last Friday requesting a new trial.
Kutska, along with Michael Johnson, Michael Hirn, Dale Basten, Rey Moore and Michael Piaskowski, were convicted for their roles in the murder of Monfils. Piaskowski is the only one not serving a life prison term after having his conviction overturned by a federal judge.
No hearings have been set on the motion.
According to the new motion, a “despondent, shamed and angry” Monfils left his work area, walked to the pulp vat, tied the rope and weight, and entered the vat voluntarily. His body was found the next day.
The 145-page motion also contends that suicide is a more plausible theory than the conspiracy of the six men convicted.
“We note a particularly telling aspect of this case that is probative of Kutska’s actual innocence and that of his co-defendants – that, if Kutska and they were in fact guilty of beating and murder Monfils, at least one of them, long ago, would surely have admitted to some involvement, no matter how minimal, in that crime at some time during the 22 years since Monfils’ death,” it states, according to FOX 11.
As supporting evidence, there are several affidavits.
Among is one from Cal Monfils, Tom’s brother. His states that Susan Monfils, Tom’s wife, initially commented that Tom committed suicide. And while “I cannot say for sure if Tom took his own life, but every day it seems to make more sense than 6 men keeping secret about an assault which there are no witnesses to and is based only on a theory,” Cal Monfils writes.
Brown County Judge and former district attorney John Zakowski was unavailable for comment.
(Additional reporting from FOX 11).
