Jurors: No doubt about Schmidt verdict

STEVENS POINT - A day after deciding of the fate of a former Appleton firefighter tried for homicide, the lives of the jurors are getting back to normal.

Because of media coverage in Northeast Wisconsin, the jury was bused in each day from Portage County in central Wisconsin. It was a case some say they knew almost nothing about before entering the Outagamie County courtroom last week.

Now, the jurors from the Scott Schmidt case are able to talk about what went on behind closed doors.

“For me, it was easy. I mean, we all knew,” said Rose Lorek of Plover. “We knew he did it. I mean, he admitted it. ‘I killed my wife.’"

Lorek says it was a unanimous decision to convict Schmidt of intentional homicide, but the other charge for shooting his mother-in-law, Barb Wing, took some work. It was either attempted homicide or reckless endangerment. Three people wanted to convict Schmidt with attempted homicide, but all eventually agreed. Lorek didn't think Schmidt wanted to kill his mother-in-law.

"He was after Kelly, not after (Barb),” said Lorek. “If he would have killed her, he would have, he didn't care."

Todd Prutz was one of three jurors randomly picked as an alternate to be left out of deliberations. While he wishes he had been in the room deciding the verdict, he was glad to head home to Stevens Point.

"It was a relief to be done with it because it was very stressful and emotional thing that those people went through and to be a part of it, it was a little stressful," said Prutz.

He says even though the jurors couldn't talk about it, they all knew the same thing.

"It's hard to argue that didn't do it intentionally when you've got three bullets to the head," said Prutz.