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COLUMBIA, Mo. (AP) — A Missouri man who was convicted final yr of killing his spouse and burying her physique will face one other trial this yr on expenses that he abused the couple’s younger daughter.
Joseph Elledge has pleaded not responsible to a few felonies involving his daughter, who was 1-year-old when her mom was killed.
Elledge was convicted Nov. 11 of second-degree homicide within the demise of Mengqi Ji, a 28-year-old Chinese language girl he married whereas they have been finding out on the College of Missouri. He was sentenced in January to twenty-eight years in jail.
Elledge buried his spouse’s physique in a park close to Columbia after she died in October 2019. Her physique was not discovered till March 2021. Elledge has stated Ji’s demise was unintentional.
The abuse expenses have been filed after a Columbia police investigation that began after Ji disappeared. Elledge was arrested Oct. 25, 2019 after police stated they discovered iPad images of his daughter’s bruised physique, the Columbia Missourian reported.
He was charged with abuse or neglect of a kid, endangering the welfare of a kid and third-degree home assault.
Throughout a listening to Monday, Boone County Circuit Choose Kevin Crane rejected a request by Elledge’s protection legal professional, John O’Connor, that the trial be moved due to intensive media protection of the homicide trial. Jurors will probably be introduced in from Warren County.
Crane stated he would set a date for a four-day trial relying on attorneys’ schedules.