By Shereen Siewert
A trial for the lone suspect in an October 2019 shooting rampage that left a Wausau woman dead and two other people injured has been moved to 2022, after a scheduling conference Monday in Marathon County Circuit Court.
Police say Henry “Hank” West fatally shot a 52-year-old Wausau woman and shot two additional victims Oct. 3, 2019 at Pine Grove Cemetery in Wausau before being taken into custody. West, 65, faces charges of first-degree intentional homicide, 11 counts of attempted first-degree intentional homicide, three counts of attempted arson, one count of arson of a building without the owner’s consent, and resisting or obstructing an officer.
West faces a mandatory sentence of life in prison if he is convicted of killing 52-year-old Patty Grimm, who was the manager at Pine Grove Cemetery. He is also accused of shooting William Buhse, 60, and Rosemelia Short, 70, who survived.
West was formerly employed at the cemetery but was terminated from his job in 2012. In the days leading up to the shooting he allegedly told a neighbor he planned to kill Grimm and desecrate her body.
The criminal complaint details West’s plan not only to kill Grimm, but also to kill first responders and residents in his apartment complex and nearby businesses with multiple incendiary devices discovered after the shootings. In September, prosecutors said they extended a deal that would have allowed West to avoid a three-week trial, but he rejected the deal.
A jury trial was set to begin in May but that date was extended after a new attorney was appointed to represent West. On Monday, Circuit Judge Greg Huber set a June 14 date for a scheduling conference for motions in the case and set new trial dates for West, who will now be tried beginning March 21, 2022.
West remains jailed on a $10 million cash bond, the largest ever ordered in Marathon County.
