SOUTH MILWAUKEE (AP) — A Milwaukee man charged with killing and mutilating a woman whose body parts washed up on a beach along Lake Michigan pleaded not guilty during a court appearance Monday.
Maxwell Anderson, 33, of Milwaukee, entered the plea to charges of first-degree intentional homicide, mutilating a corpse and arson in the death of Sade Robinson, 19.
Anderson waived his right to a preliminary hearing. He's due back in Milwaukee County Circuit Court on May 16, local news outlets reported.
The court appearance was Anderson's first since his arrest on April 4, two days after a leg believed to belong to Robinson was found by a passerby down a bluff at Warnimont Park along Lake Michigan in Cudahy. The leg had been severed just below the hip.
A torso and an arm believed to belong to Robinson were found Thursday morning along a remote stretch of tree-lined beach in South Milwaukee about a quarter of a mile (400 meters) from an apartment complex, the Milwaukee County Sheriff’s Office said.
Anderson is being held on a $5 million bond.
A phone message seeking comment was left Monday evening for one of his attorneys, Anthony Cotton.
Robinson was reported missing April 2 by a friend. An employee of the building where Robinson lived told police that Robinson was excited about a date she had planned for April 1, according to the complaint.
Surveillance video from a restaurant showed Robinson and Anderson sitting together at the bar on the evening of April 1. Her burned car was found the next morning.
FILE - This March 2024 photo provided by the Wisconsin Department of Corrections shows Maxwell Anderson, who was charged Friday, April 12, 2024, in the slaying of a woman whose dismembered leg was found near a beach down a bluff along Lake Michigan near Milwaukee. Anderson pleaded not guilty to the charges during a court appearance Monday, April 22. (Wisconsin Department of Corrections via AP, File)
FILE - In this image taken from video, Maxwell Anderson is led into the courtroom for his initial appearance, Friday, April 12, 2024, in Milwaukee. Anderson, charged with killing and mutilating a woman whose body parts have washed up on a beach along Lake Michigan, pleaded not guilty to those charges during a court appearance Monday, April 22. (WDJT-TV via AP, File)
PHOENIX (AP) — A judge on Friday rejected an effort by GOP lawmakers to use the term “unborn human being” to refer to a fetus in the pamphlet that Arizona voters will use to weigh a ballot measure that would expand abortion access in the state.
Maricopa County Superior Court Judge Christopher Whitten said the wording the legislative council suggested is “packed with emotion and partisan meaning” and asked for what he called more “neutral” language. The measure aims to expand abortion access from 15 weeks to 24 weeks – the point at which a fetus can survive outside the womb.
It would allow exemptions to save the woman’s life or to protect her physical or mental health. It would also prevent the state from adopting or enforcing laws that would forbid access to the procedure.
Arizona House Speaker Ben Toma, who is a co-chair of the legislative council, said the group will appeal the court’s decision to the state Supreme Court.
“The ruling is just plain wrong and clearly partisan,” said Toma, a Republican.
Aaron Thacker, communications director for Arizona Secretary of State Adrian Fontes, noted that the final decision on the ballot itself remains in the air.
“There’s still a lot of scenarios at play," he said. "Even after the secretary certifies the signatures, the courts have to decide if counties can put it on the ballot or not."
Arizona for Abortion Access, the organization leading the ballot measure campaign, sued the council earlier this month over the suggested language and advocated for the term “fetus,” which the council rejected.
Attorney General Kris Mayes wrote in a motion to submit an amicus brief that “fetus" and “pregnancy” are both neutral terms that the council could adopt.
“It’s incredibly important to us that Arizona voters get to learn more about and weigh our measure in objective and accurate terminology,” said Dawn Penich, communications director for the abortion access group.
Democrats have centered abortion rights in their campaigns in this year’s elections. Organizers in five other states have also proposed similar measures that would codify abortion access in their state constitutions: Colorado, Florida, Maryland, Nevada and South Dakota.
Arizona organizers submitted more than double the amount of signatures needed for the measure to appear on the ballot.
FILE - Arizona abortion-rights supporters deliver over 800,000 petition signatures to the capitol to get abortion rights on the November general election ballot July 3, 2024, in Phoenix. A judge on Friday, July 26, rejected an effort by GOP lawmakers to use the term “unborn human being” to refer to a fetus in the pamphlet that Arizona voters will use to decide on a ballot measure that would expand abortion access in the state. (AP Photo/Ross D. Franklin, File)
