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Last updated on Wednesday, June 21, 2017
(BLOOMINGTON) - A judge denied Daniel Messel’s request Monday to appear in-person during court hearings.
Messel, 51, is serving an 80-year sentence after a jury found him guilty in August 2016 of murdering 22-year-old Hannah Wilson. Brown County Circuit Court Judge Judith Steward sentenced him to 80 years in prison, 60 years for the murder and an additional 20 years for being a habitual offender.
Wilson's body was found on April 24, 2015 in a parking lot face down at State Road 45 and Plum Creek Road near Helmsburg. Wilson had been reported missing the day before. Messells cell phone was found next to her body. She died of blunt force trauma to the head. Wilson's DNA was found on Messel's clothes and in his vehicle.
Now Messel is being charged in Monroe County with rape, criminal confinement, criminal deviate conduct, battery, and theft of the woman's shoes, clutch purse and cellphone.
On Monday Monroe County Circuit Court Judge Marc Kellams denied Messel's request to be present in person for all future court hearings in the rape case.
Messel appeared via a video teleconference for a pretrial hearing Monday between the courtroom and Wabash Valley Correctional Facility, where Messel is incarcerated.
Judge Kellams ruled there is no reason why Messel would need to be present during hearings, unless a major issue was of discussion.
After his murder conviction, Messel's DNA was entered into a database when he was convicted, police say it matched DNA taken from beneath the fingernails of a 22-year-old lU law student who was abducted and sexually assaulted in September 2012.
Messel's next pretrial hearing in the case is set for 11:45 a.m. on August 15.
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