Tripoli man charged with attempted murder, reckless injury

STAR JOURNAL REPORT

A 60-year-old Tripoli man accused of trying to shoot his wife at their town of Lynne residence April 19 was back in Oneida County Circuit Court on Tuesday with a new lawyer.

Kenneth S. Welsh, who has remained in custody after his bond was reduced last month from $100,000 to $40,000 cash, is now being represented by attorney Rodman Wells Streicher. Streicher was appointed to Welsh’s case by the state Public Defender’s office after Judge Michael H. Bloom granted a motion for public defender Mary L. Roth Burns to withdraw as Welsh’s legal counsel.

Welsh faces felony charges of attempted first-degree intentional homicide and reckless injury, as well as misdemeanor counts of domestic abuse battery and possessing a firearm while intoxicated. The attempted murder charge alone carries a possible maximum penalty of 40 years of initial confinement in prison. Welsh pleaded not guilty May 16 to all the counts against him.

Welsh is accused of possessing a firearm during a physical altercation April 19 with his wife, Mary Butler, and receiving a gunshot wound to his shoulder during the altercation. Upon Butler then leaving the residence, court records allege Welsh shot the windshield of the vehicle with which she drove away.

Court records further state that Welsh was apprehended at his residence after Special Response Team officers responded to the scene and used beanbag rounds to subdue him.

Streicher, who noted at Tuesday’s pretrial conference he received the case file from Burns and is in the process of reviewing it, requested an adjournment. Bloom set another pretrial conference for Welsh on Aug. 18.