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Judge denies mistrial in Brossard case

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David Brossard trial, Aug. 19, 2009

A co-worker testifies about the last day she saw Dawn Brossard alive. David Brossard is charged in his wife's killing. Click to play

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David Brossard trial

David Brossard is on trial, accused of killing his wife in 1997 and dumping her bound body in Geneva Lake. He was found not guilty Aug. 31, 2009 after a two-week trial.

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Walworth County District Attorney Phil Koss, right, and defense attorney Charles Blumnefield talk to Circuit Court Judge James Carlson prior to opening statements Tuesday in the trial of David Brossard.

ELKHORN -- Judge James Carlson denied a defense motion this morning for a mistrial after a bartender testified in front of the jury that a murdered woman told him her husband had threatened to kill her the night before she disappeared.

David Brossard, 40, of Burlington, is charged with killing his wife, Dawn Brossard. She disappeared in October 1997, and was found at the bottom of Geneva Lake in 2003. David Brossard was charged with the crime last year.

Bartender William Kandziora, now of Colorado, returned to the witness stand this afternoon and was told not to say anything about the threats he says Dawn Brossard spoke to him about.

Kandziora said she came into the bar to shoot darts on Thursday, Oct. 23, 1997, and returned for lunch on Friday, Oct. 24.

When she came back for lunch, Kandziora testified, Dawn Brossard told him about an incident that happened the night before.

"How did she seem (at lunch)?" asked Walworth County District Attorney Phil Koss.

"A little nervous, a little shaken," Kandziora said. "She said she got home (Thursday) night and her wedding dress was laid out on the bed with a shotgun across it. She said he said 'This is how they're gonna find you if you leave me.'"

After that statement was made, defense attorney Charles Blumenfield moved for a mistrial.