Man accused of attempted homicide appears in court

ANTIGO — A hearing for an Antigo man being charged with several felonies including attempted homicide was held Tuesday morning at the Langlade County Courthouse.

Kegan Jackson, 23, is accused of attempted first degree intentional homicide and armed robbery, charges stemming from drug-related events which occurred in the dead of night Aug. 8 in the Town of Wolf River.

Tuesday’s extremely brief hearing Tuesday mainly dealt with thus far fruitless attempts to secure Jackson an attorney.

“You have qualified for a public defender, and their office is going to continue to look for an attorney too. Though their efforts continue to be quite difficult, they’ve submitted a report saying that they’ve made 4,224 contacts and just can’t find somebody to take the case,” Langlade County Court Commissioner Brent DeBord said.

Jackson’s struggle to find legal representation is an apparently common one for defendants throughout Wisconsin, which is suffering from a large shortage of public defenders.

“Mr. Jackson needs to have an attorney — it is of the essence here,” DeBord said. “We’ve actually gotten to the point now where the county will be searching for an attorney because the public defender’s office just can’t find one.”

Jackson is being held in connection to crimes which occurred in a Wolf River residence around 1:30 a.m. on August 8, 2023. Jackson came to the home that night along with another man, Dylan Madderom, because they both believed someone there had sold Jackson’s sister bad drugs, which led to her overdosing.

At some point in their visit, Madderom put a gun to the back of a man’s head and ordered him to go outside. The man began walking away instead, at which point Madderom shot him. Jackson and Madderom proceeded to rob both the victim and another person at the residence.

When Langlade County Sheriff’s Officers arrived, they found the victim lying immobile at the base of a staircase. Doctors later told them the bullet had entered the man’s ribs, traveled through his lung, and was lodged in his spinal cord, meaning he would be paralyzed for life.

After the alleged crimes, during which a child was also present, none of those remaining in the house told law enforcement who had victimized them, seemingly out of fear of possible reprisals against loved ones.

Evidence found on Jackson’s phone — including an internet search about an hour after the crime for “Body found in Antigo” and a message from someone that read, “What did u start. Ur gonna end up hurt. Kegan u can’t just go at people n expect Nothing to happen you need to leave town" - suggested Jackson's involvement. Later, Jackson also implicated himself through recorded phone calls from jail.

Jackson’s next hearing is scheduled for June 17 at 2:30 p.m.