Anthony Duke Accused of Murdering Ronald Hauser
The jury trial has finally begun for Anthony Sean Duke, the Webberville man accused of murdering Ronald Hauser in the basement of his own home on New Year’s Eve, 2011. The trial is taking place in the Livingston County Circuit Court in Howell, before the honorable Judge Michael P. Hatty.
According to the investigation that followed Hauser’s death, it was a Facebook post that led to Anthony Duke being a suspect. In October 2012, Detective Mark Klein of the Livingston County Sheriffâs Department testified that Duke had posted an incriminating status update on his Facebook wall. In it he told his friends that he was having a dilemma, unsure of how he should spend $30,000. The exact wording was as follows: “What to do?? ⌠30K I have to spend.”
According to police, Hauser, an Iosco Township landscaper, was known to carry large quantities of cash. Officers were not making much headway in the investigation following Hauser’s death, and then one month after the shooting Duke posted that one little sentence on his Facebook page. And everything changed.
Officers apparently interviewed Anthony Duke a total of ten times after discovering the post. But this is not a rock-solid case. For the most part, the investigation can only prove that Duke was in need of money, and knew that Hauser possessed a large quantity of cash. Circumstantial evidence at best. So now begins the process of sifting through what each side has to offer, and trying to extract the truth from the allegations and assumptions.
Duke was bound over for trial by Livingston County District Judge Carol Sue Reader on the grounds that there was enough circumstantial evidence to warrant a trial. But will it result in a conviction? Only time will tell.
The 15 member jury, consisting of eleven men and four women, have already heard the opening statements and the first witnesses for the prosecution have already taken the stand. It has begun. Now, all that remains is to see whether or not these fifteen people believe that Anthony Duke is innocent of the charge, or guilty of premeditated murder.