MILWAUKEE – The prosecution has wrapped up their case in the trial of Michael Mattioli, the former Milwaukee police officer accused of killing Joel Acevedo after an altercation following a party at Mattioli’s house in spring 2020.
As the trial now moves to the defense, which will begin calling witnesses Thursday, community activist and 101.7 The Truth host Tory Lowe tells Wisconsin’s Afternoon News he hasn’t spoken to the Acevedo family since before the trial.
“When families go through certain heights of emotion, I pull back. Because sometimes they’ve got to go through that and I’m here if they need me as an advocate,” Lowe said.
Lowe is hopeful that the case will result in “justice” for the family, who have dealt with years of legal entanglements and delays in their son’s case. One of those battles involved the release of body camera footage, which was released in heavily redacted form on October 13, 2023.
Lowe said he believes this video is worse than the infamous video of the death of George Floyd, which also involved a chokehold.
“Because [Mattioli] was expressing how he felt while it was going on,” he said. “You have audio of how he felt while he was doing it through his own words.”
The prosecution’s case rests in large part on Mattioli’s actions being the main cause of Acevedo’s death. That’s a finding asserted by former Milwaukee County Medical Examiner Brian Peterson, and an opinion his successor, Wieslawa Tlomak, shared on the stand.
Tlomak agreed with Peterson’s findings that Acevedo’s death was caused by “traumatic asphyxiation.” Criminal defense attorney Julius Kim joined Wisconsin’s Afternoon News again Wednesday, and he said this will be a big hurdle for the defense.
“When you have a medical examiner up there saying that this person died as a result of not enough oxygen to the brain, well that begs the question: why was there not enough oxygen that got to Acevedo’s brain?” Kim said. “And the obvious answer, the prosecution is hoping, is that Mattioli applied a chokehold.”
Kim said he believes the prosecution has presented their case as well as they can. Next up is the defense, which presents its case starting on Thursday. The trial is expected to wrap up and be given to the jury by Friday.
