Tentative trial date set for February for Stillman Valley man accused of killing ex-wife, son in 2016

Defense plans to ask court for pretrial release until jury trial begins

Duane Meyer enters an Ogle County courtroom for a hearing on Wednesday, July 10, 2024 at the Ogle County Judicial Center in Oregon. He is charged with killing his ex-wife, Maggie Rosko, and their 3-year-old son Amos, in 2016.

OREGON – A jury trial for a Stillman Valley man accused of killing his ex-wife and their 3-year-old son in 2016 has been tentatively set for February.

But his attorney plans to argue in August that his client should be released from custody before the trial begins.

Duane Meyer, 42, is charged with four counts of first-degree murder, two counts of aggravated arson and one count of concealment of a homicidal death in connection with the Oct. 19, 2016, Byron house fire in which Margaret “Maggie” (Rosko) Meyer, 31, was found dead. The couple’s son, 3-year-old Amos Meyer, also was home at the time of the fire and later died.

Meyer and his attorney, Christopher DeRango of Rockford, appeared before Judge John “Ben” Roe on Wednesday with Ogle County State’s Attorney Mike Rock and his assistant Matthew Leisten.

“We are in a position to set a trial date,” DeRango told Roe. “And we will also file our intention for a pretrial release.”

DeRango asked for a January date for the trial to begin, but Roe set aside the month of February because of scheduling conflicts.

“My expectation is the trial will take two to three weeks,” DeRango said. “There are an enormous amount of witnesses.”

“I think that would be a good estimate, including jury selection,” Leisten said.

In previous hearings, attorneys have said that numerous cellphone records and data also will be part of the evidence presented.

DeRango said he plans to file a motion asking the court to reconsider releasing Meyer from custody before the tentative trial start date Feb. 3. Roe set that hearing for 10 a.m. Aug. 1.

Meyer has been held in the Ogle County Correctional Center since Oct. 9, 2019, with his bond initially set at $10 million.

DeRango said he also was considering a change of venue survey and likely would make a motion for that in the near future. A change of venue would mean moving the trial to a new location other than Ogle County. A defense motion stating the reasons for the move first would have to be filed and then argued before the court.

In June, Roe denied DeRango’s request for more details on what a state witness has to say about phone records that could be used at trial.

DeRango sought additional disclosure, including a written summary of testimony that he believes prosecutors intend to use from FBI analyst Joseph Raschke, who analyzed cellphone data before the fire.

DeRango told Roe at a May hearing that slides in PowerPoint presentations given to the defense were too general and needed to be more specific. And he argued that Raschke had not provided a written report on his findings.

DeRango said there were “thousands of pages of discovery” and it was “impossible” to know what the state’s expert would say about the slides. Leisten countered that Raschke’s slides should be sufficient for the defense, arguing that Raschke’s slides were in his report and that he was not required to provide “some type of narrative for the defense.”

Leisten said Raschke will testify about Meyer’s cellphone data and how it relates to cell towers in the area. He said case law only mandates that prosecutors provide a “gist” of what an expert will testify to at trial. He said DeRango would have the opportunity to cross-examine Raschke during the trial.

Roe agreed and denied the defense motion in his June 18 written order.

In November 2022, Roe ruled that Duane Meyer’s cellphone records would be allowed as evidence at the trial.

At a September 2022 hearing, Leisten said Raschke was a member of the FBI’s cellular analyst support team and had “plotted the estimated locations” of Meyer’s cellphone using methods that he had employed in hundreds of cases.

Such analytical evidence has been allowed in state and federal courts for more than a decade, and Raschke has testified multiple times as an expert in cell-site analysis despite defense objections, Leisten said.

Maggie (Rosko) Meyer was a teacher at the Chana Education Center at the time of her death. She filed for divorce in 2014, and court records show that the divorce was finalized in September 2016.

Margaret “Maggie” (Rosko) Meyer and Amos Meyer
Earleen Hinton

Earleen Hinton

Earleen creates content and oversees production of 8 community weeklies. She has worked for Shaw Newspapers since 1985.