Sentenced to life in prison with no parole in 2017, Muskegon serial killer appealing.
As serial killer Jeffrey Willis tries to appeal two murder convictions, he will do so with new legal counsel.
A Muskegon County judge ruled this week that court-appointed attorney Ann M. LaBreck would be allowed to withdraw from representing Willis as he tries to have two murder convictions overturned.
In 2017, a judge sentenced Willis to life without parole for the 2014 killing of Rebekah Bletsch and the 2013 kidnapping and killing of Jessica Heeringa.
According to a motion filed by Labreck, Willis had stated multiple times that he is “dissatisfied with the quality of services his lawyer is providing.”
Last week, LaBreck filed a motion to be removed from the case, and a judge Tuesday granted that request.
Both the Bletsch and Heeringa murders had stumped detectives until authorities say Willis abducted a 16-year-old jogger who managed to escape by jumping from his moving van and running to a nearby home for help.
When police arrested Willis, they confiscated a gun and evidence in his van that connected him to the two victims.