GREEN BAY, WI (WTAQ-WLUK) — Days after he was attacked by Taylor Schabusiness in court, attorney Quinn Jolly has formally asked permission to leave the case.
Schabusiness, 25, is charged with first-degree intentional homicide, mutilating a corpse and third-degree sexual assault for allegedly attacking Shad Thyrion on Feb. 23, 2022. She has pleaded not guilty and not guilty by reason of mental disease or defect.
In court Tuesday, moments after Judge Thomas Walsh postponed the trial — which had been set for March 6 — Schabusiness leaped out of her chair and attacked Jolly. A sheriff’s deputy quickly restrained her.
Jolly told the court then he would file a motion to leave the case. The paperwork appeared in the court’s document system Friday morning.
Jolly cited several reasons in his motion:
- Due to the irretrievably broken state of the attorney-client relationship, caused by the events of the court hearing February 14, 2023, counsel request to be withdraw from all further representation.
- That a conflict has developed between Defendant and myself that no longer allows me to be able to continue my representation of Defendant.
- Counsel firmly believes that withdrawal can be accomplished without a material adverse effect on the client’s interests as well as that of the State.
Prosecutors have not filed a response to Jolly’s motion.
A motions hearing in the case is set for Feb. 27.
No new trial date has been set, although the judge suggested a May date earlier this week. If Jolly is replaced, it will likely be months before a new trial is set.
According to the criminal complaint, police were called to a residence on Stony Brook Lane early in the morning of Feb. 23, 2022. There, police found a severed head inside a bucket in the basement.
Schabusiness said she and the victim were using drugs, including meth, and engaging in sexual play, when the man was strangled. She then sexually abused him, dismembered the body and placed body parts in various locations in the home and a vehicle, the criminal complaint states.
“Schabusiness made the comment that at one point, she did get paranoid and lazy and that she thought it was the ‘dope’ that was making her paranoid,” the complaint states.
Police say they took Schabusiness into custody later on Feb. 23 at an Eastman Avenue residence.
Schabusiness removed an electronic monitoring bracelet hours before the murder, according to the sheriff’s department. A warrant was issued for her arrest, but she was not located before allegedly killing Thyrion.
She is being held on a $2 million cash bond.
