HOME SEIZURE RAISES QUESTIONS

Couple Charged In Pot-Growing Case Killed Themselves

WAUKESHA -- When the United States government filed a forfeiture action
against a Big Bend couple charged last year with growing marijuana in their
home, it went too far, the couple's probate lawyer says.

Ever since Dennis and Denise Schilling killed themselves rather than face
prosecution, the debate over the scope of their marijuana-growing went
unsettled in criminal court.

That didn't stop a federal prosecutor from concluding that "substantial
drug activity" justified the government's effort to seize the couple's house.

But as the attorney for their estates is winding up his work in Waukesha
County Probate Court, the final picture emerging of the pair depicts a
middle-age couple who had little more than the roof over their heads.

They borrowed money and raided a retirement account to hire their lawyers.