BIG BEND MAN, 20, ENTERS PLEA IN MARIJUANA CASE

Parents Killed Selves After Being Accused Of Running Drug House

Waukesha - Rather than fight the drug charges that his parents avoided
through suicide, a Big Bend man accepted responsibility Thursday for his
role in his family's marijuana operation.

His attorney, Matthew Huppertz, said 20-year-old Joshua Schilling wanted to
put the case behind him.

"He has realized that legal or not, right or not, it just isn't worth it,"
Huppertz said. "Look at what happened."

Dennis and Denise Schilling hanged themselves in a Madison hotel in
September, and four of their five children attended their funeral wearing
T-shirts with messages such as "Dare to know the truth about marijuana."

Mourners were asked to sign a petition pressing for legalization of the
drug, and the couple's death notice included the phrase: "Taking care of
your health should not be a crime."

Denise Schilling, in her suicide note, said that she used marijuana for
medicinal purposes and that it was the only thing that helped ease her
chronic back pain and mental illness.

"Perhaps someday people like me will not be so persecuted," she wrote.

Her attorney said the couple became depressed when federal authorities
sought to have them forfeit their home as a drug house. That action came
after they and their son were charged with drug offenses in Waukesha County.

After their deaths, Joshua Schilling was left to face the charges alone.

Rather than go on trial, Schilling on Thursday pleaded no contest to felony
party to the crime of maintaining a drug house and manufacturing or
delivering marijuana. Under a plea agreement, four other charges were
dismissed but can be considered by the judge when he sentences Schilling in
February.

He faces a maximum penalty of about eight years in prison.

But in a rare situation, Assistant District Attorney Lloyd Carter will not
make a recommendation to Waukesha County Circuit Judge James Kieffer on
what sentence should be imposed, under the plea agreement.

Huppertz said after the hearing that he will ask for probation, with no
jail or prison time.

"Just because of the horrendous consequences he's already suffered,"
Huppertz said.

"He still kind of tears up" when talking about his parents, Huppertz said.
"He's obviously still very, very emotional."

Schilling has no criminal record.

Schilling and his siblings declined to comment after court Thursday.

After Schilling's parents committed suicide, Huppertz said, he lobbied
District Attorney Paul Bucher to drop the case. But Bucher rejected that idea.

Huppertz then argued that the felony charges be reduced to misdemeanors.
Bucher balked at that, as well, but agreed to have his office stay silent
on the sentence.

Huppertz said that the U.S. attorney's office still is pursuing forfeiture
of the Schillings' Big Bend home, but there is discussion about a "buy-back
provision" in which a relative may pay to keep the house.

The federal prosecutor handling that case could not be reached for comment.

According to a criminal complaint that charged Joshua and his parents last
June:

Joshua Schilling sold a small amount of marijuana to undercover drug
agents. Investigators who searched the home found a marijuana growing
operation and hallucinogenic mushrooms.

The younger Schilling told police he had been smoking marijuana since
seventh grade, smoked with his parents and had sold some marijuana to his
father's friends.