GARY ROGGE

MARINETTE, Wis. – A Pembine, Wis., man accused of fatally shooting his wife Jan. 13 has pleaded no contest to amended charges, avoiding a trial that was to have started today in Marinette County.

Gary Rogge, 56, entered the no-contest plea Thursday in Marinette County Circuit Court to first-degree reckless homicide, a class B felony that carries up to 60 years in prison, in the death of Shelley Erickson Rogge, 63.

He had been set to face a five-day trial on a first-degree intentional homicide charge, which carries a life sentence if convicted, after turning down an earlier plea deal.

Sentencing is set for Oct. 14.

According to the criminal complaint, Rogge admitted to killing his wife but claimed it was an accident as they played a shooting game at their residence at N18344 Petite Lane in Pembine.

Rogge reportedly called a Marinette County Sheriff’s Office dispatcher about 10:53 p.m. Jan. 13, saying he had fatally shot his wife with a .22 caliber pistol earlier that night after drinking all day.

In a rambling account to the dispatcher and other officials, Rogge alternately claimed the accident had happened as he tried to show his wife a western movie-style “quick draw,” that he thought the gun had blanks or wasn’t loaded and that Shelley Rogge had told him to shoot her during an argument, the complaint states.

A medical examiner’s report indicated Shelley Rogge had been shot in the chest at very close range, based on gunpowder residue around the wound. She was found slumped on the couch, wearing a bra and jeans, with a wound to the chest that had smear marks as if wiped. On the floor was a gray Las Vegas sweatshirt that had a “center mass consistent with the location of the wound on Shelley Rogge.”

Investigators also found a .22 caliber Ruger revolver with a spent casing. They did not find any blanks. The trajectory of the bullet did not fit with an accident or a shooting game, authorities stated.