Jury trial begins for man charged with killing couple at Elkhorn bar

ELKHORN, Wis. (CBS 58) — A jury trial is happening this week in Walworth County, for the man accused of killing a newly-married couple at a bar in Elkhorn last year.

Fifty-eight-year-old Thomas Routt is facing five felony charges, including two counts of first-degree intentional homicide, after investigators allege he shot and killed Emerson and Gina Weingart at The Sports Page Barr on Feb 1, 2024.

Jury selection took almost all day Monday, with nearly 150 potential jurors called for the case.

The final jury of 15 -- 12 with three alternates -- was sworn in just before 4 p.m. Monday, June 23. 

Those jurors will determine if Thomas Routt is guilty of two counts of homicide, one count of attempted homicide, armed robbery, and possession of a firearm by a felon.

The criminal complaint says Routt was on a gaming machine that night inside The Sports Page Barr, where Gina Weingart worked, when a witness says Routt got up and shot the Weingarts and tried to shoot another person who ran out of the bar.

Investigators allege he then robbed the cash register and fled, tossing his gun in a gas station trash can.

Routt was arrested days later and pleaded not guilty.

"Your participation as a potential juror is absolutely essential to our system of justice," Walworth County Judge Kristine Drettwan told jurors Monday.

During jury selection, attorneys asked potential jurors if they owned firearms, if they had ever been to the bar in question, and if they could presume innocence until proven guilty despite knowing Routt has a prior felony conviction due to the firearm charge.

"That's all that we've conceded, is that he has a prior felony. It doesn't establish whether he had a gun, whether he was in a bar. That's for the state to prove," said defense attorney Russell Jones, after a potential juror was dismissed for vocally presuming Routt was guilty.

Court records show Routt previously spent nearly 25 years in jail for burglary and arson, but attorneys say the nature of his former convictions won't be addressed in this trial.

Attorneys will be calling in-person witnesses, playing investigator interviews, and showing the jury body camera and security footage.

Opening statements begin Tuesday morning, and the trial is expected to take all week.