Trial for man charged in Blue Mounds homicide slated for this summer

MADISON, Wis. — The trial for a man charged with killing a Navy veteran on a rural Dane County road in January 2020 is now scheduled for mid-summer.

Online court records show jury selection for 22-year-old Riley Berg’s trial is slated for July 26 with the trial scheduled to begin at 10:30 a.m. the same day. A Dane County judge ruled in February that Berg is now competent to stand trial. Berg had previously been found not competent to stand trial as recently as November 2020.

Berg is charged with first-degree intentional homicide in the death of Nicholas Day. Day’s body was found off County Road JG near the border with the town of Vermont, officials said.

The incident was initially reported as a hit-and-run, but an autopsy confirmed Day was shot while out for a run. The medical examiner also said Day suffered multiple “significant” cuts to his neck.

During the early stages of their investigation, Dane County Sheriff Dave Mahoney called the killing an “extremely brutal homicide and very calculated.”

Berg is scheduled to appear in court for a status conference on May 24 ahead of his trial.

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