Plover man gets life in 2003 truck-driver slaying

STEVENS POINT, Wis. — A Plover man convicted of killing a truck driver eight years ago has been sentenced to life in prison with no possibility of parole.

Forty-five-year-old Michael Haydon maintained his innocence at Wednesday’s sentencing. A jury convicted him in April of shooting and killing 45-year-old Pat Zemke of Rib Mountain.

Defense attorney Jeffrey Jazgar didn’t argue about whether Haydon should have gotten the possibility of release. A Stevens Point Journal report says Jazgar instead accused investigators of trying to find evidence to fit their theory that Haydon was the killer, instead of finding a theory to match the evidence.

Prosecutors contend that Haydon killed Zemke because he thought Zemke was having an affair with Haydon’s then-girlfriend. But Zemke was simply a co-worker of the girlfriend.