Drug ring suspect pleads not guilty as court backlog delays preliminary hearing

GREEN BAY, WI (WTAQ-WLUK) – A judge entered a not guilty plea Monday for James Grandberry, a suspect in a Chicago-to-Green Bay drug ring whose preliminary hearing was delayed for more than a year because the state could not find him an attorney.

Grandberry, 36, faces 14 charges, including three of manufacture or delivery of fentanyl, amphetamines and cocaine, after a bust last August. He was arrested on July 11, 2024, and charged about two weeks later. Prosecutors have since said this case was the state’s first wiretap investigation for fentanyl and at least 47 people are facing charges.

Preliminary hearings are typically held within 10 days, but due to the state’s inability to find an attorney for him, the hearing was repeatedly delayed – leading to his case becoming an example of the backlog in the court system…

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