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No bail reduction for doctor accused in ex-wife’s murder

Posted at 8:37 PM, Jun 21, 2013
and last updated 2013-06-21 23:27:58-04

SALT LAKE CITY - A Salt Lake City doctor was refused a reduction of his bond in a court hearing on Friday.

Dr. John Wall is accused of killing his ex-wife, University of Utah researcher Uta von Schwedler, in September 2011.

Von Schwelder was found drugged and drowned in the bathtub of her Salt Lake City home. Her death was ruled as suspicious, and Wall was arrested earlier this year and given a $1.5 million cash-only bail.

Prosecutors set the bail so high because they consider Wall a flight risk and a danger to the community.

In a court hearing on Friday, Wall petitioned to have that bail reduced to $100,000 and home confinement.

His son Pelle von Schwedler-Wall was there to plead with the judge to keep John Wall locked up until the trial. Pelle claims his father had the motive, means and method to kill his mother. He also feels that, if released, John Wall might retaliate against him, his siblings and his friends.

The judge agreed, and John Wall's bail reduction request was not reduced.