HUDSON, Wis., Aug. 29 (UPI) -- The man accusing of killing his three daughters in their Wisconsin home chose not to enter a plea during arraignment.
Judge Howard Cameron Jr. entered a plea of not guilty on Aaron Schaffhausen's behalf, the St. Paul (Minn.) Pioneer Press reported.
"We're going to stand mute," Schaffhausen's attorney, John Kucinski, said, during the proceeding Tuesday at the St. Croix County Circuit Court in Hudson, about 20 miles from St. Paul, Minn.
Schaffhausen, 35, faces three counts of first-degree intentional homicide in the deaths of daughters Amara, 11; Sophie, 9; and Cecilia, 5, in the girls' home July 10.
Schaffhausen also is charged with one count of attempted arson.
Schaffhausen, of Minot, N.D., is divorced from the girls' mother, who had custody. On the day of the killings, he arranged with his former wife to visit the girls at their home in River Falls while she was away, the Pioneer Press said.
Schaffhausen allegedly called his ex-wife after the killings and told her that he had killed the girls, the criminal complaint said. Police found the girls' bodies in upstairs bedrooms, and a tipped gasoline container in the basement.
