MANITOWOC, Wis. — A judge has turned down a plea agreement for a man from Wisconsin who is facing serious charges linked to the death of his 7-year-old great nephew, Ethan Hauschultz. The tragic incident occurred in April 2018, leading to multiple charges against Timothy Hauschultz, including felony murder, child abuse, and battery. The charges stemmed from events that unfolded on April 20, 2018.
In a court appearance on Thursday, a plea deal was proposed where Hauschultz, aged 54, would plead guilty to two counts of felony child abuse, and in return, the prosecution would dismiss the remaining charges. This information was revealed in court documents and local news reports. However, Judge Jerilyn Deitz expressed reservations about the plea agreement’s leniency and provided both the defense and prosecuting attorneys 30 minutes to reach a revised agreement.
Upon resuming, Hauschultz’s legal team attempted once more to get the original plea deal approved, insisting that the discretion of charge filings lies with the prosecutors. Judge Deitz, however, maintained her stance and declined to endorse the agreement, instead scheduling the onset of Hauschultz’s trial for the upcoming Tuesday.
The accusations outlined in the criminal complaint detail that Hauschultz instructed Ethan to carry a heavy log weighing 45 pounds in the family’s backyard for two hours each day over the course of an entire week. His son, Damian Hauschultz, who was 14 at the time, was tasked with ensuring that Ethan completed this arduous punishment.
The complaint reveals that when Ethan encountered difficulty with the log, Damian reportedly assaulted him approximately 100 times. In addition to the physical abuse, he allegedly stood on Ethan’s head while the boy was face-down in a puddle and also covered him in a substantial amount of snow, leaving him exposed for 20 to 30 minutes without appropriate clothing. Tragically, Ethan succumbed to hypothermia but also sustained numerous other injuries.
At the time of the incident, Timothy Hauschultz and his wife, Tina McKeever-Hauschultz, were the court-appointed guardians of Ethan. They were not present when the fatal events transpired. In a separate legal proceeding, Damian Hauschultz pleaded guilty to first-degree reckless homicide in 2021 and is currently serving a 20-year prison sentence. His appeal was rejected by the 2nd District Court of Appeals, and he has since sought a review from the state Supreme Court.
Tina McKeever-Hauschultz also faced legal consequences; she entered a no contest plea to charges related to failing to prevent mental harm to a child and child abuse, resulting in a five-year prison sentence handed out in the same year.
This report has been updated to correct the date of Ethan Hauschultz’s death.
