MANITOWOC, WI (WTAQ-WLUK) – The appeal of a teenager convicted of causing the death of his 7-year-old cousin by beating him and stuffing him in a snowbank is now in the hands of the state appeals court.
Damian Hauschultz, now 19, was 14 years old when he supervised Ethan’s punishment at their Manitowoc County home in 2018. Ethan had to carry a log for two hours in the back yard, but then Damian beat him, and buried him in a snowbank for 20 minutes without a coat or boots. Ethan died of hypothermia, but also had extensive other injuries, including blunt force injuries to his head, chest and abdomen, and a rib fracture. Damian pleaded guilty to reckless homicide and was sentenced to 20 years in prison, plus 10 years of extended supervision.
His mother, Tina McKeever-Hauschultz, is serving a five-year prison term for her role in the events leading up to and failing to prevent Ethan’s death. Timothy Hauschultz, Damian’s stepfather, is awaiting trial on multiple counts, including felony murder and child abuse for allegedly ordering the punishment. Neither parent was home when Ethan died.
Damian Hauschultz is appealing his conviction, arguing that due to his age – 14 at the time – he could not voluntarily waive his Miranda rights, and he felt unduly pressured by police to confess.
Prosecutors have opposed the motions. Juvenile justice advocate groups from across the country have joined in Hauschultz’s defense.
The latest move in the case came Thursday, when Hauschultz’s attorney filed their final reply brief with the appeals court.
The 17-page argument contends the trial court erred in allowing his statements to be used.
“A full review of the circumstances surrounding Damian’s interrogations shows a reasonable 14-year-old in his position would not have felt free to leave. He was therefore entitled to Miranda warnings. The State offers no cogent, record-based rationale for holding otherwise.
Further, given what the record shows about Damian’s vulnerabilities in the interrogation room—and balancing those vulnerabilities against the tactics his interrogators employed—Damian’s confessions were involuntary. The State’s contrary argument focuses on law enforcement’s good intentions and conventional interrogation methods. But police need not intend to extract an invalid confession to do so, and they need not employ unusual interrogation methods to overbear a vulnerable suspect’s will to resist self-incrimination. The State’s counterarguments are thus a distraction.
Because police failed to Mirandize Damian and extracted involuntary confessions from him over the course of three interrogations, the circuit court erred in denying suppression. This Court should reverse,” wrote attorney Megan Sanders-Drazen.
The case now is in the hands of the appeals court. There is no set timeline for it to issue its written decision in the case.
Meanwhile, no trial date has been set for Damian’s father, Timothy Hauschultz.
His defense team plans to call Damian as a witness, to testify in support of an expected argument that Tim’s punishment order did not include causing Ethan’s death. However, Damian’s attorney will not let him testify while his case remains pending.
At a hearing last week, Manitowoc County Judge Jerilyn Dietz said she anticipates setting a trial date at an Aug. 17 hearing. She noted concerns the case is already five years old, and finding the needed time on the court’s calendar means a trial date may not be available until 2024.
