Timothy Hauschultz appears in court via video conference June 15, 2022. PC: Fox 11 Online
MANITOWOC, WI (WTAQ-WLUK) – With Timothy Hauschultz scheduled to stand trial later this month on a felony murder charge for allegedly ordering the punishment which led to the 2018 death of Ethan Hauschultz in a snowbank, his attorney asked the court to reconsider a ruling prohibiting three social workers from testifying about the appropriateness of that discipline.
Timothy Hauschultz, 54, is charged with felony murder and seven other counts. His trial was delayed for several years while the case and appeals of his son, Damian Hauschultz – who was convicted of causing Ethan’s death – worked its way through the court system. The trial is scheduled to start Feb. 24.
According to the criminal complaint, on April 20, 2018, Timothy told his son Damian Hauschultz, then 14, to make sure 7-year-old Ethan Hauschultz completed his punishment.
That included, according to the complaint, Ethan Hauschultz being required to carry the log for two hours around a path in the backyard of their home. Damian said he had to carry wood for not knowing 13 Bible verses to Timothy’s satisfaction. The punishment was one week of carrying wood for two hours per day. Timothy picked out the logs, but Damian had to supervise the punishment for the younger children.
During that time the complaint says Ethan Hauschultz “struggled to carry his log” and Damian did “hit, kick, strike and poke Ethan approximately 100 times.” The complaint goes on to say Damian Hauschultz also stood on Ethan Hauschultz’s “body and head” while he was “face-down in a puddle.” The complaint also alleges Damian Hauschultz buried Ethan Hauschultz in about “80 pounds of packed snow” where he was left for about 20 to 30 minutes without a coat or boots.
Neither parent was home when Ethan died.
Damian Hauschultz, now 21, pleaded guilty to reckless homicide and was sentenced to 20 years in prison for Ethan’s death.
The felony murder charge is an accusation by prosecutors that a death occurred while in the commission of a crime by the suspect. In this case, that would be the charges for child abuse and contributing to the delinquency of a child causing death.
The defense wanted to call three social workers to testify about the punishment Hauschultz ordered. However, as ‘offers of proof’ about the testimony were not filed in a timely fashion, Judge Jerilyn Dietz ruled Thursday that they could not testify.
Defense attorney Donna Kuchler filed motion to reconsider Friday, saying the lack of filing was an oversight – while calling their testimony critical for the defense.
She argues that under state, Tim Hauschultz has the privilege to discipline a child “so long as that discipline is not intended to cause great bodily harm or death or creates an unreasonable risk of great bodily harm or death.”
“The testimony of the social workers is directly relevant to the reasonableness of Mr. Hauschultz’s disciplinary system. Mr. Hauschultz explained the details of his system to the social workers and those details are documented in the social workers’ records. Those social workers’ responses and reactions – or lack thereof – to the details of his disciplinary system are highly probative of what can be described as Mr. Hauschultz’s “standpoint” and the “circumstances that existed at the time of the alleged offense,” as the social workers’ job was to ensure the safety of the placed children such that their lack of objection to the disciplinary system Mr. Hauschultz used reinforced Mr. Hauschultz’s belief that his system was reasonable under the particular circumstances that existed at the time,” she wrote. “The social workers’ testimony will establish the serious behavioral problems that Mr. Hauschultz was addressing as well as the positive trajectory in those behaviors that were reported to the social workers over time after the disciplinary system was implemented.”
Their testimony, Kuchler contends, could help the jury discern if it was Timothy or Damian Hauschultz who was responsible for Ethan’s death.
“One of the key questions that the jury will have to decide is whether Damien Hauschultz’s actions that caused the death of E.H. were consistent with the disciplinary system that Mr. Hauschultz implemented or if Damien’s actions were such a departure from anything that Mr. Hauschultz had ever allowed or approved of that Damien’s actions cannot be attributed to Mr. Hauschultz either as a party to a crime or as contributing to the delinquency of a minor,” she wrote.
Prosecutors have not replied to Kuchler’s motion.
The matter could be addressed at a hearing Friday.
Judge Dietz’s ruling Thursday also reiterated a previous ruling that recorded statements by three other children in the home could be used at trial.
Damian Hauschultz’s case and appeals – arguing his statements to police as a 14-year-old were involuntary and should not have been allowed at trial – were pending for several years. During that time, he was considered unavailable to testify against Tim Hauschultz, keeping Tim Hauschultz’s case in legal limbo. After the state Supreme Court denied Damian Hauschultz’s appeal, it cleared the way for Tim Hauschultz’s trial to proceed.
Timothy Hauschultz’s wife, Tina McKeever-Hauschultz, served a five-year prison term for her role in the events leading up to and failing to prevent Ethan’s death. She was released to extended supervision in January, 2024.
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