State v. Hauschultz

1

State of Wisconsin, Plaintiff-Respondent, v. Damian L. Hauschultz, Defendant-Appellant.

No. 2022AP161-CR

Court of Appeals of Wisconsin, District II

March 13, 2024

This opinion will not be published. See WIS. STAT. RULE 809.23(1)(b)5.

APPEAL from a judgment of the circuit court for Manitowoc County Cir. Ct. No. 2019CF77 JEPJLYN M. DIETZ, Judge. Affirmed.

Per curiam opinions may not be cited in any court of this state as precedent or authority, except for the limited purposes specified in WIS. STAT. RULE 809.23(3).

Before Gundrum, P.J., Neubauer and Grogan, JJ.

PER CURIAM

¶1 Damian L. Hauschultz appeals a judgment of conviction entered upon his guilty plea to one count of first-degree reckless homicide in connection with the death of his seven-year-old foster brother, Ethan. Hauschultz contends the circuit court erred when it denied his motion to suppress statements he made to investigators during three interviews, all of which occurred in the hours after Ethan was taken to the hospital with fatal injuries. Hauschultz's arguments in this regard are twofold: first, he contends that his statements were made during custodial interrogation without the benefit of Miranda warnings;^[1]and second, he argues his statements were involuntary considering in particular his young age-fourteen at the time of Ethan's death.

¶2 We conclude that Hauschultz was not subjected to custodial interrogation for purposes of Miranda during his first interview at the hospital and during his second interview at the sheriff's department a short time later. We also conclude that Hauschultz's statements during the first and second interviews were made voluntarily. Accordingly, the circuit court properly denied Hauschultz's suppression motion as to those two interviews.

¶3 Whether Hauschultz was subjected to custodial interrogation during the third interview-which occurred in the early morning hours after Ethan had died-is a much closer question. Ultimately, we need not resolve that issue. Even assuming the early-morning interview was custodial in nature, the State has demonstrated that any error in admitting the statements from that interview was harmless. Hauschultz was resistant to answer any questions regarding the incident during that interview, and what information he did give authorities was almost entirely duplicative of information Hauschultz had disclosed during the earlier interviews. Accordingly, there is no reasonable possibility that any error would have affected Hauschultz's decision to plead guilty.

BACKGROUND

¶4 On the afternoon of April 20, 2018, Ethan's foster parents, Timothy and Tonya,^[2] transported Ethan to the emergency department at Holy Family Memorial Medical Center in Manitowoc. Hauschultz-who is Tonya's son and Timothy's stepson-accompanied them. Ethan was unresponsive, had an extremely low body temperature, and had numerous bruises and injuries on his body. Life-saving efforts were unsuccessful, and he was pronounced dead at 9:22 p.m. The official cause of death was identified as hypothermia due to environmental cold exposure, with other significant conditions being blunt force injuries to the head, chest and abdomen.

¶5 Shortly after Ethan arrived at Holy Family, Lieutenant Dave Remiker began gathering basic information from Ethan's foster family. Remiker learned that the injuries occurred outdoors at the Hauschultz home at a time when Hauschultz was supervising Ethan and three other children, including Ethan's twin brother Adam. Timothy and Tonya were not home at the time.

¶6 Remiker decided he wanted to speak with Hauschultz privately. Hauschultz and his mother agreed, and Hauschultz was cooperative with Remiker. Remiker and Hauschultz moved from the family room to a room across the hall to conduct their conversation.^[3]

¶7 This first interview lasted approximately eight minutes. Hauschultz initially denied he had done anything to Ethan adding that he could not explain the bruises and injuries on Ethan's body. He later told Remiker that he, Ethan, and Adam were carrying wood around the yard at Timothy's direction for two hours as an "extreme punishment" for disobedience. Hauschultz stated he was in charge of this punishment while Timothy was absent, and he acknowledged that he had slapped, swatted and prodded Ethan with a stick to get him moving. The children who were not subject to this punishment watched.

¶8 Hauschultz told Remiker that during the punishment, he found Ethan slumped over a piece of wood. He claimed he and some of the other children had thrown snow on Ethan, adding that they did this because they thought Ethan was messing around. Hauschultz said he wanted to "get [Ethan] really cold" to force him to keep moving. Hauschultz admitted to taking off Ethan's boots and described how he created a "little coffin of snow," packing Ethan to his shoulders in about eighty pounds of wet snow.

¶9 After the first interview, Hauschultz agreed to a second interview at the nearby sheriffs department. Timothy gave permission for a second interview, and Hauschultz was transported in an unmarked vehicle by detective Christine Bessler. Ethan was still alive at the time. The second interview began shortly before 6:00 p.m. and lasted approximately two and one-half hours. It took place in the department's "soft" interview room, which is arranged like a living room with couches. Hauschultz was seated on a couch near the door for the entire duration of the interview.

¶10 At the inception of the second interview, Bessler told Hauschultz that he should tell her if he no longer wanted to talk. Hauschultz responded that the situation was ironic because the police liaison at his school had just taught a special unit in his social studies class about constitutional rights. Hauschultz explained that he lived with his mother stepfather, and four other children, including Ethan and Adam. Hauschultz and Bessler then spent approximately twenty minutes discussing Hauschultz's family, living arrangements, education and extracurricular activities. They then moved on to discuss how Timothy dealt with misbehavior in the household.

¶11 Hauschultz explained that as punishment for misbehavior Timothy required the children to carry wood in the yard for two hours per offense-an activity Hauschultz described as "boring, hard, stupid work." Timothy assigned each child their own log, and they would have to complete "laps" carrying their piece of wood. This punishment would occur during any season and during all weather conditions, including rain and snow. Hauschultz estimated the piece of wood he had to carry was about twelve pounds. Hauschultz estimated that seven- year-old Ethan's piece of wood, by contrast, weighed between thirty-five and forty pounds.^[4]

¶12 Hauschultz stated that if one of the children refused to carry wood, there would be more punishment, including by extending the amount of time the child had to carry wood outside or by assigning substantial household chores. Hauschultz sometimes had to physically "drag them" out to carry wood. It was Hauschultz's opinion that Timothy had not yet "broke" the twins, adding that they were "still doing whatever they want and just dealing with the punishment." Carrying wood was Timothy's "go to" punishment, and it started when the twins came to live with them.

¶13 Hauschultz made statements clearly indicating his resentment for Ethan and Adam. He said the family was "all happy and fine" until Timothy said the twins were moving in with them. Hauschultz found the twins "annoying" even before that time, and when they came to live with him, they "[drove him] nuts." Hauschultz admitted he would become physical with them at times; for example, he would "literally take [his] foot [and] kick them in their rear end" if they came into his room. When asked if this was "older brother stuff or if he really disliked the twins, Hauschultz said it was the latter, though he later told Bessler he cared about their well-being. Hauschultz felt that carrying wood was not enough punishment for the twins' misbehavior.

¶14 Hauschultz could not recall why Ethan was being punished on April 20th, but Hauschultz was in the final days of his own punishment for failing to memorize Bible verses. Timothy left immediately after lunch to pick up Tonya from technical college. He gave directions for Hauschultz to supervise the twins' punishment, which was to last until 3:00 p.m. unless they refused to carry wood, in which case they were to stay outside. The yard was full of melting snow; Hauschultz described it as a "soupy, puddly slush mix." The twins were wearing jeans with holes in them, sweatshirts, winter jackets, snow boots, fabric gloves and hats when they started out that afternoon.

¶15 Hauschultz explained that as the twins made their laps, he would poke or prod them with a stick if they dropped their wood, which occurred very often. Hauschultz stated he would usually target their torso or rear end with the stick and he would poke them hard enough to make them feel it but not hard enough to seriously injure them. Hauschultz estimated he poked them "a few hundred times"-the vast majority of which were directed at Ethan because Hauschultz perceived that he was being defiant. Hauschultz acknowledged that he was irritated he had to be outside carrying wood and supervising the boys, and he became even more irritated because they were making things difficult.

¶16 As the punishment progressed, Hauschultz could tell that Ethan in particular was physically exhausted. He frequently dropped his wood piece. Five or six times, when Ethan went to pick up the log, he could not keep his footing, and he fell backward. Each time, the log landed on Ethan's chest and "smushed" him. Ethan fell forward on top...