MANITOWOC – Sheboygan County Judge Samantha Bastil has upheld the 20-year prison sentence for Damian Hauschultz, the 22-year-old man convicted of killing Ethan Hauschultz, his 7-year-old cousin, in 2018.
“This type of behavior will not be tolerated,” Bastil said during the resentencing hearing June 19. “It cannot afford to be tolerated, and we cannot live in a community that tolerates this type of behavior.”
Court cites ‘extremely violent’ nature of crime
Bastil said her decision factored in that while Damian was only 14 years old at the time of Ethan’s death and has since demonstrated he has worked to improve his character, his conduct on the day that he killed Ethan was so violent and careless of human life that had Damian been an adult, he likely would have been sentenced to the full 40 years in prison, the maximum allowable for a Class B felony.
In addition to upholding the 20-year prison sentence, Bastil increased the amount of time he will be expected to be under extended supervision after being released to 15 years.
“This court finds that the community deserves to have Mr. Hauschultz supervised for an extensive period of time once he does serve his sentence because of the violent, extremely violent nature of this offense,” she said.
She also upheld the condition that Damian write a letter to the victim’s mother after five years of incarceration.
Damian was initially convicted in 2021 of killing Ethan in 2018 and sentenced by Manitowoc County Judge Jerilyn Dietz to 20 years in state prison. He now resides at the Stanley Correctional Institution in Chippewa County.
Damian Hauschultz expresses remorse in court statement
During the hearing, Damian read a statement he had prepared.
“I never intended for him to die,” Damian said. “Not even once did that thought cross my mind or enter my mind. But here we are today. All I can say is that I’m very sorry for what happened and I wish that it hadn’t. I never foresaw what my actions that day would bring about. … I wish Ethan were here, alive and well. That’s all. I sincerely wish that I had treated him better than I did as a sibling, because that’s what he really deserved. I should have helped him out instead of pushing him down.”
The court also heard a statement from Andrea Everett, Ethan’s mother.
“There are no words that can explain what it feels like to know that a child who you cared, carried, loved and dreamed for was taken from you, taken from this world in such a horrific way,” she said.
She asked Bastil to keep Damian’s original sentence of 20 years in prison and 10 years of extended supervision.
“The details of what happened to Ethan are so horrific that people hear them and they do not believe that they are real,” Everett said.
Details of abuse revealed in criminal complaint
The original criminal complaint in Damian’s case says he hit and kicked Ethan, beat him with a belt, rolled a heavy log over him and buried him face down in the snow.
Damian had told police that his father, Timothy Hauschultz, had put him in charge of Ethan’s daily punishment of “carrying wood” for having talked back to a teacher. The punishment involved the 7-year-old child carrying a 44.5-pound section of tree trunk in a track around the yard for up to two hours a day.
An autopsy of Ethan’s body showed the boy suffered head trauma, a broken rib and other injuries along with hypothermia in the hours leading up to his death.
Timothy Hauschultz still faces a pending child abuse and neglect trial
Damian’s father, Timothy Hauschultz, is still facing felony child neglect and child abuse charges in Ethan’s death. His trial was held in limbo while Damian’s attorney filed an appeal in 2024. It was delayed again because of Damian’s post-conviction relief motion in January. Timothy Hauschultz’s case is now set for trial starting in October.
The criminal complaint alleges Timothy ordered his son, Damian, to supervise the punishment that led to Ethan’s death. Timothy and his wife, Tina McKeever-Hauschultz, were Ethan’s guardians at the time.
McKeever-Hauschultz was also arrested in Ethan’s 2018 death and convicted of child abuse-failure to prevent great bodily harm and failing to prevent mental harm to a child, both felony charges. She was sentenced to five years in prison in 2021 but has since been released.
Contact Alisa M. Schafer at aschafer@usatodayco.com.
This article originally appeared on Manitowoc Herald Times Reporter: Damian Hauschultz’s 20-year-sentence upheld in Ethan Hauschultz death
Reporting by Alisa M. Schafer, Manitowoc Herald Times Reporter / Manitowoc Herald Times Reporter
USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect
By Alisa M. Schafer, Manitowoc Herald Times Reporter | USA TODAY Network
