The state is asking the Wisconsin Court of Appeals to deny an appeal from a Neenah man convicted of killing his grandparents, describing the man’s request for a new trial as an “extraordinary remedy.”
Alexander Kraus, 24, was sentenced to two life sentences with a possibility for supervised release after 40 years. He pleaded guilty to two first-degree intentional homicide charges in the deaths of his grandparents – Dennis Kraus, 74, and Letha Kraus, 73 – but argued to a jury that he shouldn’t be held criminally responsible because of a mental disease or defect.
Kraus, then 17, called 911 shortly after 11:30 a.m. April 14, 2019, telling an emergency dispatcher “he had just killed his grandparents and needed to be arrested by the police,” according to a criminal complaint. Kraus shot his grandparents in their Grand Chute home.
At the scene, police found a backpack that contained a typed plan for killing Kraus’ grandparents. The killings were one of a series of steps in a plan to commit a mass shooting at Neenah High School, Outagamie County District Attorney Melinda Tempelis said.
A jury agreed that Kraus suffered from a mental disease or defect when he shot his grandparents, but rejected the defense’s assertion that Kraus couldn’t conform his behavior to the law or appreciate the wrongfulness of his actions because of that disease or defect.
In an appeal filed March 23 to the state appellate court’s third district, attorney Erica Bauer argued that justice was probably miscarried when the jury made that decision, as the evidence “as a whole predominated heavily on Kraus’s side.”
The appeal states that the testimony of all three doctors who spoke at the trial supported Kraus’ plea, that there was “overwhelming evidence” to support the plea and that the jury improperly considered the consequences of their verdict while deliberating. It also asks for a new trial.
If a new trial is granted, a new jury would be tasked with determining whether Kraus’ mental illness prevented him from appreciating the wrongfulness of his actions. If Kraus was found not guilty by reason of mental disease or defect, he would be committed to a mental health facility instead of being incarcerated.
Wisconsin Attorney General Josh Kaul and Assistant Attorney General Michael Conway filed a response to the appeal May 12, asking the appellate court to deny the request for a new trial and affirm Kraus’ conviction. The state argues Kraus failed to meet the burden of his insanity plea at trial and failed in his appeal to show that the jury erred in its verdict.
Case law states that the kind of reversal decision Kraus seeks should be granted “sparingly and only in the most exceptional cases,” the response said. Kraus’ is not one of those exceptional cases, the state argues.
Doctors’ conclusions were more conflicted than aligned
Kraus’ appeal noted that all three doctors who testified at his trial opined that Kraus suffered from a mental disease or defect at the time of the crime and couldn’t conform his conduct to the law because of it.
The state’s response says that while that is true, the appeal “overstates the points of agreement” and that the doctors relied on “conflicting rationales.”
Dr. Christina Engen and Dr. Deborah Collins both relied on “the apparent irrationality of Kraus’ plan” in concluding he couldn’t conform his conduct to law because of his mental state, the response said. Dr. Anthony Jurek relied solely on what he believed to be legitimate delusions to make his conclusion, the state said.
Even Engen and Collins’ shared conclusion based on Kraus’ plan conflicted, as Engen made that conclusion based on a professional opinion that Kraus’ autism caused him to fixate on violence while Collins made her conclusion based on an opinion that Kraus’ “self-reported delusions” were legitimate and impaired his rationality, the response said.
The three psychologists also cited different mental diseases or defects they believed Kraus to be suffering from. Engen cited autism and social anxiety; Collins cited autism and major depressive disorder with psychotic symptoms, but ruled out social anxiety; and Jurek cited major depressive disorder with psychotic symptoms, but declined to rely on autism, the response said.
“The psychologists did not present unanimity regarding Kraus’s NGI defense because their rationales were not harmonious,” the state said.
The state argues the differences in the doctors’ testimonies reduced the persuasive force of their shared conclusions.
Evidence suggested Kraus malingered delusions
The state said Kraus’ appeal overlooked the fact that the legitimacy of his reported delusions was never confirmed and, based on other evidence, the jury could have reasonably found that the delusions were not real.
According to the state’s response, Kraus told Engen that he heard the devil tell him, “Just do it,” shortly before killing his grandparents and “believed that the “devil’s servants” had taken over his body;” he told Collins that he hesitated for a second but then “heard a voice, imperative, or thought not to hesitate,” but never attributed that impulse to “the devil;” and he told Jurek he had been feeling like “the devil’s servants were moving around in his head or influencing his thoughts” since 2017 and that as he prepared to kill his grandparents he heard the devil say, “Just do it,” and then felt “the devil’s servants take control of his body.”
Collins and Jurek testified that they believed Kraus’ delusions were legitimate and that he was not malingering, or deliberately feigning mental illness. However, Collins acknowledged the possibility of malingering and said her testing revealed Kraus was “emphasizing” symptoms. Engen’s testing for malingering was inconclusive and she declined to rely on delusions in her conclusion.
Other evidence suggesting Kraus was malingering included his inconsistent descriptions of the delusions, that he had researched psychotic symptoms on the internet before the killings and that he had not disclosed any delusions to his doctor in 2017 or to the detective immediately after the killings, the response said.
“If the jury found that Kraus malingered, then it necessarily rejected the opinions of Dr. Collins and Dr. Jurek,which depended on the veracity of Kraus’s psychotic symptoms,” the state argued. “It was not a manifest injustice for the jury to reject the opinions of Dr. Collins and Dr. Jurek regarding Kraus’s NGI defense based on a reasonable resolution of a disputed fact.”
Evidence showed Kraus could appreciate wrongfulness, conform conduct
The state rejected the defense’s appeal claim that the evidence overwhelmingly supported Kraus’ plea. Several pieces of evidence demonstrated that Kraus had the capacity to appreciate the wrongfulness of his conduct and to conform his conduct to the law, the response said.
Kraus took efforts to avoid apprehension including his decision to kill his grandparents so they wouldn’t notice a missing firearm and “foil his plan for a school shooting;” changing his plan from a shooting at a diversity fair to one at school “to minimize the risk of apprehension;” and his plan to hide the shotgun in a poster board, arrive early at school and hide in a bathroom, the state said.
“The jury could find that Kraus’s efforts to avoid apprehension reflected his awareness that he was trying to violate the law,” the response said.
Kraus also concocted a “calculated plan to gain access to his grandfather’s guns,” which was further evidence of mental responsibility, the state said in its response. Kraus asked for a sleepover at his grandparents’ house for the purpose of acquiring guns; asked his grandfather to go shooting to ensure the gun cabinet would be unlocked; pretended to put the guns away after they went shooting to gain control over the weapon and unlocked cabinet; and his writings suggested Kraus “feigned interest in hunting to earn his grandfather’s trust,” the response said.
Kraus expressed “awareness of the legal consequences” of his actions and “showed his ability to comply with the law” in the aftermath of the killings, the state said. When he called 911, Kraus asked about the potential length of a prison sentence and whether Wisconsin had the death penalty, the response said. When law enforcement arrived, Kraus complied with all commands without issue and knew to disarm himself before meeting with police, the state said.
“These actions evinced Kraus’s understanding of legal consequences and his ability to alter his conduct so that law enforcement would not feel threatened by him,” the response said.
Additionally, the state argued, the jury wouldn’t automatically agree with Engen and Collins’ opinions that Kraus’ plan for the school shooting was so irrational that it proved he couldn’t appreciate the wrongfulness of his conduct at the time of the crimes due to his mental health. They could have found that, although flawed, the plan was logical, the state said.
“[Kraus’s plan’] was not materially more irrational than the plan one would expect from an average teenager. No aspect of the plan found on Kraus’s phone was contrary to the laws of nature or indicative of any fantastical delusions,” the state said. “Kraus created and followed a checklist of rational steps. Although his actions were reprehensible, he accurately perceived reality when planning his access to the murder weapon, sneaking up on his victims, killing them, and progressing with his plan before having second thoughts and contacting the police.”
The jury could have reasonably come to the conclusion it did–that although Kraus suffered from a mental disease or defect at the time, he was still able to appreciate the wrongfulness of his conduct and conform it to the law–based on the evidence presented at trial, the state argued. Because of that, the response says, a new trial is unwarranted.
Kraus has until May 27 to file a reply to the state’s response brief, according to court records.
Vivian Barrett is the public safety reporter for the Green Bay Press-Gazette. You can reach her at vmbarrett@usatodayco.com or (920) 431-8314.
This article originally appeared on Appleton Post-Crescent: State says new trial in homicides of Neenah grandparents is unwarranted
Reporting by Vivian Barrett, Green Bay Press-Gazette / Appleton Post-Crescent
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