Man convicted twice of hurting his children seeks new trial

A former Saukville man who was twice convicted by an Ozaukee County jury and sentenced to prison for sexually assaulting his 11-year-old daughter and physically abusing his children is seeking a third trial.

The man, who is serving a 22-year-prison sentence, is seeking a new trial on the grounds he again was not adequately represented by his lawyer, this time during his second trial in 2023. He was granted that trial after arguing that another attorney failed to properly represent him during his 2021 trial on the same charges.

In a motion filed earlier this year by his latest attorney, John Schiro, the man is also arguing that the trial court erred by excluding exculpatory evidence.

Last month, Ozaukee County Circuit Court Judge Steve Cain granted the man’s request for a Machner hearing — a proceeding to determine if a defendant received ineffective assistance of counsel — and scheduled it for Dec. 18. 

Ozaukee Press is not naming the man to protect the identities of his children.

Cain, who described the man’s crimes as “monstrous” when he first sentenced him on May 4, 2021, vacated his conviction the following year because of the performance of his court-appointed lawyer and ordered a new trial. The man was again convicted by a jury in March 2023.

During the man’s initial sentencing, his son, who was 13 when his father gave him a concussion during a fit of rage while drunk and high on marijuana, described him as a “horrible father” guilty of “unspeakable” acts who sought to convince his children they deserved to be abused.

“I hope you get what you deserve and more,” the teenager told his father, who sat emotionless in the courtroom. 

The man’s daughter said she fell into depression because of his abuse and she “wanted to commit suicide every time I had to go to your house.”

She said she suffered from eating disorders and harmed herself by cutting.

“You took away that sense of beauty I saw in myself,” she said. 

The children’s mother, who filed for divorce from their father in 2011, said her family is not trying to forget but rather deal with what happened and asked the judge to sentence their father to a substantial number of years in prison to “give her children time to heal” while at the same time acknowledging “there are no number of years that will take any of this away.”

The first sexual assault occurred on Saturday, June 30, 2018, and the physical assaults on Sunday, July 1, 2018, and a day after that the man’s daughter told authorities that she and her two brothers were at their father’s apartment when he was “really drunk” and high on marijuana, which he frequently smoked in front of them, according to a criminal complaint.

She said she was in her bedroom when she heard yelling, went to the kitchen and saw her father pinning her 13-year-old brother against the wall. She said her father slapped him in the face, punched him in the stomach and slapped both his ears at the same time.

The girl said that when she tried to intervene, her father swore at her and ordered her to her room, then followed her there and slapped and punched her. 

Her brother, who said his father head-butted him, had symptoms of a mild concussion when examined by medical professionals.

About seven months later, the girl reported the sexual assault when she told authorities that while at his apartment on June 30, 2018, her father came into her bedroom wearing only boxer shorts, laid his head on her chest and touched her inappropriately, the complaint states.

She said she was able to push him away, but then he tried to take her pants off and fondled her again.

The next day, while in the car with her father, the girl said he told her she should not say anything or he would “come back for her and bad things will happen to her,” according to the criminal complaint. The girl said she was very scared and crying.

Cain, in an effort to assess the man’s character during his 2021 sentencing, noted he continually tried to shift blame to his children and suggested that his daughter’s allegations of sexual assault were part of a Me Too movement-inspired effort to “stick it to him.”

“They were infinitely credible,” Cain said of the children. “They were clear and concise in their testimony.”

In his motion filed earlier this year, Schiro argues that the representation provided by the man’s attorney in his second trial, Becky Van Dam, was ineffective and prejudiced the defense.

Referring to records of interviews of the man’s children, Schiro also contends the court “erroneously exercised its discretion in not allowing Van Dam to use a transcript of the forensic interviews to refresh recollection.”

In a response to Schiro’s motion, Ozaukee County Assistant District Attorney Antonella Aleman-Zientek notes that in order for the man’s conviction to be vacated, there must be a “reasonable probability” that any errors committed by his lawyer would have resulted in a different outcome to the trial.

“Given the nature of the alleged errors and the weight of the evidence presented against the defendant at trial, he cannot demonstrate requisite ‘reasonable probability’ to support his ineffective assistance of counsel claims ....,” Aleman-Zientek wrote in a brief to the court.