Man pleads to lesser charge for beating outside bar

One of two men charged with trying to pick a fight with a man at a Fredonia bar, then beating him severely for no apparent reason as he left the tavern in January 2025, pleaded guilty in Ozaukee County Circuit Court earlier this month to reduced charges.

Justin J. Orten, 25, who was initially charged with a felony count of aggravated battery with intent to cause great bodily harm, pleaded to misdemeanor counts of battery and disorderly conduct during a March 3 hearing.

His pleas were accepted by Ozaukee County Circuit Judge Steve Cain, who sentenced him to six months in jail but stayed the sentence, placed him on probation for two years and ordered him to perform 50 hours of community service as a condition of probation for battery. The judge sentenced Orten to 30 days in the county jail for disorderly conduct.

Because the six-month sentence was stayed, Orten will not have to serve it if he abides by the conditions of his probation.

Orten’s accomplice, Erik J. Ziehr, 27, pleaded guilty in June 2025 to one felony count of aggravated battery with intent to cause great bodily harm.

Cain sentenced Ziehr to two years in prison and two years of extended supervision but stayed the sentence, placed him on probation for 30 months and ordered him to serve eight months in jail as a condition of probation.

According to a criminal complaint, sheriff’s deputies who were called to Jen’s Place on Fredonia Avenue for a report of a fight that occurred at about 2:10 a.m. Jan. 26, 2025, found a man sitting at the bar with his head down, gasping for air and wincing.

The man told the deputies he had been “ambushed” and attacked by two men later identified as Ziehr and Orten, the complaint states.

The man was taken to a hospital where it was determined he had a partially collapsed and punctured lung and three broken ribs.

The man later told deputies that he was sitting at the bar when Ziehr and Orten walked into the tavern and began harassing people by moving from group to group trying to start arguments or fights, according to the complaint.

The man said that when Ziehr and Orten approached him, he told them no one in the bar wanted to argue or fight with them. An argument ensued but ended with Orten shaking the man’s hand.

After paying his tab, the man said, he left the bar and was walking to his vehicle when Ziehr appeared and began harassing him again. The man said he told Ziehr he wasn’t looking for a fight, then continued walking to his vehicle. That’s when Ziehr hit him in the head from behind and “body checked” him to the ground, the complaint states.

The man said he was trying to block Ziehr’s attacks while telling him repeatedly he didn’t want to fight, adding that he did not fight back, when Orten began kicking him in the ribs, according to the complaint.

Neither Ziehr nor Orten were at the bar when deputies arrived, but when interviewed later Orten, who smelled of alcohol and was slurring his words, denied being involved in a fight. When asked by a deputy if Ziehr was involved in an alteration, Orten said, “You could say that, sure. More so Erik,” before denying involvement in the incident again and blaming Ziehr, the complaint states.

When Ziehr, who also smelled of alcohol, was asked by a deputy about the incident, he said, “It didn’t go as it was supposed to” and blamed Orten, according to the complaint.