Alleged armed robber killed by Okauchee homeowner

8-28-2011 Wisconsin:

OKAUCHEE - Police say an Okauchee homeowner shot and killed a man he claims broke into his house.

It happened around 2:00 a.m. Saturday on Wisconsin Ave.

The crime scene tape around his Okauchee home is gone but the memories of early Saturday morning are fresh and hard for Mike Fitzsimmons.

"I’m happy that I'm alive today,” Fitzsimmons told TMJ4 reporter Keller Russell.

He says he was asleep inside his home when he heard someone breaking in. He grabbed his flashlight and a gun.

"I confronted the guy and he told me he had a gun. He came at me with a gun,” said Fitzsimmons.

The homeowner told police he confronted the man in the garage and it moved to the back of the house. He says the man cornered him, threatening his life with a gun. Within minutes, Fitzsimmons says it was all over.

"I told him to drop it, backed up shot him, killed him."

The Town of Oconomowoc police say the man Fitzsimmons killed is James Babe IV, 39, of Waukesha. According to state court records, Babe is a life registered sex offender with a lengthy criminal history, including burglary.

Police are still trying to figure out why Babe was in Okauchee.

"It’s not normal out here -- people breaking into houses and somebody getting shot. It’s never happened in my career here,” said Lt. Russel Paar.

Neighbors said officers roped off the house in crime scene tape and worked through the early morning hours Saturday, into the evening. Police won’t say whether they found a gun near the alleged intruder, as Fitzsimmons described.

Mike Fitzsimmons says he acted in self defense, actions he’s still coming to grips with.

"I did not want this to happen. The last thing I want to do is something like that."

Police didn’t arrest Fitzsimmons. The department plans to hand the case over to the District Attorney’s office.

Babe's fiance tells TMJ4 he was in the area for a night out with friends at the bar. He also had family that lives in Oconomowoc. She said James Babe would never break into someones house or hurt anyone. She also claims he doesn't own a gun. She acknowledges Babe had a past but said he had committed himself to staying out of trouble and that would never do anything to take himself away from her and her two children. ..Source.. by Keller Russell

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No criminal charges coming in Okauchee fatal shooting

11-4-2011 Wisconsin:

An Okauchee man will not face criminal charges for fatally shooting an unarmed man who broke into his garage in August, Waukesha County District Attorney Brad Schimel announced Friday.

James P. Babe IV, 39, was killed outside Michael Fitzsimmons' home about 2 a.m. Aug. 27. Schimel determined that Fitzsimmons, 47, fired two shots in self-defense.

Schimel laid out the details of the case and his analysis in a four-page letter to Town of Oconomowoc Police Chief James Wallis. According to the letter:

There was no evidence Fitzsimmons, 47, and Babe knew each other or had any kind of dispute. Nor is there any indication why Babe, who had a blood-alcohol level of 0.22, had entered Fitzsimmons' garage.

Phone records showed Babe made a call on his cell phone at 1:59 a.m., and that Fitzsimmons called 911 at 2:01 a.m. The letter doesn't indicate whom Babe called.

Police arrived within minutes.

"It seems unlikely that Mr. Fitzsimmons would have had enough time to calm down from the traumatic incident and attempt to prepare a false version of events," Schimel wrote. Fitzsimmons story didn't change as the day went on, and physical evidence corroborated it.

Fitzsimmons said he awoke when he heard noise in his garage, that he approached it from his deck and yelled out asking who was there and stated that he had a gun. He said Babe yelled back that he had a gun, then emerged from the garage onto the deck and lunged at him with what Fitzsimmons believed was a gun. Fitzsimmons fired once, and when Babe did not immediately go down or back away, fired a second shot.

There was evidence someone had broken into the garage, and Babe's cell phone case and keys were found there. There was no evidence Fitzsimmons had touched Babe's cell phone in an effort to stage the scene, Schimel wrote. The letter does not specify where Babe's cell phone was recovered.

The letter also revealed that Fitzsimmons had smoked marijuana earlier that night, a fact learned after he voluntarily submitted to a blood test. But he showed no signs of impairment when officers arrived, Schimel said, and so couldn't be charged with being armed while intoxicated.

He said a lesser charge of being armed with detectable amount of restricted substance wasn't appropriate given Fitzsimmons lack of a criminal history and lack of evidence at his home of any "substantial drug activity."

Fitzsimmons' attorney, Paul Bucher, said Friday his client is extremely sorry the shooting happened, but was scared to death and felt he had no choice but to shoot.

"He feels terrible. He's been on pins and needles" awaiting Schimel's decision, Bucher said.

Schimel has said for weeks that he was waiting on DNA test results from the State Crime Lab to make his final decision about whether the shooting was justified. He said Friday he had finally gotten those results late Tuesday but wasn't able to meet with Babe's family until Thursday.

He said the fact the Legislature adopted a castle doctrine Friday, which provides even more legal protection for people who shoot intruders in their home, business or vehicles, was merely a coincidence. He said the law is unlikely to affect most prosecutors' decisions in similar cases.

"If I believe that the evidence demonstrates that the use of force was justified, I will not issue charges," he said. "I do not know how this will impact civil cases." ..Source.. by Bruce Vielmetti of the Journal Sentinel

Mother: Joseph K. Baer didn't deserve brutal death

3-31-2011 Wisconsin:

MANITOWOC — Joseph K. Baer may have been in and out of trouble much of his life, but he didn’t deserve to die the brutal way that he did, said his mother, LouAnn Baer of rural St. Nazianz.

The 37-year-old Manitowoc man’s body was found Saturday at a rural residence south of Brillion. Robert Saurbeir, 29, of Manitowoc, and James Loewe, 33, of Hilbert, are charged with beating him to death with several objects, including a metal pipe and hammer, during a night of drinking.

Baer was released from Manitowoc County Jail just two days before he was killed in Calumet County.

LouAnn Baer spoke Tuesday of her reaction when she was told of her son’s death on Sunday afternoon.

“I cracked. I cried and I cried. (Monday) didn’t help when they said they found a chain with blood on it and a hammer,” she said. “They claimed they were his friends.”

His death was any mother’s nightmare.

“I’m just imagining how he felt, being beaten to death,” Baer said. “I’m just imagining him saying stop, stop, stop. I can see him. I’m crying a lot. I’m angry and upset … he did not deserve to die like that. Nobody does. Nobody does.”

Joseph Baer grew up and lived in the St. Nazianz area most of his life, first with his mother and father and then, when they divorced in 1987, with his father, she said.

His father, who changed his name from Herbert A. Baer to Elvis A. Presley, died in 2004.

LouAnn Baer spoke of her son’s childhood.

“He was a sweet kid when he wanted to be but he had an awesome temper. He had to have it his way,” she said. “He had a hard time getting along and studying. He was a hyper child.”

Her son started his education at Riverview School and continued it in prison, she said.

“He was in detention and jail and prison all his adult life,” LouAnn Baer said. “I’ll grant you he was rowdy …. In all, he could be a very, very sweet person. He wasn’t all bad. He was more misunderstood.”

Joseph Baer had an extensive criminal record, said Capt. Scott Luchterhand of the Manitowoc Police Department.

Most recently he was in jail on extended supervision starting Jan. 29, said Jason Jost, Manitowoc County Jail administrator.

According to Manitowoc County Circuit Court records, Baer was sentenced to prison on felony burglary charges in 1999 and again in 2006. Baer had other criminal convictions in Manitowoc County, including for theft, negligent handling of a dangerous weapon, disorderly conduct and criminal damage to property.

Baer also was a registered sex offender, convicted on Jan. 2, 1992, of sexual assault of a child, according to Wisconsin Department of Corrections records. ..Source.. by Suzanne Weiss, Herald Times Reporter

WI- Slain man, Kenneth Irving, was set for residency hearing before sex offender board

10-26-2009 Wisconsin:

The Green Bay Sex Offender Residency Board recently was called upon to consider an appeal from a sex offender who allegedly was murdered before his appeals hearing was scheduled.

Kenneth Erving, 51, appealed to move to 617 Bodart St. from his home on Newhall Street. But before the residency board was scheduled to meet earlier this month, Erving died of a stab wound to the heart. Nawanna Polk, 41, is charged with first-degree intentional homicide in Erving's death. The balance of her preliminary hearing in Brown County Circuit Court is scheduled for Nov. 13.

Erving's appeal to the residency board was administratively withdrawn because of his death. He had appeared before the board three times previously.

The first time was in April 2008, when the board granted him permission to move from one apartment into another in the same building on Main Street. The following February, the board denied his appeal to move to Day Street, because four other sex offenders already were living nearby. Erving came before the board again in June, when he was granted permission to move to 517 Newhall St.

Police say he was fatally stabbed Oct. 11 at Polk's Velp Avenue apartment. The sex offender board met three days later to hear his appeal.

He had been convicted in 1987 of having sex with a 16-year-old girl. ..Source.. by Paul Srubas

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Nawanna Polk, Green Bay, charged with fatal stabbing of boyfriend, Kenneth Erving, at Velp Avenue apartment

10-13-2009 Wisconsin:

Less than a month after asking a judge to lift a no-contact order against his on-again off-again girlfriend, Kenneth Erving was fatally stabbed in the chest in the woman's Green Bay apartment.

Nawanna Polk, 41, was charged Monday with first-degree intentional homicide in Erving's death. She is being held in the Brown County Jail in lieu of $250,000 bail.

Erving, 51, was found dead on the floor of Polk's upper apartment at 947 Velp Ave. at about 12:15 a.m. Sunday. He was stabbed several times in the chest; a 9½-inch knife was found under his body as well as two other utensils. Police officials said Monday it is unclear which item was used in the stabbing. An autopsy is set for today.

Detectives found blood smeared around Polk's apartment, on her clothing and hands when she was arrested a short time after Erving's body was found.

Erving's sister said Polk and her brother had a two-year "abusive relationship."

"He was beating on her and she was beating on him," Alfreda Erving of Green Bay said outside of intake court on Monday. "I wish he would have stayed away from her when I asked him to."

Polk was charged with misdemeanors three times this year for disturbances involving Erving. Two of the cases are still pending. On Sept. 15, Erving asked Brown County Circuit Court Judge Mark Warpinski to cancel a bond restriction that kept Polk from having contact with him. Warpinski granted the request the same day.

Police arrested Polk at a South Chestnut Avenue home about 12:45 a.m. Sunday.

Police learned of Erving's death when Polk's brother told officers that his sister called him and said the two got into a fight and she thought she had stabbed or cut him and that he might be dead.

Antonio Polk said his sister told him that "he jumped on me, I think I might have killed him" and "she didn't mean to do it," according to the complaint.

Polk is due back in Brown County intake court Wednesday. If convicted on the homicide charge, she faces life in prison.

Erving's death is the first intentional homicide in Green Bay this year, police said. ..source.. by Andy Nelesen

Son accused of killing father with hammer in Green Bay: Allegedly father confessed molestation!

5-7-2004 Wisconsin:

A man accused of beating his father to death with a hammer faces a charge of first-degree intentional homicide. A criminal complaint was filed in Brown County Circuit Court Thursday against Matthew Bradley, 23, in the death of his 57-year-old father, Terrance Bradley.

Police were sent to the father's apartment early Wednesday after a neighbor reported hearing a dispute and someone pleading for his life. When no one answered the door, officers forced their way inside and found the victim fatally wounded. The son was huddled in the shower, covered with blood, police said. A bloody claw hammer was found on the bathroom floor. No one else was in the apartment.

The complaint quotes Matthew Bradley, who has a young son, as saying he "freaked out" when his father told him of molesting the boy. "All I know is that he molested my son, that's all I'm going to say," he told an officer on the way to the police station, according to the complaint. Police Lt. Bill Galvin said his department was not aware of any molestation allegations against Terrance Bradley. ..more.. by Associated Press

Family member confesses to killing man who sexually abused him

4-21-2004 Wisconsin:

A family member has confessed to shooting and killing a man who allegedly sexually abused him as a child, the Kenosha County Sheriff's department said Tuesday. Raymond F. DeBack, 52, a convicted sex offender, was found floating in the Fox River Saturday morning in the town of Wheatland. A pickup truck was found partially submerged nearby.

Court records show Raymond DeBack pleaded guilty in 1996 to second-degree sexual assault of a child. He was sentenced to seven years in state prison and was released in July. Beth said the suspect accused Raymond DeBack of abusing him as a child. ..more.. by Associated Press

Youth charged in bloody slaying

11-8-2006 Wisconsin:

A 15-year-old boy was charged with bludgeoning a man to death with a hammer after the man said he would pay him to pose nude and then asked the boy for sex, according to a criminal complaint issued today. Corey J Kleser was charged as an adult with first-degree intentional homicide in the death of Ronald O Adams, 57. If convicted, he faces a maximum penalty of life in prison. According to the complaint:

Kleser told police that he had gone to Adams' residence in the 7100 block of N. 60th St. on Oct. 29 because Adams had offered him $40 to $50 to model nude in front of him. When Adams wanted to have sex, Kleser said, there was a physical altercation and he hit Adams in the head more than eight times with a hammer until Adams fell to the floor. He told police he then grabbed a scissors and stabbed Adams in the neck multiple times.

Adams' body was discovered by the building manager, who used her pass key to enter his apartment Friday after residents reported not seeing him for several days. A security camera in the common hallway taped Adams walking into his apartment with Kleser at 1:49 a.m. on Oct. 29 and Kleser leaving the apartment about an hour later.

Within hours after the slaying, the boy called his father and asked for a ride home to Fox Point from the area of W. Mill Rd. and N. Green Bay Ave, the petition states. The father, who was interviewed by police on Saturday, said he had noticed that there was "a large amount of blood splattered" on his son's blue-and-white plaid shirt. ..more.. by Mary Zahn, JS Online

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Jury deliberating hammer homicide case

5-11-2012:

The prosecutor in the Corey Kleser trial told jurors Friday that even they believe he was fearful of his victim, he's still gulty because he went way too far for any legitimate self defense.

"He had many otheroptions," said Assistant District Attorney Kevin Shomin in closing argument. "He didn't have to do what he did."

Kleser, then 15, struck Ronald O Adams, 57, more than 20 times with a hammer, and stabbed him more than 30 times with scissors in October 2006. The case is only now going to trial because of disputes over whether Kleser would be tried as a juvenile or adult. The state Supreme Court ruled that he must be tried as an adult.

In his closing, Shomin recounted the severity of Adams' injuries, and suggested they were not inflicted because Kleser truly feared for his safety during a surprise attempted sexual assault and physical attack, as he testified, but because Kleser was just angry at Adams over money.

Kleser's attorney, Samuel Benedict, told jurors that when children's parents can't or won't protect them, chldren "have to do what they can to survive."

He reminded the jury about an expert's testimony about how a 15-year-old's brain hasn't fully developed in areas that control impulse and reaction to stress and danger.

"What Corey did that night was reasonable," Benedict said. "The danger was real. He didn't have time to think about escape. It was a time for reacting."

Kleser is charged with first degree intentional homicide. The jury could find him guilty of second degree intentional, first degree reckless or second degree reckless homicide instead, or acquit him of any charges if they accept his self-defense argument.

EARLIER POST

Corey Kleser tried to tell a jury Friday how, when he was 15, he wound up killing a man with dozens of hammer blows and scissor stabs.

Now 21, Kleser calmly described his confusion and fear after a surprise sexual attack by Ronald O. Adams, a 57-year-old man for whom he said he had modeled nude for money -- and without any touching or even talk of sex -- in the past.

Early on Oct. 29, 2006, Adams pressed him to "try something different," and jumped on Kleser's back when he kept saying no, Kleser said.

He said Adams wrestled him and was choking him over a desk when Kleser grabbed a nearby hammer and began striking Adams. He said when Adams finally went down, he also fell to the floor to pull up his own jeans, but thought he saw Adams moving for the hammer. That's when Kleser said he grabbed scissors that were on the floor of Adams' bedroom, and stabbed him repeatedly.

He followed up with an explanation of how his friends and family didn't seem to believe him when he told them later that morning that he might have killed someone, that they didn't ask any questions despite the blood on his shirt.

If the testimony helped his self-defense, the theory then took some hard shots during Assistant District Attorney Kevin Shomin's cross-examination.

He suggested Kleser was a cold-blooded killer who thought he could rob Adams, who others described as a frail crackhead, not someone who could easily overpower Kleser just because of their age difference.

Shomin pointed out the many variations in Kleser's account to detectives in 2006, and how his testimony Friday added more new details. He asked how Kleser's jeans had so much blood on the thigh if they were in fact bunched around his ankles during the attack.

He asked Kleser why he washed off the hammer and scissors after the attacks, and returned to Adams' bedroom to look for money if he had been so afraid of him and what had just happened.

Kleser said he took the weapons because he thought it was safer than leaving them near Adams. He said they just got rinsed coincidentally when he washed his hands. He said by the time he went looking for cab fare, he was finally pretty sure Adams was no longer a threat.

He denied taking Adams' prescription pills, the bottles for which were later found in Kleser's father's car, saying that Adams had given them to him during an earlier meeting, and said he could take them to get high.

Shomin also displayed a photo of the bloody crime scene that included a clean piece of paper near Adams' body. On it was written the word "Surrendered."

"You didn't write this and throw it down next to him?" Shomin asked.

Kleser said he had not, but admitted it was a very unusual thing to find there.

His apartment manager discovered Adams' body in his unit five days after he was killed. ..Source.. by Bruce Vielmetti of the Journal Sentinel