MANITOWOC, Wis. (Court TV) — In a flurry of rapid-fire motions, a Wisconsin judge went head-to-head with both a prosecutor and defense attorney in a battle over a plea agreement and whether to delay a pending murder trial.
Timothy Hauschultz walks into court during a pretrial hearing on Feb. 24, 2025. (Court TV)
Timothy Hauschultz was scheduled to stand trial this week on six charges, including felony murder and abuse of a child, for the death of a child in his care in 2018. In charging documents, prosecutors say that Hauschultz used his then-14-year-old son to abuse other children in his care. Ethan Hauschultz, 7, died after he was beaten, forced to carry a 44-pound log in the yard and was buried in 80 pounds of snow. Timothy, who was not home at the time, admitted that he directed the child to carry wood but denied any abuse.
At a pre-trial hearing on Feb. 20, the prosecution and defense told Judge Jerilyn Dietz that they had reached a plea agreement to resolve the case. Under the terms of that plea, Timothy would have pleaded guilty to two counts of child abuse, and the other charges would have been dropped. Dietz rejected the plan, saying it was not in the public’s interest.
On Monday, the parties returned to court to resolve other outstanding motions ahead of trial, but both the defense and prosecution again returned to the plea agreement. Both sides referenced motions filed under seal over the weekend asking Judge Dietz to reconsider her ruling. The defense accused the judge of making her decision without hearing from them and implying that she wanted a sentence higher than the 12-year maximum the plea agreement would have allowed. Judge Dietz explained that the sentence was not the issue, but rather, she could not understand why the state was dropping four charges, including felony murder.
Judge Jerilyn Dietz grew frustrated with repeated attempts to reach a plea agreement in Timothy Hauschultz’s case. (Court TV)
Immediately after the ruling, the defense introduced a motion “unopposed by the state” asking Judge Dietz to recuse herself. Timothy’s attorney accused the judge of bias, to which a clearly frustrated Judge Dietz responded, “Then you haven’t listened to anything I’ve said.” Judge Dietz immediately denied the motion, refusing to withdraw from the case. “That ignores half of what I said and half of the reasoning; it ignores the other factors that I talked about at great length,” Judge Dietz said. “It ignores the discretion that I have…and it ignores my obligation to independently review any plea agreement. That you do not like the ruling does not make it an improper ruling.”
Timothy’s attorney then immediately fired back with another motion—an emergency motion to adjourn and stay proceedings so that they could appeal the judge’s decisions to a higher court. Prosecutors said they did not oppose the motion, emphasizing their concern only with appellate issues and the desire to put victims through only one trial.
Judge Dietz appeared reluctant to accept the motion to stay the trial, saying, “Quite frankly, springing these on me at the last minute is unfair.” She said she would consider the motion and return after taking a few hours to review it and relevant case law.
Returning after a recess, Judge Dietz appeared poised to deny the motion to stay the trial and began to talk about jury selection beginning Tuesday. But a brief back-and-forth with the prosecutor about victims in the case turned into an extended sidebar out of the courtroom, and when the parties returned Judge Dietz announced she was granting the motion to adjourn and stay the trial. The parties are scheduled to return to court next week to discuss further scheduling matters.
