20-year-old Wausau man pleads not guilty to March beating death of Stevens Point man
STEVENS POINT − A 20-year-old Wausau man pleaded not guilty Thursday to being involved in the March beating death of a 61-year-old man in a downtown Stevens Point parking lot.
Brandon L. Boehm pleaded not guilty to the charges of being a party to the crime of first-degree reckless homicide of an elderly person in the death of Donald G. Mitchell Jr. and theft. Portage County Circuit Judge Louis Molepske Jr. scheduled his next court appearance for Nov. 11.
Boehm was a witness at the trial of one of his codefendants, Arlin O. Sangster, 20, of Rothschild, last week. A jury convicted Sangster of being a party to the crimes of first-degree reckless homicide of an elderly person and theft. Sangster is scheduled for sentencing Dec. 3.
Boehm's other codefendant, Christian J. Emerson, 19, of Wausau, is scheduled for a trial in January. Emerson pleaded not guilty to the charge of being a party to the crime of first-degree reckless homicide of an elderly person April 4.
According to the criminal complaint, at 11:45 p.m. March 15, a caller reported an unconscious man who had been beaten up in a parking lot in the 1100 block of Center Point Drive in Stevens Point. Officers found Mitchell in the parking lot. Mitchell was unresponsive and bleeding out of his nose.
Mitchell had his truck with camper attachment parked in the parking lot and had been living out of his vehicle, according to the complaint.
On the night of March 15, Emerson, Sangster and Boehm decided to go to a tavern in Stevens Point. The three men were refused entry into the tavern because they were underage, so they decided to get something to eat. They returned to the parking lot in the 1100 block of Center Point Drive and began checking vehicles to steal stuff from, the complaint said.
In his testimony during Sangster's trial, Boehm said he went into the cab of Mitchell's truck and Mitchell, who had been in the camper on the back of the truck, caught him. Boehm said he saw something in Mitchell's hand. Boehm said Mitchell chased him back to Emerson's car where Boehm, Sangster and Emerson began punching Mitchell.
Mitchell fell to the ground and two witnesses saw at least one of the three men kicking him, according to the complaint.
Emerson had a cellphone and police found a video of Mitchell lying on the ground from inside a vehicle as the vehicle drove by Mitchell, according to the complaint. One of the vehicle's occupants can be heard mockingly calling to Mitchell, "Have a good night, lil (expletive), be smooth with it."
Mitchell was taken to Aspirus Stevens Point Hospital and later transferred to Wausau Aspirus Hospital where he died March 16.
Contact Karen Madden at 715-345-2245 or kmadden@gannett.com. Follow her on Twitter @KMadden715, Instagram @kmadden715 or Facebook at www.facebook.com/karen.madden.33.
This article originally appeared on Wisconsin Rapids Daily Tribune: Wausau man pleads not guilty to March beating death of Stevens Point man
