A 32-year-old man who viciously assaulted his aunt and uncle shortly after the three of them moved into a home in the Town of Belle Plaine was sentenced Feb. 9 to eight years in prison for his crimes.
Last year, Zachary Runion was found guilty after he pleaded no contest to two counts of strangulation and suffocation, as well as two counts of intimidating a victim. Two counts of aggravated battery and one count of false imprisonment were dismissed but read into the record.
Shawano-Menominee County Circuit Court Judge Katherine Sloma gave Runion four years in prison for each of the strangulation and suffocation charges to be served consecutively. She sentenced him to three years each for the intimidation charges but ordered those to be served concurrently to the other sentences. Runion will also have to serve up to 10 years on probation.
Assistant District Attorney Laura Nelson had recommended a sentence of 18 years in prison, saying that Runion was incapable of empathetic feeling and that it was necessary to ensure public safety. Lighter sentences were recommended in the pre-sentencing investigation and from defense attorney Eric Maciolek. The investigator recommended four to five years, while Maciolek pushed for four to seven years.
Runion has a history of run-ins with the law from when he lived in Sheboygan County, which Nelson emphasized in her sentencing argument. In 2011, he was found guilty of misdemeanor battery. He was found guilty of disorderly conduct and resisting or obstructing an officer in 2013, while in 2014, he moved up to being party to a crime of armed robbery — a felony.
In all of the Sheboygan County cases, Runion was sentenced to probation, including seven years for the armed robbery. Nelson argued during sentencing that probation did not help Runion to develop the character traits necessary to be a decent member of society.
“The community is not safe with Zachary Runion at large,” Nelson said. “Even supervision has been insufficient, incapable of deterring Mr. Runion from continuing this violent behavior, so the state’s recommendation provides for that opportunity for Mr. Runion to receive the treatment he so desperately needs. He may not recognize that he needs it, but he desperately needs rehabilitative services, whether that’s for alcohol or drug use, whether that’s for anger management, coping — I don’t know.”
Maciolek shot back during his argument that his client could be a decent member of society, noting that he completed each stint of probation without any revocation, including the seven years. A lengthy probation without any issues from convicts is rare, he said.
Maciolek said the case has been a sad one, tearing the family apart. While the aunt and uncle want nothing to do with Runion anymore and are still suffering post-traumatic stress disorder from the attack, his mother and sister were present in the courtroom Feb. 9 and submitted character references on Runion’s behalf.
“He is not the monster the state makes him out to be,” Maciolek said. “He has good character. He has positive attributes, and that’s not just coming from him. That’s coming from people who know him best. Even the victims said he was a good guy — until this happened. The state is asking you to sentence him like it’s attempted murder, but it’s not.”
The uncle offered verbal testimony to the court through a deputy’s body cam and described what happened on Sept. 14, 2024, when the family had just finished moving into a new home in Belle Plaine. He said he and Runion were talking and then, suddenly, Runion bolted back and started assaulting the aunt. The uncle said he told Runion he loved him but if Runion needed to take his rage out on somebody, then take it out on him.
The uncle said he considered Runion to be like a son, adding that he changed Runion’s first diaper after he was born. However, the incident has left him and his wife scarred, with the uncle saying they plan on selling the home in Belle Plaine and leaving the area, even though he’s not physically able to make the repairs needed from the attack almost 18 months ago. The uncle said he has continual migraines from the assault and suffers impaired night vision.
“I am a combat veteran, a Marine veteran,” the uncle said. “This was the worst thing I had ever been through. The beatings never stopped. He never stopped beating me, and my wife did her best to defend me, and it got her more.”
The uncle noted that, despite the stomping she endured in the stomach area, the aunt was now four months pregnant at the time of the recording. However, both are still fearful of running into Runion, and the uncle said he doesn’t leave the house or let his wife leave unless he checks first to make sure it’s safe.
“We’re in counseling, and we’re doing the right things, but we wake up screaming in the middle of the night,” the uncle said.
Runion took responsibility for his actions in a verbal statement to the court and said he would spend the rest of his life making up for what he’d done. He said that consuming alcohol turns him into something that’s he is not, but he’s currently more than 16 months sober and has been heavily engaged in Alcoholics Anonymous, Narcotics Anonymous and Bible study as part of his reform.
Runion claims he still has no memory of what happened during the attack, but his heart is “broken into a thousand pieces” from what happened to his aunt and uncle.
“The last thing I remember from that night is hanging a curtain over the window, and I woke up in Shawano County Jail,” he said. “They were my best friends. I still love them so much. I have no idea how this could have happened.”
lpulaski@newmedia-wi.com
