Peters gets 5 1/2 years for assault

Victim suffered brain hemmorhage, requires constant care
By: 
Kevin Murphy
Correspondent

A former Keshena man was sentenced March 4 in federal court to 5½ years in prison for a 2021 assault that left the victim with a traumatic brain injury and requiring a lifetime of assisted care.

On March 2, 2021, Michael A. Peters Jr., 40, was walking with the victim on Askenette Corners Road near Keshena. As the two men approached the intersection of state Highway 55, they got into a brief fight, which ended when Peters shoved the victim, causing him to fall and hit his head on the pavement.

The 25-year-old victim suffered a brain hemorrhage and was in a coma for several weeks while hospitalized.

Peters was indicted for assault causing serious bodily injury and pled guilty to the charge in November.

The victim’s sister told U.S. District Judge William Griesbach on March 4 that her brother remains in a brain injury center in Dodge County.

“When Mr. Peters started to assault my brother, to within an inch of his life, it changed us both for the rest of our lives…(H)e requires 24-hour care for the rest of his life,” she said in asking for the maximum punishment.

“This is not the first time he’s been in trouble, but it should be the last,” she added.

Peters faced a 10-year maximum statutory penalty but the offense falls under the advisory sentencing guidelines ,which were calculated at 30-37 months.

Assistant U.S. Attorney Andrew Maier asked for a guideline sentence saying that Peter’s crime will likely result in the victim being confined to a wheelchair for the rest of his life.

However, Maier said Peters only gave a shove to the victim, who hit the ground without attempting to break his fall.

Peters’ attorney, Lee Schuchart, asked for a two-year sentence arguing that his client simply shoved the victim and didn’t intend to seriously harm him.

“(The victim) wasn’t pounded into the ground and wasn’t repeatedly bashed,” Schuchart said.

The attorney acknowledged that Peters has a history of drinking to excess, suffering a perceived slight from someone, shoving them and, in some cases, stomping or kicking them when they’re down. Then he claims self-defense.

His past victims include former girlfriends, one which resulted in Griesbach sentencing Peters to four years in prison.

Peters was barely audible while making an emotional apology.

“I’m truly sorry for what happened and I’d like to take it back but I can’t,” he said before overcome by sobs and tears.

Griesbach said the assault may have been a “one-blow event” but it forever deprived the victim of functioning as an adult human being.

“It’s hard to think of an injury more severe than this short of death, he said.

He rejected the sentences recommended by Maier and Schuchart saying Peters needs stronger punishment and the public needs to be protected from him.

“This is criminal assault by a person with a history of such assaults,” and whose criminal history dates back 20 years, said Griesbach.

Griesbach ordered Peters to serve three years supervised release after serving his sentence.