Teller found guilty of domestic battery

Legend Lake man sentenced to 2 years after prior incidents elevated crime to felony
By: 
Kevin Murphy
Correspondent

A man from the Legend Lake area of the Menominee Indian Reservation was sentenced March 27 in federal court to two years in prison to be followed by three years on supervised release.

Stephen J. Teller Jr., 41, had been convicted in tribal court in 2018 of domestic violence and again in February 2022, this time with a child present.

The two prior tribal misdemeanor convictions elevated the present offense to a federal felony.

Teller pleaded guilty in December to domestic battery by a habitual offender and faced a prison term of 30 to 37 months under the advisory sentencing guidelines.

Tribal police took Teller into custody after receiving a call on July 29. The homeowner told police that there had been disturbance between Teller and a woman he lived with and which he had a son.

Given permission to search the premises, the officers found the woman hiding from Teller in a bedroom closet and Teller in a bathtub. The officers learned that Teller had an outstanding tribal warrant and took him into custody.

The woman later told police that the incident began when she asked Teller to take care of their son who was crying. Instead, Teller shoved the woman’s head into a wall. When she got up to gather some belongings and leave, Teller put his forearm around her neck “choking” her. He also bit her on the arm when she tried to get Teller to let go.

The woman said Teller also grabbed her by the hair and pulled her back into the home and punched her in the back of the head.

Interviewed in the tribal jail, Teller disputed choking the woman but agreed with the rest of her account of the incident.

On March 27, Thomas Phillip, Teller’s attorney, sought a sentence of a year and a day in prison contending that his client already had been sentenced in tribal court to a month in jail after being detained for four months for the same offense.

Phillip wrote the court that a month in jail may have been too lenient but 30-37 months was too severe for an offense that wasn’t charged an aggravated assault.

Teller will be on federal supervision for three years, which is more formal than any prior term of probation he has served, and carries more consequent for him if it is revoked, Phillip wrote.

Teller told a pre-sentence writer that he had hit “rock bottom” in the July incident with his girlfriend and prison and supervised release should allow him to lead the life he wants to, his attorney wrote.

After serving his tribal imposed jail sentence in November, Teller was on pre-trial federal release, which was revoked in December for a violation not available in court records Monday.

Assistant U.S. Attorney Andrew Maier had recommended a 30-month sentence but District Judge William Griesbach departed below the advisory guidelines in imposing the two-year term.