Jordan Feemster will be bound over for trial after Shawano-Menominee County Circuit Court Judge William Kussel Jr. ruled there was probable cause during a preliminary hearing Nov. 27 addressing charges of attempted first-degree intentional homicide, battery, criminal damage to property and first-degree recklessly endangering safety by the use of a dangerous weapon.
Feemster was charged in June after an incident May 24 at the Shawano Square Apartments on East Richmond Street after police spoke with the victim, his girlfriend at the time, and learned about how plans to go out for the night turned almost deadly.
Trisha Fritz, Feemster’s attorney, submitted a motion prior to the hearing to dismiss the homicide charge, claiming a lack of probable cause. Fritz claimed her client was the one who tried to stop the assault and was not intending to kill the victim.
“As far as the intent to kill, the state has to prove that these alleged activities would cause death,” Fritz said. “There was no information that my client applied a good deal of pressure on the neck area of the alleged victim. There is no allegation that there was any slashing or stabbing motion. The state failed to allege that my client at any point went toward the victim in the sense that he would have stabbed her during the incident.”
Fritz claimed that Feemster put the knife down and even sat with the victim to talk during the incident. She said it’s clear that an incident occurred but found the homicide charge to be extreme, saying that, at best, it was recklessly endangering safety.
District Attorney Greg Parker disputed Fritz’s claims noting the small wound to the victim’s neck indicated that Feemster intended deadly actions, as well as the victim claiming that he told her he was going to kill her.
“In most cases, judge, when you have recklessly endangering safety, you don’t have somebody telling the other person, ‘I’m going to kill you,’” Parker said.
Kussel denied the request to dismiss the homicide charge.
According to the criminal complaint, as read by Sgt. Brent Dilge with the Shawano Police Department, the victim in the incident was getting ready to go out for the night on May 24 when Feemster allegedly asked for her phone passcode. Feemster allegedly saw a message from a co-worker and then pushed her into the bathtub and hit her on the left side of her head. After allegedly dragging the victim from the bathroom to the bedroom, Feemster allegedly went to the kitchen and grabbed a knife, and then he put the knife to her side and neck, according to the complaint.
The victim allegedly told Feemster that she loved him and wanted to be with him, claiming Feemster had a history of talking about self-harm. Feemster’s mother was allegedly called to help calm him down. The victim got out of the house and jumped into her vehicle, but Feemster allegedly chased her to the Shawano County Sheriff’s Office, where she ran inside for help and he fled, according to the complaint.
Dilge, reading the criminal complaint, testified that Feemster and the victim had known each other for at least eight years, but they had only been dating for a few months. He said the victim showed an officer wounds in her leg and knee area and claimed she was fearful for her life.
Under cross examination, Dilge testified that the pressure the victim felt when the knife was pressed to her neck was a 2 out of 10, with 10 being the most pressure. He also confirmed Fritz’s statement that Feemster eventually stopped the assault.
The Shawano Police Department found a knife on the bed and asked the victim if it was the one used to cause a 3-inch laceration on her neck, and she claimed it was. There was also an injury found on the victim’s knee and blood on the victim’s shirt, according to the complaint.
Feemster faces a maximum of 60 years in prison for the attempted homicide charge, a maximum of 12½ years for the recklessly endangering safety charge along with a maximum $25,000 fine, and up to nine months and $10,000 for the two misdemeanor charges.
Feemster is currently in Dodge Correctional Institution in Waupun, serving a 10-month sentence in Dodge County after pleading no contest to fleeing and eluding officers and resisting those same officers. A charge of second-degree recklessly endangering safety was dismissed but read into the record for that case.
A $75,000 cash bond has been ordered once Feemster is back in Shawano County’s custody.
Feemster has a number of criminal convictions in Wisconsin. In 2018, he was found guilty of second-degree recklessly endangering safety, victim intimidation and battery in Brown County. In 2014, he was found guilty, also in Brown County, of false imprisonment, battery and criminal damage to property. In 2010, he was found guilty on a misdemeanor charge of disorderly conduct in Brown County.
Feemster has an arraignment at 1:30 p.m. Jan. 14, 2025, in Branch II of the Shawano County Courthouse.
lpulaski@newmedia-wi.com
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