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Date: 03-29-2023
Case Style:
Case Number: 1:22-cr-00184
Judge: William C. Griesbach
Court: United States District Court for the Eastern District of Wisconsin (Milwaukee County)
Plaintiff's Attorney: United States Attorney’s Office in Milwaukee
Defendant's Attorney:
Description: Milwaukee, Wisconsin criminal defense lawyer represented Defendant charged with assault committed in Indian Country.
On July 29, 2022, officers with the Menominee Tribal Police Department responded to a 911 call from a residence in Keshena, which is on the Menominee Indian Reservation. The caller reported seeing Stephen Teller, Jr., age 41, a former resident of the Menominee Reservation, drag a screaming woman into a nearby house. Investigators subsequently learned that Teller had strangled the woman, with whom he was involved in a domestic relationship and shared a child, with his forearm and punched her in the head and back. The woman sustained injuries during the incident. Teller had previously been convicted of similar offenses in Menominee Tribal Court, which made him eligible for federal prosecution.
In sentencing Teller, Judge Griesbach noted “the fact that someone would do this to someone he had a child with is outrageous.” Judge Griesbach also reflected upon what he described as a pattern of behavior where Teller engaged in violent acts against women with whom he had a domestic relationship. Judge Griesbach emphasized the need to protect the public from the defendant and observed the need to deter others who might consider engaging in violence against women.
The Menominee Tribal Police Department and Federal Bureau of Investigation investi
18 U.S.C. 117 provides:
(a) In General.—Any person who commits a domestic assault within the special maritime and territorial jurisdiction of the United States or Indian country and who has a final conviction on at least 2 separate prior occasions in Federal, State, or Indian tribal court proceedings for offenses that would be, if subject to Federal jurisdiction—
(1) any assault, sexual abuse, or serious violent felony against a spouse or intimate partner, or against a child of or in the care of the person committing the domestic assault; or
(2) an offense under chapter 110A,
shall be fined under this title, imprisoned for a term of not more than 5 years, or both, except that if substantial bodily injury results from violation under this section, the offender shall be imprisoned for a term of not more than 10 years.
(b) Domestic Assault Defined.—
In this section, the term “domestic assault” means an assault committed by a current or former spouse, parent, child, or guardian of the victim, by a person with whom the victim shares a child in common, by a person who is cohabitating with or has cohabitated with the victim as a spouse, parent, child, or guardian, or by a person similarly situated to a spouse, parent, child, or guardian of the victim.
Outcome: Defendant was found guilty and was sentenced to 24 months in prison followed by 36 months of supervised release.
Plaintiff's Experts:
Defendant's Experts:
Comments: