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Judge gives man 15 years in beating death
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By Associated Press and Times staff



MADISON - A judge has sentenced a man to 15 years in prison for fatally beating his autistic half-brother to death.

Prosecutors accused 30-year-old Jeffery Vogelsberg of beating 27-year-old Matthew Graville in a Mazomanie rental they shared in 2012. They alleged the beating was part of a pattern of abuse Vogelsberg inflicted on Graville.

Vogelsberg pleaded no contest in September to second-degree reckless homicide, a charge punishable by up to 25 years in the state prison system.

Dane County Circuit Judge Julie Genovese handed down that maximum sentence Monday, ordering him to spend 15 years in prison and 10 years on extended supervision.

She said she believed Vogelsberg enjoyed beating Graville. She told him she thought something was broken inside him and doubted he could be rehabilitated.

Graville had lived in Monroe as recently as 2010.

Vogelsberg's mother, Laura Robar, 51, was found guilty in Dane County of using Graville's public assistance card to buy groceries after pleading no contest in February 2013 to identity theft. Robar, who according to court records currently resides in Monroe, was sentenced to a year in jail.