MADISON - A man sentenced last year to life in a psychiatric hospital for the brutal murders of three Wiota farmers was on Friday once again called before a judge, this time for punching a fellow inmate in the face.
Jaren M. Kuester, 33, pleaded guilty Friday morning to the felony battery case in Dane County Circuit Court. He was shackled, wearing jail scrubs and brought into the courtroom in a wheelchair. As he was wheeled in, he looked in the direction of his parents sitting in the back of the courtroom.
He signed a joint plea deal for a two-year prison sentence on the battery case, with one year imprisonment and another on extended supervision.
But Judge William Hanrahan rejected the recommendation of prison and sent Kuester, a diagnosed schizophrenic, back to Mendota Mental Health Institute - with harsh words for both Kuester and the psychiatric hospital.
Hanrahan's decision is in line with what members of Kuester's family asked of the court. In a letter to the judge, Kathleen Kuester of Waukesha asked that her son be kept where he is.
"The prison system is not the right place for a paranoid schizophrenic. The prison system is not equipped for the treatment that Jaren should be having, the medication monitoring and the therapy that Jaren needs and will continue to need," she wrote. Even when medicated, her son "still has a hard time discerning the things in his mind from reality."
Jason Kuester of Oconomowoc wrote the court that his brother has suffered "extreme paranoia, anxiety and delusions for many years" and if taken out of Mendota Mental Health, these symptoms "may very well get severely worse."
The felony battery case against Jaren Kuester stems from an incident at the mental institution on the afternoon of Jan. 9.
Kuester was in a day room watching TV and seated near fellow inmate John T. Gordon, a 41-year-old serving a 40-year sentence for first-degree sexual assault of a child. Like Kuester, Gordon is serving his time at the facility due to a mental defect.
According to the criminal complaint, Kuester was at the time restricted from going to the coffee-serving area in the building and asked Gordon to go get him a cup of coffee. Gordon said no, later explaining to an investigator that he himself was also restricted from going into the coffee-serving area. He said he didn't know Kuester well but had previously gotten along with him.
Kuester, a former mixed martial arts fighter, stood up, took off his glasses and handed them to an otherwise uninvolved inmate, then directed three forearm or elbow strikes to Gordon's face, according to an investigator's description of surveillance video footage. Gordon didn't retaliate. He required "many stitches" to repair the damage to his face.
In a phone call to the court Friday, Gordon said the attack permanently damaged his vision and left him shaken, scared and paranoid.
"I feel like I have to watch my back more," he said. In a victim-impact statement filed with the court, he wrote that Kuester's actions have caused him nightmares and brought back flashbacks of childhood physical and emotional abuse.
While Gordon's voice filled the courtroom, Kuester sat impassive with his eyes closed.
Hanrahan closely questioned Kuester about his understanding of the guilty plea he was entering and the plea deal he was signing. Kuester answered with hesitation but affirmed that he understood. Hanrahan observed that Kuester's affect is "dulled" but he otherwise appears to be a "thoughtful guy."
Hanrahan asked Assistant State Public Defender Adam Welch for his take.
"We had our own assessment done of him through the public defender's office. He understands what's going on," Welch said.
Kuester is serving a lifetime commitment for the April 2013 murders of Gary Thoreson, 70, his wife Chloe Thoreson, 66, and Gary's brother Dean Thoreson, 76.
The killings were random. Investigators say Kuester fled his home in Waukesha in a delusional, paranoid daze, then abandoned his vehicle in Green County, stripped naked and started hiking westward. He happened upon Gary and Chloe Thoreson's rural Lafayette County home while they were away and stayed there overnight. As the Thoresons returned home the next day, Kuester - still delusional - savagely beat them to death with a fireplace poker.
State prosecutor Shaun O'Connell told the judge that since Kuester's commitment for the Thoreson murders, he has caused repeated problems at Mendota Mental Health and is frequently threatening and aggressive toward staff.
Kuester has also "been involved in many incidents at Mendota involving other patients," according to an investigator's interview of James Spoerl, security captain at Mendota Mental Health.
Moving Kuester to prison would "hopefully" teach him a lesson, O'Connell said. "The truth of the matter is, he's going to be confined for the foreseeable future. It's just a matter of where."
When given the opportunity to speak, Kuester voiced no remorse for the January attack at Mendota Mental Health.
"To be honest," he began, "it all catches me off guard." He said he didn't know that the victim would be testifying in court. If he had, "I would have a laundry list to say about him."
Kuester started to launch into an airing of grievances against Gordon before his attorney interrupted and made him stop.
"Your attorney stopped you just in the nick of time," Hanrahan said. He went on to admonish Kuester for being "completely unrepentant."
"You just can't exercise this kind of street justice," Hanrahan said. "You should be locked up and in fact you are locked up."
But, he added, "I think Mendota should be better equipped." The psychiatric hospital was aware of Kuester's serious criminal history and aware of his schizophrenia, yet somehow failed to protect a fellow inmate from Kuester's violence, Hanrahan said.
"I just find it really problematic," he said. The victim in the case possibly has grounds to sue the facility, he said.
In response to Hanrahan, O'Connell defended Mendota Mental Health. The attack "unfolded in the course of 10 seconds" and staff were present "within seconds."
After the hearing, Kuester's father said he believes his son is not getting enough therapy at Mendota Mental Health.
In her letter to the court, Kuester's mother also voiced concerns about the mental institution, writing that moving Kuester to prison would be "strictly Mendota's way of 'taking a break' from having to do the job that the State of Wisconsin ordered them to do."
But, she concluded, it is where Kuester belongs.
"He is restrained and isolated when the staff feels his behavior is not acceptable. This is the best place for Jaren and his treatment," she wrote.
Jaren M. Kuester, 33, pleaded guilty Friday morning to the felony battery case in Dane County Circuit Court. He was shackled, wearing jail scrubs and brought into the courtroom in a wheelchair. As he was wheeled in, he looked in the direction of his parents sitting in the back of the courtroom.
He signed a joint plea deal for a two-year prison sentence on the battery case, with one year imprisonment and another on extended supervision.
But Judge William Hanrahan rejected the recommendation of prison and sent Kuester, a diagnosed schizophrenic, back to Mendota Mental Health Institute - with harsh words for both Kuester and the psychiatric hospital.
Hanrahan's decision is in line with what members of Kuester's family asked of the court. In a letter to the judge, Kathleen Kuester of Waukesha asked that her son be kept where he is.
"The prison system is not the right place for a paranoid schizophrenic. The prison system is not equipped for the treatment that Jaren should be having, the medication monitoring and the therapy that Jaren needs and will continue to need," she wrote. Even when medicated, her son "still has a hard time discerning the things in his mind from reality."
Jason Kuester of Oconomowoc wrote the court that his brother has suffered "extreme paranoia, anxiety and delusions for many years" and if taken out of Mendota Mental Health, these symptoms "may very well get severely worse."
The felony battery case against Jaren Kuester stems from an incident at the mental institution on the afternoon of Jan. 9.
Kuester was in a day room watching TV and seated near fellow inmate John T. Gordon, a 41-year-old serving a 40-year sentence for first-degree sexual assault of a child. Like Kuester, Gordon is serving his time at the facility due to a mental defect.
According to the criminal complaint, Kuester was at the time restricted from going to the coffee-serving area in the building and asked Gordon to go get him a cup of coffee. Gordon said no, later explaining to an investigator that he himself was also restricted from going into the coffee-serving area. He said he didn't know Kuester well but had previously gotten along with him.
Kuester, a former mixed martial arts fighter, stood up, took off his glasses and handed them to an otherwise uninvolved inmate, then directed three forearm or elbow strikes to Gordon's face, according to an investigator's description of surveillance video footage. Gordon didn't retaliate. He required "many stitches" to repair the damage to his face.
In a phone call to the court Friday, Gordon said the attack permanently damaged his vision and left him shaken, scared and paranoid.
"I feel like I have to watch my back more," he said. In a victim-impact statement filed with the court, he wrote that Kuester's actions have caused him nightmares and brought back flashbacks of childhood physical and emotional abuse.
While Gordon's voice filled the courtroom, Kuester sat impassive with his eyes closed.
Hanrahan closely questioned Kuester about his understanding of the guilty plea he was entering and the plea deal he was signing. Kuester answered with hesitation but affirmed that he understood. Hanrahan observed that Kuester's affect is "dulled" but he otherwise appears to be a "thoughtful guy."
Hanrahan asked Assistant State Public Defender Adam Welch for his take.
"We had our own assessment done of him through the public defender's office. He understands what's going on," Welch said.
Kuester is serving a lifetime commitment for the April 2013 murders of Gary Thoreson, 70, his wife Chloe Thoreson, 66, and Gary's brother Dean Thoreson, 76.
The killings were random. Investigators say Kuester fled his home in Waukesha in a delusional, paranoid daze, then abandoned his vehicle in Green County, stripped naked and started hiking westward. He happened upon Gary and Chloe Thoreson's rural Lafayette County home while they were away and stayed there overnight. As the Thoresons returned home the next day, Kuester - still delusional - savagely beat them to death with a fireplace poker.
State prosecutor Shaun O'Connell told the judge that since Kuester's commitment for the Thoreson murders, he has caused repeated problems at Mendota Mental Health and is frequently threatening and aggressive toward staff.
Kuester has also "been involved in many incidents at Mendota involving other patients," according to an investigator's interview of James Spoerl, security captain at Mendota Mental Health.
Moving Kuester to prison would "hopefully" teach him a lesson, O'Connell said. "The truth of the matter is, he's going to be confined for the foreseeable future. It's just a matter of where."
When given the opportunity to speak, Kuester voiced no remorse for the January attack at Mendota Mental Health.
"To be honest," he began, "it all catches me off guard." He said he didn't know that the victim would be testifying in court. If he had, "I would have a laundry list to say about him."
Kuester started to launch into an airing of grievances against Gordon before his attorney interrupted and made him stop.
"Your attorney stopped you just in the nick of time," Hanrahan said. He went on to admonish Kuester for being "completely unrepentant."
"You just can't exercise this kind of street justice," Hanrahan said. "You should be locked up and in fact you are locked up."
But, he added, "I think Mendota should be better equipped." The psychiatric hospital was aware of Kuester's serious criminal history and aware of his schizophrenia, yet somehow failed to protect a fellow inmate from Kuester's violence, Hanrahan said.
"I just find it really problematic," he said. The victim in the case possibly has grounds to sue the facility, he said.
In response to Hanrahan, O'Connell defended Mendota Mental Health. The attack "unfolded in the course of 10 seconds" and staff were present "within seconds."
After the hearing, Kuester's father said he believes his son is not getting enough therapy at Mendota Mental Health.
In her letter to the court, Kuester's mother also voiced concerns about the mental institution, writing that moving Kuester to prison would be "strictly Mendota's way of 'taking a break' from having to do the job that the State of Wisconsin ordered them to do."
But, she concluded, it is where Kuester belongs.
"He is restrained and isolated when the staff feels his behavior is not acceptable. This is the best place for Jaren and his treatment," she wrote.