The Manitowoc County judge who initially refused to recuse herself in the Timothy Hauschultz case has now recused herself for a different reason.
Court records show that Timothy was back in Judge Jerilyn Dietz’s courtroom over Zoom for a scheduling conference yesterday (May 28th).
Off the record, it was brought to Dietz’s attention that she was the Guardian at Litem for a witness in the case, meaning she would advocate for a child who couldn’t represent themselves.
While Dietz believed that it would not cause a conflict of interest and stated she has no recollection of a court hearing about it, she had no choice but to recuse herself.
A new judge will be appointed to preside over the case.
Defense attorneys for Timothy asked Dietz to recuse herself, previously claiming bias after she didn’t accept a plea deal earlier this year where he would plead to two counts of child abuse.
She ruled that the deal wasn’t in the public’s best interest.
Timothy’s next court date was scheduled for September for a pre-trial hearing before he was to go to trial in October.
He still faces charges, including felony murder and intentional contributing to the delinquency of a child, causing death in the case of Ethan Hauschultz.
Ethan died in Manitowoc County after he was hit over 100 times and buried in the snow in 2018.
Timothy’s stepson, Damien Hauschultz, is currently serving a 20-year prison sentence after pleading no contest to charges of reckless homicide in Ethan’s death.
