Mother: Joseph K. Baer didn't deserve brutal death
Written by: Suzanne Weiss - Herald Times Reporter
MANITOWOC — Joseph K. Baer may have been in and out of trouble much of his life, but he didn’t deserve to die the brutal way that he did, said his mother, LouAnn Baer of rural St. Nazianz.
The 37-year-old Manitowoc man’s body was found Saturday at a rural residence south of Brillion. Robert Saurbeir, 29, of Manitowoc, and James Loewe, 33, of Hilbert, are charged with beating him to death with several objects, including a metal pipe and hammer, during a night of drinking.
Baer was released from Manitowoc County Jail just two days before he was killed in Calumet County.
LouAnn Baer spoke Tuesday of her reaction when she was told of her son’s death on Sunday afternoon.
“I cracked. I cried and I cried. (Monday) didn’t help when they said they found a chain with blood on it and a hammer,” she said. “They claimed they were his friends.”
His death was any mother’s nightmare.
“I’m just imagining how he felt, being beaten to death,” Baer said. “I’m just imagining him saying stop, stop, stop. I can see him. I’m crying a lot. I’m angry and upset … he did not deserve to die like that. Nobody does. Nobody does.”
Joseph Baer grew up and lived in the St. Nazianz area most of his life, first with his mother and father and then, when they divorced in 1987, with his father, she said.
His father, who changed his name from Herbert A. Baer to Elvis A. Presley, died in 2004.
LouAnn Baer spoke of her son’s childhood.
“He was a sweet kid when he wanted to be but he had an awesome temper. He had to have it his way,” she said. “He had a hard time getting along and studying. He was a hyper child.”
Her son started his education at Riverview School and continued it in prison, she said.
“He was in detention and jail and prison all his adult life,” LouAnn Baer said. “I’ll grant you he was rowdy ….
In all, he could be a very, very sweet person. He wasn’t all bad. He was more misunderstood.”
Joseph Baer had an extensive criminal record, said Capt. Scott Luchterhand of the Manitowoc Police Department.
Most recently he was in jail on extended supervision starting Jan. 29, said Jason Jost, Manitowoc County Jail administrator.
According to Manitowoc County Circuit Court records, Baer was sentenced to prison on felony burglary charges in 1999 and again in 2006. Baer had other criminal convictions in Manitowoc County, including for theft, negligent handling of a dangerous weapon, disorderly conduct and criminal damage to property.
Baer also was a registered sex offender, convicted on Jan. 2, 1992, of sexual assault of a child, according to Wisconsin Department of Corrections records.
Wednesday, March 30, 2011
Sunday, March 27, 2011
Aquitted....
Judge Throws Out Charges Against Moores
| Posted: Tuesday, March 22, 2011 1:30 pm
| Posted: Tuesday, March 22, 2011 1:30 pm
Charges against Bruce E. Moores, a registered sex offender and a former local radio personality, were dismissed Monday in Chippewa County Circuit Court.
Judge Jim Isaacson ruled there was no probable cause a felony was committed by Moores, who was accused of being a child sex offender working with children. Isaacson also dismissed at Monday’s preliminary hearing a misdemeanor count of bail jumping against Moores.
Isaacson made his ruling after hearing testimony from Chippewa Falls Police Officer Deb Brettigen, Jodi Voegeli of the Wisconsin Sex Offender Registry and Theresa King, a worker at the Village of Terror.
A criminal complaint said Moores, 41, 2403 Tony Court - Apt. 3, Eau Claire had contact with children who appeared to be under 16 while working at the food and beverage booth at the Village of Terror, 2302 Nelson Road, Chippewa Falls. The attraction is on the grounds of the Chippewa Valley Renaissance Faire.
Isaacson ruled there was insufficient evidence to show that what Moores was doing constituted a violation.
The potential penalty for the felony charge was 12 years and six months in prison and a $25,000 fine. Moores also faced a potential $10,000 fine or nine months in jail on the bail jumping charge.
Moores was convicted of a sexual assault of a child on Nov. 23, 1992 for an incident that happened in March 1992.
Moores was represented by attorney Robert Thorson while the state was represented by Assistant District Attorney Wade Newell.
He worked for a time for Maverick Media, including doing news reports on WAYY-AM.
Although the Chippewa County charges against Bruce Moores were dismissed, the ex-disc jockey was found guilty in Dunn County of disorderly conduct, a misdemeanor.
According to the criminal complaint, the 49-year-old was seen videotaping high school girls changing out of their uniforms after a volleyball tournament at UW-Stout’s Johnson Fieldhouse in August 2010. Moores told one of the girls he was working for a local advertising “shopper” newspaper.
The Dunn County News contributed to this report.
Judge Jim Isaacson ruled there was no probable cause a felony was committed by Moores, who was accused of being a child sex offender working with children. Isaacson also dismissed at Monday’s preliminary hearing a misdemeanor count of bail jumping against Moores.
Isaacson made his ruling after hearing testimony from Chippewa Falls Police Officer Deb Brettigen, Jodi Voegeli of the Wisconsin Sex Offender Registry and Theresa King, a worker at the Village of Terror.
A criminal complaint said Moores, 41, 2403 Tony Court - Apt. 3, Eau Claire had contact with children who appeared to be under 16 while working at the food and beverage booth at the Village of Terror, 2302 Nelson Road, Chippewa Falls. The attraction is on the grounds of the Chippewa Valley Renaissance Faire.
Isaacson ruled there was insufficient evidence to show that what Moores was doing constituted a violation.
The potential penalty for the felony charge was 12 years and six months in prison and a $25,000 fine. Moores also faced a potential $10,000 fine or nine months in jail on the bail jumping charge.
Moores was convicted of a sexual assault of a child on Nov. 23, 1992 for an incident that happened in March 1992.
Moores was represented by attorney Robert Thorson while the state was represented by Assistant District Attorney Wade Newell.
He worked for a time for Maverick Media, including doing news reports on WAYY-AM.
Although the Chippewa County charges against Bruce Moores were dismissed, the ex-disc jockey was found guilty in Dunn County of disorderly conduct, a misdemeanor.
According to the criminal complaint, the 49-year-old was seen videotaping high school girls changing out of their uniforms after a volleyball tournament at UW-Stout’s Johnson Fieldhouse in August 2010. Moores told one of the girls he was working for a local advertising “shopper” newspaper.
The Dunn County News contributed to this report.
Wednesday, March 23, 2011
From Nebraska - Sex-offender list too inclusive?
http://www.omaha.com/article/20110323/NEWS97/703239876
Published Wednesday March 23, 2011
LINCOLN — Saying Nebraska's current sex-offender registry law unfairly punishes some minor offenders, a group of state senators wants to remove those offenders' pictures and addresses from a public list.
Supporters of the change include Omaha Sen. Scott Lautenbaugh, typically a hard-liner on crime who has said sexual predators should be banished to a remote island because they can't be rehabilitated,
Yet Lautenbaugh said it's unfair to hang a “scarlet letter” on minor offenders whom the Nebraska State Patrol had deemed at low risk of reoffending and who haven't committed repeat crimes.
“I don't think we should ruin their lives,” Lautenbaugh said.
Sen. Brad Ashford, also of Omaha, said, “We have to balance punishment with fairness.”
Lautenbaugh, Ashford and Sen. Colby Coash of Lincoln on Tuesday spoke in favor of changing state law after testimony last week during a public hearing before the Legislature's Judiciary Committee.
Some of those testifying, including people whose criminal offenses occurred as long as 16 years ago, said their families were harassed and shunned because of past mistakes. Their occupations and reputations face ruin, they said, because their faces and addresses are listed on the state's sex-offender website.
Prior to passage of Legislative Bill 285 in 2009, only the names of sex offenders deemed by the State Patrol as most likely to reoffend were publicized.
Those who had committed minor offenses and were considered at low risk of reoffending — a Level 1 offender — were required to register with law enforcement agencies, but their information wasn't made public.
LB 285 included Level 1 offenders in new reporting requirements. The state posted their photos and addresses on a website. The photos are to stay for as long as 25 years, and in some cases, for life.
Ashford is having an amendment drafted that would remove from the website Level 1 offenders who committed offenses prior to the enactment of LB 285 and have not reoffended.
Anyone who committed an offense after that date would still have to comply with the more rigorous reporting requirements, and would be subject to having his or her name and photo publicly posted, Ashford said.
Coash said he didn't realize LB 285 was to be retroactive.
Omaha Sen. Pete Pirsch, who sponsored LB 285, said he opposes any return to the old system of having the State Patrol assess a sex offender's potential for reoffending.
“I'm not sure there's any scientific method to guess the capability of a sex offender to reoffend going into the future,” Pirsch said.
Pirsch said he wanted to see any amendments before to deciding whether to support them.
A Nebraska group for convicted sex offenders and their families called Families Affirming Community Safety has lobbied and joined a federal lawsuit to get the current state law reversed.
Rigorous tracking of minor, low-risk offenders diverts attention from true sexual predators, the group says.
The Legislature passed LB 285 to comply with the Adam Walsh Act, a federal measure aimed at apprehending sex offenders. It was named for Adam Walsh, the son of “America's Most Wanted” host John Walsh, who was abducted and murdered in 1981.
Contact the writer:
402-473-9584, paul.hammel@owh.com
Published Wednesday March 23, 2011
LINCOLN — Saying Nebraska's current sex-offender registry law unfairly punishes some minor offenders, a group of state senators wants to remove those offenders' pictures and addresses from a public list.
Supporters of the change include Omaha Sen. Scott Lautenbaugh, typically a hard-liner on crime who has said sexual predators should be banished to a remote island because they can't be rehabilitated,
Yet Lautenbaugh said it's unfair to hang a “scarlet letter” on minor offenders whom the Nebraska State Patrol had deemed at low risk of reoffending and who haven't committed repeat crimes.
“I don't think we should ruin their lives,” Lautenbaugh said.
Sen. Brad Ashford, also of Omaha, said, “We have to balance punishment with fairness.”
Lautenbaugh, Ashford and Sen. Colby Coash of Lincoln on Tuesday spoke in favor of changing state law after testimony last week during a public hearing before the Legislature's Judiciary Committee.
Some of those testifying, including people whose criminal offenses occurred as long as 16 years ago, said their families were harassed and shunned because of past mistakes. Their occupations and reputations face ruin, they said, because their faces and addresses are listed on the state's sex-offender website.
Prior to passage of Legislative Bill 285 in 2009, only the names of sex offenders deemed by the State Patrol as most likely to reoffend were publicized.
Those who had committed minor offenses and were considered at low risk of reoffending — a Level 1 offender — were required to register with law enforcement agencies, but their information wasn't made public.
LB 285 included Level 1 offenders in new reporting requirements. The state posted their photos and addresses on a website. The photos are to stay for as long as 25 years, and in some cases, for life.
Ashford is having an amendment drafted that would remove from the website Level 1 offenders who committed offenses prior to the enactment of LB 285 and have not reoffended.
Anyone who committed an offense after that date would still have to comply with the more rigorous reporting requirements, and would be subject to having his or her name and photo publicly posted, Ashford said.
Coash said he didn't realize LB 285 was to be retroactive.
Omaha Sen. Pete Pirsch, who sponsored LB 285, said he opposes any return to the old system of having the State Patrol assess a sex offender's potential for reoffending.
“I'm not sure there's any scientific method to guess the capability of a sex offender to reoffend going into the future,” Pirsch said.
Pirsch said he wanted to see any amendments before to deciding whether to support them.
A Nebraska group for convicted sex offenders and their families called Families Affirming Community Safety has lobbied and joined a federal lawsuit to get the current state law reversed.
Rigorous tracking of minor, low-risk offenders diverts attention from true sexual predators, the group says.
The Legislature passed LB 285 to comply with the Adam Walsh Act, a federal measure aimed at apprehending sex offenders. It was named for Adam Walsh, the son of “America's Most Wanted” host John Walsh, who was abducted and murdered in 1981.
Contact the writer:
402-473-9584, paul.hammel@owh.com
Saturday, March 19, 2011
Check THIS out!
The newest edition to the website and the fight to reform the laws that do so much to persecute yet so little to protect, as was the platform on which all of these laws were passed.
Please welcome and follow this new writer of ours.
Through the Eyes of the Offender
Please welcome and follow this new writer of ours.
Through the Eyes of the Offender
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