Prosecutors are putting Wisconsin man Kayle Fleischauer on trial yet again in the shooting death of 19-year-old son Chase Fleischauer. The charge is second-degree reckless homicide.
Prosecutors said the defendant killed his son on April 14, 2018. The defense tried to show that the victim shot himself–either suicide or an accident. The elder Fleischauer testified at his original trial that he wrestled with his son before going back to bed that early morning. He claimed he didn’t see his son get injured, however.
Jurors didn’t buy that story. Investigators said there’s evidence Chase sustained a fractured skull before being shot and was possibly strangled. There’s evidence the victim, with socks on his feet, had stood or walked on his blood, which was already on the floor, authorities said according to The Pioneer Press. Examiners testified that Chase wouldn’t have moved after getting shot in the head. The firearm ended up 10 feet from his body. The defense and prosecutor argued over the gunshot distance, and whether it was consistent with a self-inflicted wound.
The victim’s sister Somer Johnson-Fleischauer testified to having heard “yelling and movement upstairs,” and that her brother said he would never strike his dad.
The state has to do this all over again. A judge ruled for a new trial. One of the jurors had tested out a theory that a dog couldn’t have moved the firearm, the defense said. This was put before the other jurors. The problem was that the jury was only supposed to base their decision on the evidence shown in court.
You can see the original verdict below. Prosecutors are trying to go for a repeat.
[Mugshot via St. Croix County]
