State of Wisconsin v. Timothy Hauschultz

Timothy Hauschultz, 56, is on trial in Manitowoc County Circuit Court in Wisconsin on six charges, including neglecting a child with death as the consequence and intentionally contributing to the delinquency of a child resulting in death. The charges come from the death of Ethan Hauschultz on April 20, 2018. Ethan was seven years old. Timothy Hauschultz was his great-uncle and his court-appointed guardian. He has pleaded not guilty. He is presumed innocent, and the State alone carries the burden of proving each charge beyond a reasonable doubt.

He was not home when Ethan died. Prosecutors allege he set a punishment, carrying a heavy log around a path in the backyard, and told his son Damian, then 14, to make sure Ethan completed it. Damian Hauschultz was convicted of first-degree reckless homicide and is serving 20 years in prison. The defense says the son acted on his own, beyond anything his father told him to do. So the jury is asked who answers for a punishment another person carried out. What did the guardian order? What did he know? And does the man who gave the order answer for what was done in his name?

This case reached a jury only after judges refused plea deals both sides had agreed to. On one of them the State recommended a sentence of time served, and Ethan's mother asked the judge to impose the maximum. A jury of 14 was seated on October 12, 2026, and twelve of them will deliberate. Opening statements are Day 1, October 13, 2026. We are not here to convict Timothy Hauschultz and we are not here to clear him. We are here to watch whether the State can prove what it charged, and to keep what a teenager did in that yard apart from what a grown man is accused of ordering. Only the jurors decide that. Start with the background report below, then follow every day of trial with us.

Coverage begins the day proceedings do. Start with the background above.