Johnson Bound Over for Trial in Child Abuse Death of Toddler

Marcus Johnson has been bound over for trial and is expected to enter a plea next week in the child abuse death of three-year-old Hunter J. Wise.

He is charged with 1st degree intentional homicide for allegedly dipping the little boy in water so hot the skin of his buttocks was scalded off. The Milwaukee County Medical Examiner determined Wise died from the shock of extreme trauma, most likely related to the burn.

Johnson, 26, of Racine, appeared before Racine County Circuit Court Commissioner Alice Rudebusch Wednesday for his preliminary hearing, but he didn't waive the hearing as do the majority of defendants.

Instead, Defense Attorney Adrienne Moore tried to use the testimony of Mount Pleasant Police Investigator Dan Schauer to show that Johnson was only trying to bathe Wise after the little boy soiled his pants and that the boy slipped and fell in the tub.

"Testimony indicated this was not intentional homicide," she told the court. "The child soiled himself and Mr. Johnson attempted to clean him. No one can believe the burn on the buttocks can cause death so we ask that the case be dismissed."

Racine County District Attorney Rich Chiapete questioned Schauer about what he observed May 13 when police and rescue squads were called to the house where Johnson and the boy's mother were living in the Lake Park neighborhood in Mount Pleasant.

"The most obvious injury was a burn on the child's buttocks as well as linear contusions on his buttocks and upper thigh," Schauer answered. "There was also a contusion under his right eye like from a black eye."

Schauer also testified that Johnson was home at the time of Wise's injuries and that Johnson told officers that Wise defecated on himself so Johnson placed the boy in the tub to get clean. When the defendant walked away to check on the other children in the house - a five-year-old girl and a seven-month-old boy - he heard a splash from the bathroom. When Johnson went to check on Wise, he found him underwater.

The investigator also told the court that Wise died shortly before rescue crews could reach the hospital. Moore asked if Schauer felt the water and if the water had burned him. Schauer said he responded 60 to 90 minutes after the incident and when he felt the water, it was very hot but he did not get burned.

As for what happened after Johnson discovered Wise underwater, Schauer testified that Johnson told police he carried the boy out and tried to perform CPR before calling the boy's mother to come home from work. Once she arrived, she called 911.

Chiapete wanted clarification about the boy's burns for the record. 

"Did the victim have burns to his head or consistent with falling in a tub?" he asked.

The Milwaukee County ME classified the burns, the criminal complaint reads, as consistent with liquid submersion, or dipping, and Schauer reiterated that description for the court.

After Schauer was dismissed from the stand, Chiapete asked Rudebusch to bind Johnson over, and after Moore's request for a dismissal, stated for the record that the state only has to prove that a felony was committed and that the defendant probably committed it.

"The other matters are for trial," he concluded.

Rudebusch agreed, and scheduled Johnson's arraignment for June 5 after Moore requested time to confer with her client.

Outside the courtroom, Samantha Grow, a friend of Joseph Wise, Hunter's father, told reporters that Joe Wise is dealing the best he can and that she will attend as many court dates as possible because Wise and his mother can't face Johnson.

"I come because I want to, because Joe and his mom would come, but they don't want to see Marcus," she said. "(Joe) is dealing with it the best he can, but now he can't go anywhere without remembering his son."