January 29, 2014 at 5:34 p.m.
Bond modified in Mason Street shooting case
Bond modified in Mason Street shooting case
Marcus Alsteens, 24, made an appearance in Oneida County Circuit Court Wednesday. District Attorney Mike Schiek and Alsteens' attorney, Mary Hogan, presented the court with a joint motion to release Alsteens from custody by reducing his $50,000 cash bond to a signature bond.
The rationale behind the bond modification is the same reason the attempted homicide charge will likely be reduced. Schiek said there is new information from the alleged victim in the case, Justin Alsteens, indicating that the shooting on Aug. 12 at a Mason Street home was an accident.
"There's still some gray area out there we have to figure out, but I'm not going to keep someone in custody (if the victim is saying it was an accident)," Schiek said.
"We were assuming a lot," he added about the initial investigation into the shooting and the attempted homicide charge.
According to the criminal complaint, Marcus Alsteens shot his uncle Justin Alsteens, 49, in the stomach with a 7 mm rifle at the Mason Street residence they shared before fleeing the scene. Marcus Alsteens was eventually taken into custody by the Oneida County Sheriff's Office while on Wisconsin Highway 17, near Eagle River.
In an interview with a Rhinelander Police Department detective the day after the shooting, Alsteens provided vague answers about what led to the shooting but alluded to the fact that he and his uncle had been arguing. According to the complaint, Alsteens retrieved a rifle from a cabinet in his bedroom, went into the room his uncle was in and shot him. When the detective asked Alsteens what he was thinking about when he went to go get the gun, Alsteens responded, "I was just really pissed off at that time."
During the interview, Alsteens referenced household chores as one of the things he and his uncle had argued about and said there had been periodic arguments between them for several months.
Based on the interview with Alsteens, the fact that he fled and the evidence at the scene, Schiek said there was no choice but to pursue an attempted homicide charge.
But for a long time after the shooting, investigators were unable to get a clear picture of the incident from Justin Alsteens' perspective. He was in the intensive care unit at St. Joseph's Hospital in Marshfield for several weeks following the shooting and eventually investigators had an opportunity to interview him on Sept. 5. But, according to previous court testimony, Justin said he didn't remember a lot about the incident. He recalled being shot by Marcus and having the other two people in the home apply pressure to his wounds before medics arrived on scene. A detective said Justin didn't recall any argument with Marcus and didn't know why he was shot.
Schiek said as Justin Alsteens has recovered from his injuries, he's been able to provide more information about the incident.
"Now he's more coherent and able to verbalize (better about what happened)," Schiek said. "He's essentially claiming it was an accident. If there was no intent (then there's no attempted homicide). We still need to do some more followup with the victim. There's some sort of negligence at least."
Marcus Alsteens is now scheduled for a pretrial conference April 15. On Wednesday he withdrew his plea of not guilty by reason of mental defect. Hogan said the mental evaluations that have been conducted on her client since his last court appearance in October do not support that plea.
Judge Patrick O'Melia modified bond to a $40,000 signature bond co-signed by Alsteens' father, with whom he will be residing. One of the bond conditions is no firearms in the home.
Kyle Rogers may be reached at [email protected].
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