September 10, 2020 at 1:34 p.m.
Wausau man sentenced to 40 years for 2017 Tomahawk slaying
Wausau man sentenced to 40 years for 2017 Tomahawk slaying
Eric L Moen was sentenced Wednesday, Sept. 2 on one count of first-degree intentional homicide. According to online court records, Lincoln County judge Robert R. Russell presided over the sentencing hearing.
According to the criminal complaint filed in the case, Moen shot Charles Ramp five times with a shotgun in the driveway of his Tomahawk home on Nov. 16, 2017.
Moen told Tomahawk Police Chief Al Elvins he drove to Tomahawk late in the afternoon on the day of the shooting, stopping at the truck stop outside of Merrill on U.S. Highway 51 to purchase gasoline. While there, he told Elvins "he readied a 20-gauge shotgun by loading five shells into it, working the action to chamber a round," according to the complaint.
After arriving in Tomahawk at around 5 p.m., he went to Ramp's home on West Mohawk Drive and parked at the end of his driveway. Ramp was not home, but two people in the house invited him in to wait for his arrival. When Ramp arrived 15 minutes later, Moen told him his vehicle was making a funny noise, and said he was going to open the hood and get a light so Ramp could check the motor, the complaint states.
He then went outside, opened the hood and opened the driver's door. Ramp came out a few minutes later.
"Moen got the readied shotgun out of the back of his vehicle, walked back around the driver's side carrying the shotgun down hear his waist, then put the shotgun up in a ready position as he walked around the driver's door," the complaint indicates Moen told Elvins.
According to the criminal complaint, Moen shot Ramp once, and he fell to the ground, at which point he shot Ramp four more times. Ramp was transported to Ascension Sacred Heart Hospital in Tomahawk where he died as a result of his wounds.
Moen fled Lincoln County, but deputies with the Chippewa County Sheriff's Department later apprehended him without incident at a Walmart store in Lake Hallie.
No motive for the shooting was ever announced.
Moen made his initial court appearance Nov. 17, 2017 at which time Russell set a $1 million cash bond. He was formally charged on Nov. 20, 2017 and waived his right to a preliminary hearing on Jan. 12, 2018. At his arraignment on Feb. 21, 2018, Moen entered a plea of not guilty reason of mental disease or defect. A competency report was filed Feb. 21, 2019.
On May 26, Moen changed his plea to guilty. Roberts ordered a pre-sentence investigation, which was filed July 24. Moen will receive credit for 1,021 days time served while the case wound its way through the court system.
Jamie Taylor may be reached via email at jamie@rivernews online.com.
Comments:
You must login to comment.