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Raymond Vincent Cruz Jr., 20, waived any evidentiary issues in the case and asked for a settlement conference to try and resolve his case before going to trial.
The hearing was scheduled for Nov. 13.
According to the criminal complaint, Cruz, Michael Charles Braley, 20, and a group of friends committed several crimes Aug. 23 while they searched for an unknown person who had punched Braley in the eye. During the night, police came into contact with a man who said he was hit several times in the head by someone with a tire iron.
Braley’s friend told police he saw Cruz hit the man twice, wipe blood off the tire iron and toss it in a trash bin, according to court documents. Police later arrested Cruz, who admitted hitting the man because his friend was “getting the crap kicked out of him,” according to the complaint.
Braley is accused of later running down a pedestrian with his pickup truck and is scheduled to return to court Jan. 22 for a contested evidentiary hearing.
Home invasion and sex assault
Jason Michael Cieminski, 27, pleaded not guilty Wednesday to burglary and criminal sexual conduct charges that allege he broke into a home at random in September and molested a sleeping woman.
Because Cieminski is still in custody following the incident, Judge Jeff Thompson skipped the settlement conference and scheduled Cieminski for a pretrial and jury trial to take place in early 2009.
According to the criminal complaint, a 20-year-old woman awoke Sept. 14 to find Cieminski touching her inappropriately over her clothes. She confronted him and he fled the home in the 100 block of West Wabasha Street on a BMX bicycle. She also reported missing electronics worth about $700, including a black iPod.
Police later spotted a man matching the woman’s description and arrested him when they discovered he was carrying the stolen iPod.
Cieminski’s mother told the Daily News on Wednesday that her son would never have done anything like that if he were sober. She said he has had an ongoing addiction to alcohol and drugs and was sober for a year before recently “falling off the wagon.” She said her son has had a lot of issues with chemicals and self esteem, and these charges have made life very difficult for both of them.
Hammer assault
Devon Huddleston, 23, pleaded not guilty Wednesday to charges he stood outside an apartment in July wielding a baseball bat while his friend attacked an intoxicated man with a hammer.
Huddleston’s court-appointed attorney, Kurt Knuesel, said a resolution of the case had been reached “in principle,” but the exact details are yet to be finalized. He asked the court for a plea hearing, which was scheduled for Nov. 7.
According to the criminal complaint, Huddleston was pushed by an intoxicated man outside an apartment building in the 800 block of West King Street on July 27. He and Shane Joseph Prosen, 23, later cornered the man inside an apartment, the complaint states.
Prosen allegedly hit the man several times in the head with a hammer while Huddleston stood guard outside with a baseball bat. The 28-year-old victim suffered several skull and facial fractures, brain swelling and memory loss.
Prosen was later charged with first-
and second-degree assault. He is challenging the evidence police used to charge him,
and his case is awaiting a decision from a judge. Huddleston is facing charges of aiding and abetting first- and second-degree assault.
Kevin Behr may be reached at (507) 453-3524 or at kbehr@winonadailynews.com.
JED wrote on Oct 23, 2008 9:05 AM: