Former Wheeler man sentenced to three years in prison for strangulation and battery

By LeAnn R. Ralph

MENOMONIE  — A 27-year-old former Wheeler man convicted of first degree child sexual assault and felony imprisonment in two prior cases has been sentenced to three years in prison and three years of extended supervision after pleading guilty to strangulation and battery.

Mykle J. McMahon appeared in Dunn County Circuit Court before Judge Rod Smeltzer for a plea and sentencing hearing with his attorney, Richard Yonko, on April 30.

McMahon was charged with two felony counts of strangulation/suffocation and second-degree recklessly endangering safety and misdemeanor battery with a domestic abuse modifier and use of a dangerous weapon modifier.

One felony charge of second-degree recklessly endangering safety was dismissed but read into the record for sentencing.

According to the criminal complaint, the victim reported in August of 2017, after arriving home from pontooning, McMahon pushed her down and got on top of her. He bit her multiple times and also grabbed a knife and pointed it at her chest. The victim said she was afraid McMahon was going to stab her, so she held onto the knife blade to prevent him from stabbing her and received cuts to her hands that appeared to deputies to be partially healed.

McMahon then stuffed a VCR tape and a sheet into her mouth to muffle her screaming, grabbed her by the hair and punched her in the face and in the back of the head. The victim said McMahon then got off of her and grabbed a hatchet and threatened her with it by waving it around and swinging it at her a couple of times, the complaint states.

The victim said McMahon grabbed her with one hand on her neck and held her up against the wall, which restricted her breathing but did not cause her to lose consciousness. The victim said she felt as though she was going to pass out due to the lack of oxygen. McMahon then told the woman to get in the shower because she was bloody and her hair was a mess. The woman said her arms were so swollen that she could barely move them, according to the complaint.

The victim told investigators she was afraid she would never again see her parents or her sister, and she decided to submit to whatever McMahon requested because she was fearful of him. The victim and McMahon had been living together for a number of months, the complaint stated.

Judge Smeltzer accepted McMahon’s guilty plea and sentenced him to three years in prison and three years of extended supervision for the felony count of strangulation and suffocation.

In addition, Judge Smeltzer sentenced McMahon to nine months in jail on the misdemeanor battery, concurrent with the sentence for the felony.

Judge Smeltzer also ordered McMahon to pay $243 in court costs, a $200 DNA surcharge as well as a $100 domestic abuse surcharge.

McMahon will receive credit for 252 days already served. He cannot vote and is not allowed to possess a firearm.

A one-hour hearing is scheduled June 21 pertaining to McMahon’s prior cases.

Prior cases

In September of 2016, McMahon was sentenced to 60 days in jail and three years of probation on a charge of false imprisonment.

McMahon also appeared in Dunn County Circuit Court in September of 2016 before Judge Smeltzer for a probation review hearing on the conviction of first degree child sexual assault.

Judge Michael Bitney sentenced McMahon to 15 years in state prison, 15 years of extended supervision and 15 years of probation on April 1, 2015, but imposed and stayed the sentence and ordered McMahon, as a condition of probation, to serve one year in the county jail.

As the result of the probation review hearing for the conviction of first degree child sexual assault, Judge Smeltzer ordered McMahon to spend 90 days in jail with Huber privileges and accepted a credit of 26 days for time already served.

A 12-year-old girl reported to a representative of the Dunn County Department of Human Services that McMahon had raped her in April of 2014.  

According to court records, McMahon is six feet four inches tall and weighs 240 pounds.

McMahon told investigators the girl had consented to the sexual contact.

In the case of false imprisonment, the Dunn County Sheriff’s Department received a call in August of 2016 from a staff member at Mayo Menomonie who reported a woman was in the emergency room being treated for injuries sustained in a domestic abuse incident at a residence on Railroad Avenue in the Village of Wheeler.

The 25-year-old woman told deputies on the previous night, she and McMahon were involved in a physical altercation in which McMahon allegedly suffocated her, pushed her around, took her keys and would not allow her to leave the residence

The woman said she wanted to go home to the City of Menomonie so she could be closer to a hospital since she was due to give birth at any time.