Mittelstadt sentenced to 7 years in prison, 3 years probation for machete attack on police officers
By LeAnn R. Ralph
MENOMONIE — A Dunn County judge has sentenced 45-year-old Beth M. Mittelstadt to seven years in prison and three years of probation for threatening police officers with a machete in a downtown Colfax apartment.
Mittelstadt appeared in Dunn County Circuit Court before Judge Rod Smeltzer November 25 with her attorney, John O’Boyle.
All together, Judge Smeltzer sentenced Mittelstadt to a total of 15.5 years in prison and eight years of probation for criminal damage to property related to the suspected arson of a house on Third Avenue in Colfax in May of 2014 occupied by Katy Bundy and her children, along with two counts of recklessly endangering safety related to using a machete to threaten Colfax Police Chief William Anderson and Sergeant Todd Kurtzhals of the Dunn County Sheriff’s Department in December of 2014.
Judge Smeltzer ordered the sentences to run concurrent to each other, resulting in Mittelstadt serving a sentence in state prison for seven years with three years of probation.
Mittelstadt initially was charged with felony counts of arson and attempted murder and recklessly endangering safety, but a plea deal June 10 ended up in the charges being reduced to felony criminal damage to property and two felony counts of recklessly endangering safety.
Mittelstadt threatened the Colfax police chief with a machete at a Main Street apartment last December while the police chief was executing an arrest warrant for arson.
Police Chief Anderson shot Mittelstadt in the upper torso with his service weapon.
According to the criminal complaint, when Dunn County deputies arrived on the scene, Mittelstadt was still holding the machete and threw it at one of the deputies.
Dunn County District Attorney Andrea Nodolf asked that Judge Smeltzer sentence Mittelstadt to the maximum sentence on each count in both the criminal damage to property case and the recklessly endangering safety case and that the sentences for threatening Police Chief Anderson and Sergeant Kurtzhals be run consecutive to each other and not concurrently.
Allowing the sentences to be concurrent minimizes the seriousness of Mittelstadt’s crimes, Nodolf said.
Nodolf also asked that Mittelstadt be ordered to have no contact with Police Chief Anderson, his residence or his family and that she be ordered to have no contact with Sergeant Kurtzhals.
In addition, Nodolf asked that Mittelstadt be ordered to pay $57,560 in restitution for the criminal damage to property and that she have no contact with Dean or Cheryl Ferry or their residence on state Highway 170.
Mrs. Anderson
Carrie Anderson, wife of Police Chief Anderson, addressed the court about the events of December 18.
Carrie Anderson, who has worked for Dunn County human services for 16 years, said she had heard her husband’s calls for back-up that day, and when she had heard that he had been put in the position of discharging his weapon, was extremely worried about his safety and whether he would make it out of the apartment alive.
“You attacked my husband and tried to kill him,” she said.
Carrie Anderson described the police chief as a loving husband and an amazing father and said Mittelstadt had no regard for his life and wanted to kill him because he was a police officer.
If Mittelstadt had been successful, Carrie Anderson said she would have been left a widow and their children would have been left without their dad.
Bill Anderson became a police officer to serve and protect the public, and the episode with Mittelstadt has caused him many sleepless nights and has caused stress for the police chief and for his family, Carrie Anderson said.
Carrie Anderson urged Mittelstadt to “do something with the rest of your life instead of being a drain on society.”
Fire
District Attorney Nodolf told the court that while there were no witnesses to say they had observed Mittelstadt burning down the house on Third Avenue, Mittelstadt had been the last person at the house before it started on fire.
The house was owned by Dean Ferry of Colfax and had previously belonged to Dean Ferry’s father, Nodolf said.
Bundy is Dean Ferry’s stepdaughter, and she had been living in the house with her children.
The fire resulted in the loss of the house, the death of a dog and cat in the house, and the loss of personal items, such as toys and clothes, belonging to Katie Bundy and her children, she said.
Dean and Cheryl Ferry had insurance on the house, but the insurance covered 80 percent of the loss, and the Ferrys could not afford to rebuild the house, Nodolf said.
Mittelstadt told investigators she had gone to Bundy’s house to buy methamphetamine, had given her money for the meth, and had been upset when Bundy did not return promptly with the drug.
Mittelstadt said she had been so upset she began breaking items in the house but denied having any involvement with the fire.
On December 18 when Police Chief Anderson went to Mittelstadt’s apartment to serve the arrest warrant for the arson of the house on Third Avenue, Mittelstadt attacked with a machete and sheared off a doorknob, Nodolf said.
Police Chief Anderson remained calm, called for back-up, and was hoping Mittelstadt would stay in her room. Instead, Mittelstadt raised the machete above her head, ignored orders to drop it and continued to advance, she said.
Police Chief Anderson had no choice but to shoot his weapon to stop the threat, and when Sergeant Kurtzhals arrived on the scene and attempted to disarm Mittelstadt, she threw the machete at him, Nodolf said.
Sergeant Kurtzhals used his Taser on Mittelstadt. When Mittelstadt threw the machete at him, Police Chief Anderson and the other officer on the scene could have shot Mittelstadt at that point, although they did not, she said.
The police chief and the sergeant both could have died that day in December, and they showed restraint and professionalism, Nodolf said.
Mittelstadt’s attorney minimizes her actions. The police officers are here to serve and protect, not to shoot someone who wants to die, she said.
Long history
Mittelstadt has a long history of drug and alcohol abuse and has a long criminal history, Nodolf said.
Mittelstadt was convicted of bringing cocaine into the country and served two years in a federal prison in Florida. And while she was in federal prison, Mittelstadt was ordered to participate in 500 hours of alcohol and other drug abuse treatment, Nodolf said.
Mittelstadt has been through the drug treatment program at Arbor Place and has been in detox at L.E. Phillips, she said.
Nodolf said Mittelstadt has had “numerous treatments” for drugs and alcohol and has had “ample opportunity” to receive treatment.
During the presentence investigation, Mittelstadt said she had reached out for help but that no one would help her, Nodolf said, noting that Mittelstadt has 16 prior convictions.
Mittelstadt received a $60,000 settlement, but in seven months, she spent it all on drugs and parties, Nodolf said.
Mittelstadt has been using methamphetamine since she was between the ages of 13 and 15, and in her early 40s, was employed by the sheriff’s department as a confidential informant, she said.
Mittelstadt was asked to complete six controlled buys but only completed two of the buys, took a cut of the money for the controlled buys, and stashed methamphetamine in her bra, Nodolf said.
Mittelstadt continues to not take responsibility for her actions, she said.
Beth Mittelstadt had a difficult childhood, but at the age of 44, that does not give her “a free pass to wreak havoc on the community,” Nodolf said, adding that Mittelstadt continues to blame others for her problems.
Discretion
O’Boyle, Mittelstadt’s attorney, urged Judge Smeltzer to use his discretion in sentencing Mittelstadt.
What the officers think should happen, or Nodolf or the Ferrys, is not important because it is ultimately up to the judge to decide upon a sentence, he said.
O’Boyle is Mittelstadt’s third attorney. Mittelstadt fired the two previous attorneys because she said they did not meet with her often enough and would not return her telephone calls.
O’Boyle said he found Mittelstadt to be well spoken, straight forward and intelligent.
And even though she has a history of substance abuse and mental health issues, she is well versed in current events, he said.
Mittelstadt has been in custody since last December, and after a year of sobriety, once she is stabilized, would be a candidate for outpatient treatment, O’Boyle said.
O’Boyle described Mittelstadt as a “different Beth today,” and said she was “not evil and not worthless to society.”
In November of last year, Mittelstadt was threatening to commit suicide, and in fact, there was an order for outpatient treatment on December 10. The incident at the apartment in Colfax happened eight days later, he said.
Threatening the police officers with the machete was about suicide. Beth was at the lowest point in her life and wanted to die, O’Boyle said.
Mittelstadt had a difficult childhood, was the victim of sexual abuse, and had alcoholic parents, he said.
Mittelstadt told the presentence investigator that she could not say she would not use drugs or alcohol again.
Nodolf said that it was an indication Mittelstadt was admitting she would go back to using drugs and alcohol whenever she could.
O’Boyle said Mittelstadt was being “brutally honest” when she said she could not say she would never again use drugs or alcohol.
O’Boyle argued that the police officers were not as endangered as the officers had reported.
O’Boyle also said Mittelstadt only had one felony conviction in Florida for smuggling cocaine and that the other convictions were misdemeanors and minor offenses.
O’Boyle asked that Judge Smeltzer stay the sentencing for Mittelstadt and place her on probation.
Nodolf pointed out that it was not correct to say Mittelstadt had only been convicted of one felony.
In 1998, Mittelstadt was charged in Dunn County with a felony count of issuing a worthless check in an amount greater than $1,000.
The felony charge eventually was dismissed, but as part of a plea agreement, Mittelstadt agreed to have it read in and considered when she was being sentenced for another crime.
Mittelstadt
Beth Mittelstadt attempted to take the opportunity to address the court.
Mittelstadt said she wanted to apologize to Carrie Anderson and Police Chief Anderson.
“I did not intend to hurt anyone,” she said.
Mittelstadt also apologized to Katy Bundy, who is in custody on separate charges but was in the courtroom for Mittelstadt’s sentencing.
“Katie, I didn’t burn your house down,” Mittelstadt said.
Mittelstadt had also written a letter to the court, but by the time she was ready to read it, had dissolved into tears and was too upset to read.
O’Boyle read Mittelstadt’s letter to the court.
In her letter, Mittelstadt said she did not want to go to prison, that she knew what she had done was not acceptable, that she did not want to hurt anyone, and that she only wanted to hurt herself.
“My purpose was to die,” Mittelstadt wrote.
Mittelstadt wrote that she had prayed to God and asked why she was here yet and also asked God to take care of Police Chief Anderson and that he not suffer any negative effects from the incident on December 18.
Mittelstadt said she wants to be clean and sober, that her family had turned away from her, that she was addicted to methamphetamine, and that she had been homeless, had asked for help but had been unable to get any help.
Mittelstadt wrote that she wants to “be a success story,” that she wants to “go from her worst ever to her best ever,” and that her life has been “a sad series of horror stories because of poor choices.”
Mittelstadt wrote that she does not want to live the life she has always lived and that she needs therapy for mental health issues.
“God kept me alive for a reason,” she wrote, adding that she does not know what that reason is, but “I know I need help.”
Police Chief Anderson shot Mittelstadt in the upper torso. The bullet struck her arm before striking her chest.
Judge Smeltzer
Judge Smeltzer first addressed the police officers in the courtroom.
Police officers go into their jobs knowing that circumstances and situations may not always go as planned, Judge Smeltzer said.
Part of a police officer’s responsibility is to know that circumstances can arise that he or she will have to deal with, he said.
The officers did the best they could and should not second guess themselves, Judge Smeltzer said.
Judge Smeltzer said he understood that Beth Mittelstadt’s life had been a series of horror stories and that because of pathetic conditions had allowed herself to enter into the world of drugs that are a scourge on western Wisconsin.
“The only way to reduce the scourge is to say ‘no more,’” Judge Smeltzer said.
Mittelstadt was intent on doing destruction with the machete and did not obey the police officers’ commands, he said.
Mittelstadt’s conduct appeared to be a threat to the police officers’ well being, and her conduct was reckless, Judge Smeltzer said.
Sergeant Kurtzhals did not create the situation. Police Chief Anderson did not create the situation. “You did it,” he said.
Train wreck
Judge Smeltzer said he saw a life “that’s been train wreck,” a life “that wasn’t pretty,” a child that was victimized.
As Mittelstadt grew older, she told herself it “was okay” to do criminal acts, to bring cocaine into the country, to do drugs and alcohol, he said, adding, “you are an addict.”
The court has a need to protect the public because “bad things happen when Beth is doing drugs and alcohol,” Judge Smeltzer said.
State statutes say the behavior must be punished, and that the need to punish the behavior overrides the rehabilitative potential, he said.
Judge Smeltzer said he believes Mittelstadt has the potential to be rehabilitated.
“I hope you get the treatment you need,” he said.
Mittelstadt wrote that “the happiest time of her life is yet to come,” and Judge Smeltzer said he hoped that meant Mittelstadt does not want to relive her past.
Judge Smeltzer sentenced Mittelstadt to 1.5 years of initial confinement and two years of probation for the criminal damage to property and to seven years of initial confinement and three years of probation for each of the counts of recklessly endangering safety and ordered the sentences to be served concurrently.
Judge Smeltzer also ordered Mittelstadt to pay court costs and DNA surcharges of $518 for each count and ordered her to pay $57,560 in restitution.
In addition, Judge Smeltzer ordered Mittelstadt to have no contact with Police Chief Anderson, his family or his residence, and no contact with Sergeant Kurtzhals, or Dean or Cheryl Ferry and their residence and no contact with drug dealers or users.
In addition, Mittelstadt was ordered to maintain absolute sobriety, was ordered to have no contact with any establishment that sells alcohol, and was ordered not to possess any weapons or firearms. Mittelstadt also is not allowed to vote in any elections.
After the hearing had been adjourned, District Attorney Nodolf said she was “disheartened by the sentence” and that “only seven years was disappointing.”
Law enforcement officers are here to protect the public, she said, adding that she was hoping for better justice for the police officers and for Katie Bundy.
Nodolf said she disagreed with the court’s sentence but that she respected Judge Smeltzer’s explanation.
