Defendant's friend shares details from night of Stevens Point beating death on Day 2 of trial

STEVENS POINT − A friend of a 20-year-old Rothschild man charged with being involved in the beating death of a 61-year-old man March 15 in Stevens Point took the stand Tuesday for the prosecution.

Arlin O. Sangster, 20, of Rothschild, pleaded not guilty July 17 to being a party to the crimes of first-degree reckless homicide in the death of Donald Mitchell Jr. and misdemeanor theft.

Daemon Kitzrow was with Sangster and his two codefendants the night Mitchell was beat up. Kitzrow said Sangster was a good friend. Kitzrow said he also was good friends with one of Sangster's codefendants, Christian J. Emerson, 19, of Wausau.

Emerson entered a not guilty plea April 4 to being a party to the crime of first-degree reckless homicide of an elder person. A five-day trial for Emerson is scheduled to begin Jan. 27.

Kitzrow said he was at a house in Wausau with Sangster, Emerson and some other people on March 15. He said the third codefendant, Brandon L. Boehm, 20, of Wausau, showed up later in the day.

Boehm has an arraignment scheduled for Sept. 3 for being a party to the crime of first-degree reckless homicide of an elder person.

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The four men, along with three others, decided to go to Icon, a nightclub in Stevens Point. Emerson drove his car and Kitzrow, Boehm and Sangster all rode with him. The three others drove down separately in a pickup.

When the group got to Stevens Point, they parked in a municipal lot behind the Cobblestone Hotel. All seven walked to Icon, but Kitzrow, Boehm, Sangster and Emerson weren't allowed in because they were underage. The group decided to go get pizza at Polito's, which was in walking distance.

When the four got back to Emerson's car, Emerson realized he had left his keys on the table at Polito's, Kitzrow said. Boehm said he wanted to go "car shopping," and Kitzrow wanted no part of it, so he volunteered to go back for the keys. Car shopping is checking any vehicles with open doors for things worth stealing. Kitzrow said he didn't think Sangster and Emerson wanted to join Boehm.

Kitzrow said one person was in the car when he got back with the keys, but he couldn't remember whether it was Sangster or Emerson. When Defense Attorney Greg Venturini showed Kitzrow a transcript of a police interview he had previously done, he found he had said it was Sangster in the car.

Kitzrow said Emerson came back to the car and the three were all inside, with Kitzrow in the passenger-side backseat when they saw Boehm coming toward the car being chased by a man. The man was yelling at Boehm and Boehm was trying to calm him down, Kitzrow said. Sangster and Emerson yelled at the man through the car windows, saying there were three men there and asking the man if he really wanted to fight them.

Boehm and the older man went around Emerson's car several times and the man wouldn't calm down, so Sangster and Emerson got out, Kitzrow said. The man was facing Boehm and Sangster and Emerson was behind him. Kitzrow didn't get out of the car.

Kitzrow said Sangster threw the first punch, but it was Boehm who was doing most of the hitting. He said Sangster lowered the man to the ground and then dragged him out of the way.

Kitzrow said the men all got in the car and drove away. Kitzrow said he didn't remember anyone taking video of Mitchell or yelling at him, but he remembered seeing the video on social media later.

Venurini didn't finish his questioning of Kitzrow on Tuesday, so he will take the stand again early Wednesday.

Witnesses share details from night of beating

Two people who saw part of the altercation between the three men and Mitchell also took the stand Tuesday. McKenzie Mallek said she and her friend, Jakobe Chatman, went to Polito's for pizza that same night and took their pizza to the Daisy Lounge to eat it in a small outside garden with tables.

The two had barely started eating their pizza when they heard a commotion, Mallek said. She remembers hearing an older man yelling, "What did you take from my car?"

Mallek said she then heard a younger voice say there were three of them there and asking the older man if he really wanted to mess with them. She said the older man kept repeating the question and demanding they return what was taken.

Chatman testified that he tried to get Mallek to ignore the yelling. He said he didn't want them to get involved with what was going on. But, both of them said they moved to where they could see what was happening.

Mallek said she saw punches being thrown. She then saw the older man down on the ground. Mallek said she saw at least one of the men kicking the man on the ground.

Neither Mallek nor Chatman could say exactly how many men were fighting with Mitchell. They both thought it was three or four. Neither could give good descriptions of the men.

Technology helps find suspects in homicide

Stevens Point Police Lt. Justin Klein testified Tuesday about how they found the three defendants. Stevens Point participates in a system called Flock, Klein said. Cameras located around the city record license plates as they go by. The video creates a searchable database of vehicles that go by cameras in the Flock network.

Klein said he had a partial license plate from a grey Nissan believed to be involved in the incident from pictures and videos taken by both city and private cameras in the municipal parking lot area. He was able to enter the partial license plate into the Flock system and find Emerson's car.

Stevens Point Detective Kent Lepak, who was the lead on the case, showed video of the fight from various business cameras located around the parking lot. Although the videos didn't allow for identification of Boehm, Emerson and Sangster, it did show them walking down the streets and it showed the fight from a distance.

Lepak said search warrants were served at each of the men's homes. Officers were able to find clothing that matched the clothing the men in the videos and pictures were wearing.

Contact Karen Madden at 715-345-2245 or kmadden@gannett.com . Follow her on Twitter @KMadden715, Instagram @kmadden715 or Facebook at www.facebook.com/karen.madden.33 .

This article originally appeared on Wisconsin Rapids Daily Tribune: Defendant's friend shares details from night of Stevens Point beating death on Day 2 of trial