By Taylor J. Hale
Reporter

Huettl sentencing: Child abuse, meth possession and disorderly conduct

STEVENS POINT — Amherst resident, Matthew Huettl, charged with reckless injury involving a 4-month-old child, possession of methamphetamine on two counts and disorderly conduct on two counts stemming back from 2017, was sentenced in the Wisconsin Circuit Court system on Feb. 5 in Stevens Point.

His mother, father and brother were in attendance in the courtroom.

“Matthew is the victim,” Huettl’s mother said in court during her victim impact statement. “He is a victim of the disease of addiction.”

Taylor Hale Photo

Huettl has a long list of criminal activities spanning over ten years. During a prior stint in a correctional facility, the offender fractured another inmates skull during a confrontation. The suspect has also threatened to kill police officers and himself, along with his significant other and her child on a documented occasion.

Court officials see Huettl as a threat to society.

Huettl’s sentencings are:

16CF421 Count 1 – Second Degree Reckless Injury (involving an infant) as a Repeat Offender: Determinant sentence of six years in the Wisconsin prison system. First three years are of the initial period of incarceration followed by three years of extended supervision. The court gave a cumulative credit of 353 days.

16CF479 Count 2 – Disorderly Conduct/Domestic Abuse as a Repeat Offender: Six-month jail term, concurrent with the sentence in Count 1.

17CF245 Count 1 – Disorderly Conduct/Domestic Abuse as a Repeat Offender: Six-month jail sentence concurrent to time in 16CF479, plus a $100 domestic abuse surcharge.

17CF595 Count 1 – Possession of Methamphetamine: Three-year term of imprisonment. The first year of initial confinement with two years of extended supervision. Consecutive sentence with the previous files. Open eligibility for the Substance Abuse program, not eligible for the Challenge program.

18CF113 Count 2 – Possession of Methamphetamine: Three-year determinant prison term with one year of the initial period of confinement and two years of extended supervision. Concurrent with the prior methamphetamine charge.

Judge Thomas Eagon presided over the case. He felt that Huettl’s “significant and uncontrollable addiction” was only a single factor in the suspect’s history of malevolent crimes.

“Injury to a 4-month-old, threatening harm with a knife to a domestic partner and the incident at the jail indicates that society does need to be protected from you until we can get all your criminogenic needs addressed,” Eagon said during the hearing.

Huettl, 27, has struggled with drug addiction since the age of 18. He has been in and out of rehab centers multiple times but recently completed a stay at NovaCare Rehabilitation in Oshkosh as recently as August of 2018. The court recognized his change of character, and his family also noted a recent shift in demeanor.

The mother of the abused infant said the child is making a “miraculous recovery” from the trauma. She also told officials the child is experiencing “night terrors” after the mistreatment. No life-long concerns are expected to affect the youth, according to family members.