State v. Dean

Decision Date10 April 1975
Docket NumberNo. S,S
Citation227 N.W.2d 712,67 Wis.2d 513
PartiesSTATE of Wisconsin, Respondent, v. Douglas DEAN, Appellant. tate 153.
CourtWisconsin Supreme Court

Wm. M. Coffey and Dennis P. Coffey, Milwaukee, for appellant.

R. W. Warren, Atty. Gen., David J. Becker, Asst. Atty. Gen., Madison, for respondent.

DAY, Justice.

On November 12, 1971, following a jury trial in which he had been conviction of five counts of first-degree murder, a judgment of conviction was entered against Douglas Dean (defendant). He was sentenced to five consecutive life terms in the Wisconsin State Prison. His appeal from the judgment of conviction has previously been dismissed by this court as being untimely under order dated April 24, 1974. This appeal is from the order denying the defendant's motions for a new trial and from the order denying his motion for modification of sentence.

At approximately 12:15 p.m. on Monday, July 19, 1971, the pastor of St. George's Church found the defendant sitting on the back stairs of the church located in the town of Wilson, Sheboygan county, Wisconsin, approximately six miles from the city of Sheboygan. The pastor made inquiries of the defendant, but he was unresponsive and had a blank expression on his face. The pastor called the sheriff's department for assistance and a deputy sheriff responded and went to the church where he found the defendant sitting on the rear steps with his head down having difficulty breathing. An ambulance was called and the defendant was taken to St. Nicholas Hospital in Sheboygan. When asked if he had been in an accident, the defendant shook his head. He was admitted to the hospital at approximately 1:00 p.m. on July 19, 1971. His identity was determined from his wallet and attempts were made to contact his mother Mrs. Hildegarde Dean, with whom the defendant lived, at 1149 Cherry Lane, Sheboygan. When no response was received, the hospital personnel called the defendant's married sister who also lived in Sheboygan. She was informed that the defendant was in the hospital and of their inability to contact his mother. She then proceeded to the mother's home where she arrived at approximately 2:20 p.m. and entered through an unlocked front door. She found her mother's body lying in bed in her bedroom in the southeast corner of the house and noticed a large amount of blood on and around her mother's head and on the pillow. The police were summoned and the first officer arrived at the scene at approximately 2:35 p.m. The officer went to the bedroom, observed Mrs. Dean's body with two gunshot wounds in the right side of her face. The door to the defendant's bedroom located across the hall was open. There were two beds in the room, neither of which appeared to have been slept in. On one of the beds, the officer observed an empty cardboard carton for a .22 caliber rifle and also an emptly .22 cartridge box. After discovering her mother's body, the defendant's sister contacted the family attorney, advised him that her mother had been found dead and that her brother was in the hospital and incoherent; she asked him to go to the hospital to represent her brother. The attorney proceeded to the hospital and refused to permit the defendant to be questioned because of his condition. In the course of the investigation the police found that the defendant was a very close friend of one Ann Rammer and her family who lived about a block away from the Dean residence. Ann and the defendant had been going together for approximately two years and the defendant was known to have spent a lot of time at the Rammer home. Mrs. Rammer, a widow, lived with her children, John aged 16 years, Paul aged 11, Thomas aged 10, and Ann, who at the time was attending the University of Wisconsin in Madison. The police were unable to contact Mrs. Rammer and then contacted some of her relatives and met them at the home at approximately 8:10 p.m. on the evening of July 19, 1971. Officers from the Sheboygan police department entered the Rammer residence. Upon glancing up the stairs, the police inspector saw the body of a small boy lying on the landing, covered with blood; the boy was Paul Rammer, who had been shot through the right eye and through the middle of the front of the neck. He then proceeded to the first-floor bedroom where he found the body of Mrs. Naomi Rammer lying in bed; she had also been shot in the head and neck. He then discovered a .22 caliber rifle lying on the floor in the living room. He proceeded upstairs past the body of Paul and discovered the body of Thomas Rammer, aged 10, lying in the hall; he had multiple gunshot wounds in his right arm, right chest, neck and face. He then entered another bedroom on the second floor and found the body of John Rammer, aged 16, who had been shot in the left arm, neck, and head. Empty cartridge cases and cartridge cartons were found on the premises near the bodies.

On July 22, 1971, a complaint was issued charging the defendant with five counts of first-degree murder and he was placed under arrest in his hospital room in St. Nicholas Hospital. His trial began on November 1, 1971, and lasted for eight days. The family attorney did not represent the defendant at the trial. The defendant was represented by appointed counsel whose services had been requested by the defendant. This attorney was assisted by two other attorneys from his firm. The state was represented by the Sheboygan county district attorney and a special prosecutor appointed at the request of the district attorney.

Testimony adduced at the trial revealed that the defendant had graduated from a Sheboygan high school in June of 1970. Since then he had worked occasionally as a drummer in a local band but had not had any job for some period of time. In September of 1970 the defendant enrolled in the Lakeshore Technical Institute but dropped out of school in February of 1971. He was 19 years of age and lived at home with his mother. In addition to his sister, he had an older brother who was away at school at the time. The defendant's mother, who was widowed in May of 1970, was regularly employed at Wigwam Mills in Sheboygan. She did not drive and the defendant used to take her to work in her car. The testimony showed that the defendant's relationship with his mother had been deteriorating; they argued a lot and his mother threatened to have him committed. He told people that he hated his mother. He was in need of money and he had no sources of income and often argued with his mother about the Social Security money which he felt he was entitled to receive. A few days before the murders, he had returned to Sheboygan from a visit with Ann Rammer in Madison and stated he was going to ask his mother one more time for his Social Security money. He also participated in arguments between Ann Rammer and her mother concerning money for Ann's college expenses. He had a close relationship with the Rammer family. The testimony showed that Mrs. Rammer had paid his tuition to the Lakeshore Technical Institute. He was present during discussions of the Rammer family financial matters and was aware that the Rammer estate was worth about $100,000; he also knew that a trust fund set up for the Rammer children was to be distributed when the youngest child reached 30 and that his mother's estate was valued in excess of $40,000.

It was established at the trial that the rifle found in the living room of the Rammer home had been purchased by the defendant in May of 1970 and that the various cartridges strewn around the Rammer and Dean residences had been fired from that rifle. A classmate who attended the technical institute with the defendant testified that she had a friendly relationship with him and he used to confide in her. At one time he told her he wanted to set up a target range in the basement of his home so that he could shoot his mother when she came down to the basement and then claim it was an accident. Another time he told her he had thought of a way to get a lot of money and said that some night when his mother was sleeping he would go into her room and shoot her and then go over to the Rammer home and shoot Mrs. Rammer. The defendant told the witness that his mother and Mrs. Rammer had a lot of money that would go either to him or to Ann Rammer if they should die and that though he said he would probably be caught he expected he would only be imprisoned for around ten years.

Testimony by a pathologist showed that death of all five victims had occurred between late on the 18th to early on the 19th of July and that four of the victims had died instantaneously and one within a few minutes of being shot. A next-door neighbor to the Rammers testified that at about 5:00 a.m. on July 19th he heard a loud cracking sound and other noise that sounded like a whizzing bullet. Another neighbor of the Rammers testified that approximately 7:45 to 7:50 o'clock on the morning of July 19 she followed a car she identified as being the Rammer family station wagon for a distance of two blocks as she was coming to her home after taking her husband to work. The vehicle turned into the Rammer driveway as she drove on past. She said the car had only one occupant but she did not recognize who it was. Another neighbor testified that at approximately the same time she was in her yard doing yard work. Her house was immediately to the north of the Rammer home and she saw the defendant walk from the front of the Rammer home across her lawn, headed in a northerly direction toward his own home. She testified that the defendant crossed within 50 feet of her and was walking with his hands in his pockets, his head down, and walking very rapidly. She recognized him because she had seen him at the Rammer home almost daily.

A witness from the state crime laboratory testified that she had examined the clothes of the defendant which he was wearing at the time he was taken to the hospital and she found no blood stains on...

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  • Dean v. Israel
    • United States
    • U.S. District Court — Eastern District of Wisconsin
    • June 4, 1981
    ...Rammer; and his girl friend's three brothers. The convictions were affirmed on appeal to the Wisconsin Supreme Court. State v. Dean, 67 Wis.2d 513, 227 N.W.2d 712 (1975). The evidence presented at trial is described in detail in that decision. See 67 Wis.2d at 517-526, 227 N.W.2d 712. Prese......
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    ...evidence to sustain the conviction. Sheehan, 65 Wis.2d at 767-768, 223 N.W.2d 600. This approach was followed in State v. Dean, 67 Wis.2d 513, 227 N.W.2d 712 (1975), cert. denied, 423 U.S. 1074, 96 S.Ct. 858, 47 L.Ed.2d 84 (1976), which involved the admission of inadmissible hearsay evidenc......
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    ...only the defendants to change venue, the state argues that nevertheless the statute must be read in light of State v. Dean, 67 Wis.2d 513, 227 N.W.2d 712 (1975). The critical language of that case is found at 67 Wis.2d page 526, 227 N.W.2d page "The first issue raised by the defendant is th......
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