Jordan Feemster was sentenced to eight years in prison Aug. 25 for the attack on his then-girlfriend in May 2024.
Feemster is currently serving a 5 1/2-year sentence at Kettle Moraine Correctional Institution in Glenbeulah and is eligible to be released from prison in January 2030. The defense requested that Feemster’s sentence in Shawano County be concurrent with the sentence he’s serving, and Circuit Court Judge Katherine Sloma agreed.
The district attorney’s office was recommending a sentence of 8-10 years, while defense attorney Trisha Fritz was recommending a sentence of 5-7 years. A pre-sentencing investigation ordered by the court surprisingly recommended Feemster only be imprisoned 4-5 years.
Sloma credited 117 days in jail time that Feemster already served when delivering the sentence.
In June, Feemster was found guilty of two counts of first-degree recklessly endangering safety with the use of a dangerous weapon and one count of criminal damage to property. One count of battery was dismissed but read into the record.
Feemster was charged after an incident May 24, 2024, at the Shawano Square Apartments on East Richmond Street. According to the criminal complaint, the victim in the incident was getting ready to go out when Feemster asked for her phone passcode. Feemster saw a message from a co-worker and then pushed her into the bathtub and hit her on the left side of her head. After dragging the victim from the bathroom to the bedroom, Feemster went to the kitchen and grabbed a knife, and then he put the knife to her side and neck, according to the complaint.
The victim got out of the house and jumped into her vehicle, but Feemster chased her to the Shawano County Sheriff’s Department, where she ran inside for help and he fled, according to the complaint. He was later arrested in Dodge County when law enforcement caught up with him, and he tried attacking the arresting officers.
At the time of the arrest, Feemster claimed his girlfriend was on drugs, Shawano-Menominee County District Attorney Greg Parker said during his sentencing recommendation. Test results did not indicate any substance use, he said.
“We see blood tests and urine tests. They will indicate whether there is any level of alcohol or if there is any level of controlled substance or if there is any level of what they’re looking for in terms of treating a person,” Parker said. “In the context of these medical records, there is nothing indicating, that I can see, anything that would show there was any evidence of the use of a controlled substance.”
This is the third time Feemster has been found guilty for crimes related to domestic violence. Two other cases in 2014 and 2018 in Brown County resulted in guilty pleas.
Parker said he was recommending the higher sentence because of the continuous cycle Feemster finds himself in. Even when Feemster tries to help people, he winds up being the toxic agitator in the relationship.
“This is a beating that (the victim) took from him, threatened with a dangerous weapon,” Parker said.
A continued pattern of bad behavior makes him a risk to people in the community, according to Parker, especially women. He added that he’s been given opportunities for treatment and counseling, but he’s squandered them every time.
“It appears that he demands respect from these women that he’s assaulted in the past,” Parker said. “If he has any sense of a problem with them seeing someone else or if they aggravate him in some manner, she pays the price.”
Fritz disputed Parker’s claim of squandering treatment options, noting that he was sentenced to treatment in the second Brown County case, but the COVID-19 pandemic hit in 2020, which meant that he was not able to complete his one-on-one counseling when the government ordered the lockdowns.
“He knows it’s not something that’s OK,” Fritz said. “It’s something he wants to fix about himself. He’s not here making excuses that ‘she did this,’ or ‘I had the right to do this.’”
Fritz added that Feemster has been in counseling at Dodge Correctional since September 2024, so he is receiving the help he needs.
Fritz also disputed the photos of the crime scene, saying that the blood in those photos belonged to Feemster, as the victim only had superficial cuts. She noted that Feemster believed at the time that his girlfriend was high on cocaine due to knowing that one of the people on her phone was a drug dealer.
Feemster’s anger issues are not directed at all women, according to Fritz. She noted that her meetings with Feemster have never turned violent, and there is no record of complaints involving Feemster’s mother or daughter, the latter of which he hopes to see graduate high school in 2032.
Given the length of many court cases in Shawano County, with many of them going three years or more before there’s a resolution, Fritz believed that Feemster’s decision to take responsibility should be a factor in the length of his sentence.
Sloma did not see it that way, noting that this was the third time Feemster was being punished for a lack of impulse control and threatening someone with a weapon. She said that if Feemster doesn’t learn and work on his basic needs, he will continue to repeat his dangerous behavior.
“I can’t tell you not to date someone,” Sloma said. “I can’t tell you to not have a relationship. If you don’t know how to make a healthy choice in that regard, the hamster wheel will just keep spinning.”
lpulaski@newmedia-wi.com
