Man gets 15 years for slashing preacher's throat
Photo 
Martin Nelson
Photo
David Reddy
ELKHORN — Martin Nelson had a choice. He could end his live-in relationship with local preacher Michael Obinger or become his lover.
Nelson responded by slashing Obinger's throat as he slept in his La Grange home Aug. 20, 2009.
More than a year later, Walworth County Judge David Reddy on Tuesday sentenced Nelson to 15 years in prison, saying the incident "was a vicious, particularly life-threatening crime."
Nelson hid the preacher's cell phone and disabled the house telephone. He pretended to summon help for the injured Obinger by calling 911 on a dead telephone, according to Walworth County court records.
Nelson, 23, had developed "a pattern of violent activity in a relative short time," based on his attempt to stab a boyfriend, Scott A. Hayes, in Whitewater about two months earlier, Reddy said in court.
Nelson's sentence was for attempted homicide. He pled guilty to the crime in June. The felony charge against him for attempting to stab Hayes was dismissed but considered at the sentencing.
In court, Nelson apologized to Obinger for the embarrassment the case had brought to him. Nelson expressed remorse and accepted responsibility for the crime.
Obinger spoke on Nelson's behalf. The preacher told Reddy he does not believe Nelson intended to kill him.
Obinger said he didn't lose enough blood from the cut to even feel faint, and he was healthy enough to preach in church the next Sunday.
"My concern is that the outcome of this is that he gets some help for his mental health," Obinger said.
Assistant District Attorney Diane Donohoo, chief prosecutor of the case, argued that Obinger's reaction was typical of domestic abuse victims who minimize injuries to ease punishment of their partners.
"He (Nelson) took a knife, sliced his (Obinger's) throat and intended to kill him," Donohoo said. "This is not a about the mental health of Michael Nelson. It's about the criminal intent."
Donohoo asked Reddy to sentence Nelson to 40 years in prison followed by 20 years of extended supervision.
"This is a romantic relationship. This is a relationship that wasn't working out," Donohoo said. "The victim wanted to have sexual relations. The defendant did not."
Donohoo mentioned an episode in which a 13-year-old Nelson poured mercury into his foster father's food but sickened a child who ate it instead.
She called Nelson "a very frightening human being."
Nelson's defense lawyer, Stephen Kramer, questioned the accuracy of Donohoo's portrayal of the foster care incident.
Kramer urged Reddy to heed Obinger's words.
When crime victims come to court screaming for revengeful sentences, they usually capture attention.
If victims ask for leniency because they believe that defendants can be salvaged, they are branded as trying to minimize crimes, Kramer said.
"He (Obinger) sees that there is redemption in Martin."
Reddy did not follow Donohoo's sentence request, saying he thought Obinger's supportive statement, Nelson's cooperation with investigators and his remorse for committing the crime were mitigating circumstances.
Reddy said he believes there are supportive services in prison for mental health issues.
The judge placed Nelson on 15 years of extended supervision after his prison release, which is similar to parole.
Kramer argued that Nelson's mental health issues were cast from the moment he was a baby. During his first two years of life, Nelson suffered burns and bruises from an abusive parent who deserted him at a hospital.
Nelson's young life was full of sexual and emotional abuse, Kramer said.
In summer 2009, Nelson's world was coming apart. He felt manipulated by Obinger's sexual advances, and his relationship with Hayes was falling apart, Kramer said.
Nelson even drank mercury the evening of the throat slashing, thinking it would kill him, Kramer said.
