Wisconsin Rapids man pleads not guilty to 1985 stabbing death of Benny Scruggs

WISCONSIN RAPIDS − A 60-year-old man pleaded not guilty Tuesday to the 1985 stabbing death of 28-year-old Benny Scruggs of Wisconsin Rapids.

An attorney for Donald W. Maier, who is serving a prison sentence for an unrelated case, asked Wood County Circuit Judge Todd Wolf to redo a preliminary hearing held in September. A preliminary hearing is used to determine whether the prosecution has enough evidence to proceed with the case.

During his preliminary hearing, Maier, who had failed to cooperate with the Wisconsin Public Defender’s Office to determine his qualifications for a public defender, refused to come out of his prison cell. When the judge had a camera and computer to view and participate in the hearing set up outside Maier’s cell, Maier taped papers to the cell window and refused to listen to the hearing.

Defense Attorney Timothy Hogan said a preliminary hearing is a critical stage of the felony court proceedings. Wolf did not go through the questioning needed for Maier to give up his right to an attorney prior to the hearing, Hogan said. He asked that Wolf hold a second preliminary hearing.

Maier refused to cooperate with the judges during his initial appearance and his preliminary hearing, Wolf said. Wisconsin Assistant Attorney General Robert Kaiser Jr., who is prosecuting the Wood County case, contacted the Public Defender’s Office to try and arrange for an attorney, but Maier refused to answer the questions, Wolf said.

Wolf said he did everything possible to give Maier the opportunity to participate in the preliminary hearing, but Maier would not cooperate. Wolf said he did not want to reward Maier’s behavior by giving him a second preliminary hearing. Wolf denied Hogan’s motion for the second hearing.

Maier sat quietly beside Hogan during Tuesday’s hearing, nodding at some of his attorney’s comments and answering questions when Hogan asked for a few minutes to talk to Maier. The two appeared remotely from the Wisconsin Resource Center in Oshkosh.

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According to the criminal complaint, Scruggs and his wife went out to drink at Lance’s Never Inn the night of July 16, 1985. The babysitter they hired to look after their young son told police the couple were in an unusually good mood when they got home that night.

At 3:01 a.m. July 17, 1985, a neighbor called police and said Scruggs was moaning, bleeding and full of blood, according to the complaint. Scruggs’ wife, Yvonne, had called the neighbor to ask for help after she found her husband bleeding in their bed.

Yvonne Scruggs told police she and Benny had gone to bed, and he fell asleep. She got up when she heard their son crying and went into her son’s bedroom, according to the complaint. She said she stayed in the boy’s bedroom for about 10 minutes but then something didn’t feel right, according to the complaint.

Yvonne Scruggs said she walked into the kitchen and saw a shovel leaning against her refrigerator and an open door. She said she became alarmed because she was in the habit of always locking the trailer door before she went to bed at night. She walked into the bedroom and found Benny Scruggs lying in a pool of blood, according to the complaint.

A coroner declared Benny Scruggs dead at the scene. A forensic pathologist determined someone had stabbed him once in the chest. The pathologist, Dr. Robert Huntington III, who has since died, described the murder weapon as “one hell of a big knife, like a butcher knife,” according to the complaint.

Maier told police and witnesses that he had an affair with Yvonne Scruggs prior to the murder, and she had told him to get rid of Benny Scruggs if Maier wanted to be with her, according to the complaint. Maier denied being the one who killed Benny Scruggs.

Maier was convicted by a jury in 2006 of threatening a Wood County judge. He was convicted in 2012 of stalking some of the jury members who convicted him in 2006. While in prison, he talked to other inmates about the Benny Scruggs case and about how he had stabbed Benny Scruggs.

Hogan entered Maier’s not guilty plea to the crime during the Tuesday morning appearance. Wolf set the case for a status conference in April.

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.

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This article originally appeared on Wisconsin Rapids Daily Tribune: Wisconsin Rapids man pleads not guilty to 1985 stabbing death