CHIPPEWA FALLS — A Bloomer man convicted of aggravated battery in a June 2022 domestic abuse case, where a woman suffered two broken vertebrae and may never walk again, has been sentenced to serve a three-year prison sentence.
Brett M. Korthof, 35, 16887 190th St., entered a no contest plea in December in Chippewa County Court to one count of aggravated battery-domestic abuse. At a sentencing hearing Wednesday, Judge Benjamin Lane ordered the prison sentence, along with three years of extended supervision. Korthof also must pay $37,775 in restitution and surcharges, plus another $638 in court costs.
Since the incident, Korthof has been incarcerated on a $25,000 cash bond. Lane did give Korthof credit for 383 days already served, so Korthof has less than two years remaining on his sentence. Korthof must complete an alcohol assessment treatment course and take a psychiatric evaluation. He cannot have any contact with the victim, her family or any of their residences.
The victim spoke in court prior to sentencing. She is still using a motorized wheelchair and has been told she may not be able to walk again.
According to the criminal complaint, police were called to a campground located in Chippewa County on June 25, 2022, for a report of a woman who had fallen inside a camper and had neck and back pain. Deputies arrived and spoke with the woman, who was still lying down on the floor and said she was unable to move her legs or arms. The woman later told EMS personnel that Korthof had pushed her.
The officers wrote that Korthof was “visibly intoxicated” and he claimed she had fallen when they were walking to the bed, and she fell.
Later at a hospital, the victim told police that Korthof had “shoved her pretty hard with both hands, causing her to fall.” When she woke up, she could not feel anything.
“Medical records show as a result of the incident, (the victim) suffered a fracture dislocation of C5-C6 vertebrae, neurogenic shock secondary to trauma, a lesion at fifth level of spinal cord, and contusions to right hand and left foot.”
The victim had surgery to fuse and repair the spine, but it left her legs paralyzed, with limited mobility in her arms, the complaint reads.
Korthof was previously convicted of a battery that occurred in May 2020; he was initially placed on probation for a year, but that was revoked and he was ordered to serve a one-year jail sentence in November 2021.
Court records show Korthof also got in a fight in the jail on Oct. 27; charges of battery by a prisoner, attempted strangulation and suffocation, and violating intuitions’ laws, were read-in and dismissed.
In 2017, Korthof was convicted of a felony-level charge of possessing marijuana, and in 2006, a misdemeanor-level charge of possessing cocaine.
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