David Heiden (Photo source: Wisconsin Department of Corrections)
MANITOWOC, WI (WTAQ-WLUK) — The state appeals court rejected an argument by a man serving life in prison for the shaking death of a 2-year-old boy that he should be allowed to withdraw his plea because his attorney didn’t discuss lesser-included offenses that may have been available.
David Heiden, 33, pleaded guilty to physical abuse of a child-repeated acts causing death for the April 2019 death of Gilbert Grant II. He was sentenced to life in prison, and can first ask for parole after serving 25 years.
Heiden claimed that had he known “there were options such as lesser included offenses,” he would not have entered the plea that he did. The circuit court rejected his motion, and the case was appealed.
In the eight-page decision filed Wednesday, the court rejected Heiden’s arguments.
“While Heiden insists the recollections that he testified to that counsel did not discuss lesser included offenses with him ‘make[] sense,’ in large part due to the mandatory life sentence at stake with the Class A felony he pled to, the court’s credibility determinations are sufficiently supported by the testimony that we do not disturb them. Thus, with the court’s finding that Heiden failed to show that counsel did not discuss lesser included offenses with Heiden intact, Heiden’s appeal falls,” the decision states.
Police were called to a Two Rivers apartment, where Grant II was not breathing. The child had multiple injuries, according to a police probable cause document.
Heiden said he spanked the victim, “then picked victim up by his sides with his hands around the victim’s torso and shook the victim with force while yelling at him to go to sleep,” the document states.
The child’s mother, Rena Santiago, was sentenced to 15 years in prison for her role in the case, while Bianca Bush was sentenced to seven years in prison.
The three who were convicted all lived in the same apartment. Besides the fatal incident, the three physically abused the boy on multiple occasions, according to court documents.
Comments