APPLETON, WI (WTAQ-WLUK) – Alexander Kraus wants a new trial for killing his grandparents six years ago, claiming his trial attorney made a crucial mistake which could have led to a different outcome, and that the jury’s ruling was a miscarriage of justice.
Kraus, now 23, is serving back-to-back life prison terms for the April 14, 2019, murders of Dennis and Letha Kraus at their Grand Chute home. He is eligible to ask for parole after serving 40 years in prison – 20 years for each murder.
Kraus pleaded guilty to the charges, but argued he suffered from a mental disease at the time of the crime. Although the jury ruled Kraus indeed had a mental disease, the panel found he still had the capacity to appreciate the wrongfulness of his actions.
Kraus told police he planned to shoot up his high school, and needed to kill his grandparents to get access to their guns. However, the motion filed Thursday notes Kraus “never explained how he thought he could kill both his grandparents, with his dad in route to the grandparents’ house, and still prevent anyone from knowing not only that he had taken the guns but also killed two people,” attorney Eric Bauer wrote.
Kraus’ attorney should have done more to show how the poorly-conceived plan supported the so-called insanity plea, the motion contends.
There should be a new trial “because his trial counsel was deficient for not properly cross-examining an officer regarding the ineffectuality of hiding the homemade bayonet/shotgun inside posterboard which prejudiced Kraus because the State relied significantly on refuting the ineffectuality of Kraus’ plan,” Bauer argued.
At trial, three experts testified that Kraus could not conform his actions to the law at the time of the murders. Bauer argues that in the interests of justice, that should be reconsidered by the court.
“Although Kraus may have known on some level before and after he committed the crime, the expert testimony and evidence at trial overwhelmingly showed that he was not capable of conforming his behavior at the time of the crime because he was suffering from delusional thoughts resulting in psychosis,” she wrote. “Because the evidence (as a whole) predominates heavily on the side of the defense, Kraus urges this Court to grant him a new trial because it will probably bring a different result and because it is probable that justice has miscarried.”
Prosecutors have not responded to the motion. No hearings have been scheduled.
Kraus is currently housed at the Waupun Correctional Institution, state records show.
