MARINETTE, WI (WTAQ-WLUK) — Peyton Carnot pleaded no contest Tuesday to second-degree reckless homicide for the drowning death of Jakob Bowerman, 13.
Sentencing is scheduled for Jan. 22. The state and defense will jointly recommend a seven-year prison term, though Judge James Morrison is not bound by that.
Carnot, 17, was charged along with Tylor Birch for the Aug. 20, 2025, event at a Marinette pier.
Competency issues have been raised in Birch’s case. He is scheduled to return to court Nov. 19, however, court records indicate the psychiatric reports requested may not be completed by that date.
According to the criminal complaint, Birch and Carnot initially told police all three males jumped into the water from the pier. Birch and Carnot told police Bowerman was struggling to swim and they tried to help him get out of the water, but couldn’t, so they called 911.
Carnot said after five minutes of being in the water, he climbed out to call 911 because Birch was trying to hold Bowerman above the water. Carnot confirmed that while they were in the air, leaping from the break wall, is when Bowerman allegedly told them that he could not swim. Carnot said he and Birch were trying to hold Bowerman up in the water, but they kept going underwater and were not able to get Bowerman back to the break wall.
“Law enforcement did further investigation and found out that is not what happened. That actually, Mr. Birch, along with the co-actor, had actually thrown the victim into the water after the victim has expressed he didn’t want to go in, especially there,” Morrow said at a previous court hearing. “He wanted to go in where it was shallower, and basically, they picked him up and threw him in.”
Morrow said Bowerman was fully clothed when he went into the water, including wearing his shoes and socks.
“Carnot told me that he grabbed Bowerman’s hands and [Birch] grabbed Bowerman’s feet and they swung him off the edge, into the water. Carnot and [Birch] then jumped in the water and attempted to help Bowerman out but they could not,” the complaint states.
“When this incident occurred, the weather conditions were not favorable for swimming — very wavy, windy,” Morrow said earlier. “It’s alleged in the facts, and I think pointed out by a witness, the three went to the end of Government Pier, toward the end of the ship channel, almost the beginning of where Green Bay starts. The water was choppy. Not good swimming weather at all.”
At a previous hearing, Morrow gave Birch and Carnot credit for trying help, but said their actions were still reckless. “That doesn’t change what they did to start this process, which resulted in the death of the victim,” she said.
Bowerman, who was taken to the hospital after being pulled from the water, died. An autopsy listed his cause of death as drowning.
