SPARTA, Wis. — A jury delivered a guilty verdict against a 39-year-old Milwaukee man involved in a June homicide in Sparta. Michael R. Hartmann was charged with an accomplice, Eric Borges, 32, Milwaukee, of robbing Anthony Koopman in front of his house during a drug deal. Hartmann then shot Koopman. The. accomplice Borges, meanwhile, is being held on a $1 million cash bond on several charges, including murder, delivery of methamphetamine and harboring a felon. A murder charge against a third suspect, Damara R. Skenandore-Medina, 29, Milwaukee, was dropped after she pleaded guilty to delivery of meth and harboring and aiding a felon. She has yet to be sentenced today.
Verbatim
Kevin Croninger, prosecutor: “The jury’s verdicts demonstrate that the people of Monroe County will not tolerate the type of violence that occurs in large urban centers in relation to the trafficking of controlled substances. When that type of violence does occur in our community it will not be tolerated.”
What happened
Authorities responded to a shooting at 420 South Court Street shortly after 1 a.m. and found Koopman wounded. He died at the hospital. A witness, Alfred Dorn, 51, told the jury that he and Koopman had entered a car after Dorn had arranged a drug buy for Koopman. The two, who thought they would be buying three ounces of methamphetamine, were in the back seat with Hartmann. A third person, Damara Skenandore-Medina, was driving. Borges was in the front passenger seat. Dorn said Hartmann kept asking where the money was but no one was producing the drugs and Koopman got out of the car. Dorn said he then heard a gunshot. Koopman, although wounded, took off running. Dorn jumped out of the vehicle and ducked down. The car sped away.