KENOSHA, Wis. — A Kenosha County jury acquitted Wayne A. Claudio Jr., 27, of Chicago, of seven charges Thursday after a three-day jury trial stemming from allegations that he violently attacked a woman inside her Kenosha apartment. Claudio left court without a single guilty verdict after jurors rejected all five felony charges against him along with two misdemeanors.
Claudio was represented by Kenosha defense attorney Robert Keller during the trial before Kenosha County Circuit Court Judge Jason Rossell. Assistant District Attorney Morgan Millar prosecuted the case for the Kenosha County District Attorney’s Office. The state called the woman and three Kenosha police officers before resting its case, and Claudio later testified in his own defense.
(www.rkellerlaw.com)
The case dated back to Nov. 16, 2024, when Kenosha police were dispatched shortly after midnight to an apartment on 15th Street for a reported battery. According to the criminal complaint, the woman told police she and Claudio were co-workers who had gone out for sushi and drinks before returning to her apartment.
The woman alleged Claudio refused to leave after she asked him to go, smashed her cellphone against a bathroom sink, threw it into a toilet and placed her Apple Watch under running water. She further alleged Claudio threw her to the ground several times, punched her in the face and later choked her to the point that she could not breathe and briefly lost consciousness.
Police reported observing redness and swelling beneath the woman’s right eye, redness near her throat and chest, a small cut on her lower lip and redness on her forearm. Her shirt was also reportedly torn.
Claudio gave police a substantially different account.
He told officers the woman became upset over another woman and began acting aggressively toward him. Claudio said she grabbed and ripped his shirt before swinging at him with closed fists and striking him twice. He admitted hitting her once with what he described as a “hammer fist,” but told police he did so after she attacked him.
Claudio also told police that after the altercation, the woman said she was going to call law enforcement. When she could not use her damaged phone, Claudio said he gave her his own phone so she could call police. Officers reported seeing no injuries on Claudio, although his shirt was ripped.
(File Photo by Kevin Mathewson, Kenosha County Eye)
The jury began deliberations Wednesday morning following closing arguments and continued into Thursday. Court records show jurors submitted numerous questions to Rossell and reviewed portions of the evidence before returning to the courtroom at approximately 4:32 p.m. Thursday.
The jury found Claudio not guilty of criminal trespass to a dwelling, criminal damage to property, two felony counts of false imprisonment, felony intimidation of a victim, strangulation and suffocation, and substantial battery. Rossell entered judgments of acquittal on all seven counts.
Those seven charges are finished and cannot be retried.
The jury did not reach verdicts on the two least-serious remaining charges, misdemeanor battery and disorderly conduct. Rossell declared a mistrial on those two counts after jurors reported they could not reach unanimous verdicts. The state could seek another trial only on those two misdemeanor charges.
Rossell scheduled an Oct. 14 hearing in the case. Court records state defense motions concerning double jeopardy are due by Oct. 5.
Whether the Kenosha County District Attorney’s Office will actually seek a second jury trial over the two remaining misdemeanors has not yet been decided. A retrial appears unlikely, particularly after prosecutors were unable to obtain a guilty verdict on any of the nine charges presented to the jury.
Kenosha County Eye contacted Keller for comment following the verdict. Keller said he would like to comment on the outcome but unfortunately could not because the case remains open.
The case technically remains open because prosecutors have not yet decided whether to retry Claudio on the two unresolved misdemeanor counts.
District Attorney Xavier Solis has previously declined to retry a case following a hung jury. In that case, involving a sexual-assault charge, Solis ultimately chose not to put the defendant through another trial after jurors were unable to reach a final verdict.
Claudio’s case also took an unusual path before reaching a jury. Court records show Claudio completed a plea questionnaire and paid restitution in January. At a February hearing, however, the court record stated the state was “not compliant with victim rights,” the offer was revoked and the defense filed a motion seeking to compel enforcement of the plea agreement.
At a March hearing, Rossell heard arguments on the defense motion. The case ultimately remained set for trial.
(File Photo by Kevin Mathewson, Kenosha County Eye)
The verdict also marks Millar’s third jury trial without a conviction since joining the Kenosha County District Attorney’s Office.
Kenosha County Eye previously reported that a jury acquitted a Kenosha woman of felony child abuse in Millar’s first jury trial and later acquitted a Kenosha man of felony battery in her second.
With Claudio now acquitted on seven charges and no guilty verdicts returned on the other two, Millar’s jury-trial record stands at 0-3. The two misdemeanor charges against Claudio remain unresolved pending a decision from prosecutors on whether they will attempt to try the case again.
