Craig Stingley lacked legitimate education, a prominent lawyer, or a prominent civil rights activist on his side. But for 13 years, he refused to accept that the judicial system would carry no one responsible for the killing of his 16-year-old boy, Corey.
His life was predominated by his desire for justice.
He gathered police reports, see claims and other information in the Dec. 14, 2012, fatal incident inside a Milwaukee-area convenience store. The youth had attempted to steal$ 12 worth of grain drink at the store before turning around and leaving. That’s when three men wrestled him to the surface to keep him for the police.
After a “violent struggle with many people,” the medical examiner determined that he had died from a head injury from asphyxiation. The manner of death: crime.
When prosecutors decided against charging someone, Stingley launched a legal battle that required the investigation. A 2023 ProPublica research pieced together a comprehensive timeline of what happened inside the store, recounted what witnesses saw and examined the background of the three customers involved in the encounter.
Lastly, this week, in an incredible turn of events, Stingley may experience some form of accountability. On Monday, a legal complaint filed in Milwaukee County Circuit Court charged the surviving visitors — Robert W. Beringer and Jesse R. Cole— with felony murder. The plaintiffs are scheduled to show up in court on Thursday.
Beringer’s attorney, Tony Cotton, described the broad outlines of a deferred prosecution agreement that can lead to the fees being dismissed after the two men plead guilty or no competition. According to Cotton and Craig Stingley, the men may be required by the court to donate to a charity in memory of Corey Stingley and carry out area service, avoiding jail time.
In Wisconsin, misdemeanor murder is a specific category for situations in which the payment of a severe crime — in this case, false imprisonment — causes the death of another person. The Dane County attorney’s office, which is in charge of the investigation, declined to comment. Cole’s lawyer said his customer had no comment. The three gentlemen have previously asserted that their actions were appropriate, citing their want to listen to an emergency and their self-defense.
For Stingley, a vital part of the responsibilities process already has taken place. Stingley and the two men had split meetings last year where they spoke in front of a restorative justice system and were supervised by a retired determine.
That, inside an office on a Milwaukee school campus, they confronted the traumatic events that led to Corey Stingley’s death and the still-roiling feelings of resentment, sorrow and pain.
After years of downplaying their part, the men, according to Craig Stingley, showed lament and a greater appreciation of what had transpired. For example, Stingley said, he and Cole aired out their unique perspectives on what occurred and also reviewed business surveillance video together.
After that meeting was over, Stingley said,” I have never been able to breathe as plainly, as seriously, and sense as free as I have never been.”
Healing justice initiatives bring up victims and offenders — via meetings or letters or through community panels — to try to enhance understanding, promote healing and explain how best to make amends for a wide range of harms. The strategy has been employed by governments dealing with widespread crimes, as well as schools, young and criminal justice systems, and by countries.
Instances where restorative justice and deferred prosecution are employed for such severe claims are rare, Cotton said. He noted that the entire situation is uncommon, with the prosecution frequently holding it available for multiple re-examens over the course of ten years.
” Our hearts go out to the Stingley community, and we believe that the therapeutic justice method has allowed all sides to express their feelings openly”, Cotton said. ” We are pleased that a just and reasonable goal has been achieved.”
The Legal Quest
Milwaukee’s district attorney at the time of Corey Stingley’s death, John Chisholm, announced there would be no fees 13 months afterward, in January 2014. Cole, Beringer, and a second person, Maurio Laumann, who is now deceased, were not guilty because they didn’t know how to use restraint techniques properly and didn’t intend to hurt or destroy the teen, according to Chisholm.
Craig Stingley, who is Black, and others in the group protested the decision, claiming the three men — all white — were no good Samaritans but had acted violently to shoot a Black children with impunity. The Milwaukee branch of the NAACP said in a statement at the time,” When a person loses his life at the hands of others, it would seem that a” chargeable” offense has occurred.”
Looking for a way to reopen the case, Stingley reexamined the evidence, including security video. He watched the murder of his son, by his standards, hundreds of times, analyzing who did what, frame by frame, as part of a painful exercise. What he saw only reinforced his view that his son’s death was unnecessary and his right to due process denied.
In West Allis, Wisconsin, Corey Stingley and his father wohned just blocks away from VJ’s Food Mart. That December day, Stingley made his way to the back of the store and stuck six bottles of Smirnoff Ice into his backpack. The teenager gave his debit card to the front counter to pay for an energy drink, but the clerk demanded the items the teenager had taken. Stingley surrendered the backpack, reached toward the cash register to recover his debit card, then turned to exit.
Although it is not clear on the video, Cole claimed to have punched Stingley in the face and that he had extended his hand to stop him. The three men grabbed the youth. The men pinned Stingley to the ground during a fight.
Laumann kept Stingley in a chokehold, several witnesses told investigators. Later, ProPublica learned that Laumann had served in the Marines. His brother told ProPublica he likely learned how to apply chokeholds as part of his military service decades ago.
According to a witness, Beringer was pressing on the teen’s head while Stingley was by the hair. Cole helped to hold Stingley down. Stingley finally gave up resisting. The police report states that Cole thought the teen was “playing limp” to trick them into loosening their grip.
” Get up, you punk,” yay! Laumann told the motionless teen when an officer finally arrived, according to a police report. Stingley had urinated through his clothes and was foaming at his mouth. The officer couldn’t find a pulse. After two weeks in a hospital, Stickley never recovered and never gave up consciousness.
In 2015, Craig Stingley unsuccessfully requested a meeting with Chisholm to discuss the lack of charges. ” Feel free to seek legal advice in the private sector regarding your Constitutional Rights”, an assistant to Chisholm replied to Stingley in an email. I extend my family and you my heartfelt condolences.
Stingley’s review of the video, however, did bring about another legal opportunity in 2017, after he notified West Allis police that there was footage showing Laumann with his arm around the teen’s throat. ( Laumann had refuted Laumann’s claim that he had placed him in a headlock. ) A Racine County district attorney was appointed to review the evidence again. She refused to file a report for three years until the court intervened, and after that, she determined that no charges were appropriate.
Finally, Stingley discovered an obscure Wisconsin” John Doe” statute. If a district attorney declines to issue a criminal complaint, it gives private citizens the opportunity to petition a judge to determine whether a crime had been committed.
A former process engineer for an electrical transformer manufacturer, Stingley had no legal training. He still submitted a 14-page petition to Mary Triggiano, the then-chief judge of the Milwaukee County Circuit Court, in November 2020. It cited legal authority and “material facts”, including excerpts from police reports, witness statements and stills from the surveillance video. In the petition, Singley cited former U.S. Supreme Court Justice Louis Brandeis and British politician William Gladstone, who remarked,” Justice delayed is justice denied.
That led to the appointment in July 2022 of Dane County District Attorney Ismael Ozanne to review the case. However, that process was slowed down by procedural difficulties. Stingley took the delays in stride, saying he trusted that Ozanne and his staff were treating the matter seriously and acting appropriately.
According to Stingley, Ozanne’s office informed him in 2024 that they had found sufficient evidence to charge Cole and Beringer but could not guarantee that a jury would convict them. Stingley, researching the family’s options, said he inquired about the restorative justice process. The DA’s office endorsed the idea, setting up a meeting between him and the two men at Milwaukee’s Marquette University’s Andrew Center for Restorative Justice. The program is run by Triggiano, who’d retired from the court.
Restorative justice is a concept that dates back to the time when people sat together to resolve conflicts and resolve conflicts. It emerged in the United States in criminal justice systems in the 1970s as a way to provide alternatives to prison and restitution to victims. In other instances, it has notably been used to address the Rwandan genocide, where truth-telling forums that started in 2002 resulted in forgiveness and reconciliation.
Stingley, who has three remaining grown children and four grandchildren, desperately wanted “balance restored” for his family. He decided to meet with the men he believed to be responsible for his son’s death so that the best course of action was taken.
The Quest for Closure
In April, Stingley and Berringer had a restorative justice meeting with Corey.
The goal: to respectfully share their perspectives on the tragedy and how it impacted each of them personally. What was said was not recorded or recorded. It was not for use in any court proceeding.
The Stingley family shared heartfelt tales about Corey as a son, brother, student, and friend as the sessions began. They spoke of their great bond, Corey’s love of sports and their struggle to cope with his absence.
Stingley said Berringer described having only a vague memory of the fatal encounter when the discussion turned to what transpired in the store. He recalled a brief struggle and grabbing the teen by his jacket, not his hair.
A tearful Beringer told Stingley he was looking for peace before leaving the meeting, Stingley recalls.
Cotton, Beringer’s attorney, told ProPublica that the incident and the legal steps affected his client in profound ways. Cotton remarked,” He’s had anxiety from this right away.
The result, he said:” Sleeplessness. horrible stress Fearful because he has to go to court”.
Does Beringer’s mind ease with the solution? ” I don’t know”, Cotton said, adding that the hope is that the Stingley family finds solace in the resolution process.
A pair of angel wings on a gold chain with a small” C” charm and several clear reflective orbs were presented to Cole at a meeting in May with Stingley and some of his family. With it came a handwritten note, saying:” I hope this sun catcher brings a gentle reflection of the love & light of Corey’s memory and that you feel his presence shining on you each day”.
Stingley said,” I told him I appreciate the gesture.”
Cole, according to Stingley, told him that he felt something other than the altercation— perhaps some health ailment — led to Corey’s demise.
At a second session, Stingley and Cole were invited to watch the surveillance video together. As that day neared, in July, Stingley considered backing out. He said,” It almost seemed as if I had to drag myself up out of the car.” But he said he realized that he’d been preparing for such an event for 13 years: to come to some honest reckoning with the men involved.
He and Cole went over the death certificate and summarized the findings of the medical examiner after watching the video. Stingley said Cole stressed that he did not choke Corey but came to realize that what happened in the store caused the teen to lose his life, not any preexisting condition. Stingley’s burden was eased by the acknowledgment.
” I felt like I was reaching a place where I was finally going to get the justice that I’ve been pursuing”, Stingley said,” and this is one of the steps I had to go through to get that completed”.
Triggiano praised the Stingley family for” seeking the humanity of their son as opposed to vengeance” and each of the participants for their courage in the meeting. She said Beringer and Cole “keenly listened, reflected and really acknowledged their connection to the events that led to Corey’s death”.
The conversations were difficult, heartfelt, but incredibly human, she said.
After the loss of his son, Stingley wanted to see the three men imprisoned. Justice has changed, but so many years later. Now Laumann is dead. The experience alters Beringer. And Cole is a father eager to protect his own children.
Prison is now beyond the point, in Stingley’s opinion. Criminal charges will stand instead as a strong signal of accountability, of justice— and of a father’s unyielding love.
A Father’s Quest for Justice Founds a Solution After 13 Years appeared first on ProPublica.
