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Bludgeoning death of North Side neighbor in 2020 brings 10-year prison sentence

Wisconsin State Journal - 7/18/2022

Jul. 18—A man who fatally bludgeoned an elderly man who lived in the same Northport Drive apartment building in 2020 was sentenced Monday to 10 years in prison.

Circuit Judge Ellen Berz said Saynit Keokanya, 40, of Madison, chose not to take medication prescribed to him for a mental health condition and instead used cocaine and marijuana before he bludgeoned to death his 81-year-old neighbor, Nang Yee Lee, someone Keokanya did not even know.

"All of this was totally avoidable," Berz said. "Mr. Lee did not have to die. Mr. Lee did not have to feel the pain of being beaten to death. All you had to do was take medication prescribed to you."

Berz also ordered Keokanya to serve 15 years of extended supervision after his release from prison under a long list of conditions, which include mental health treatment and a ban on using alcohol or unprescribed drugs. Keokanya's 10-year sentence will be shortened by about two years and two months with credit for the time he has spent in custody since the incident.

Keokanya, who was originally charged with first-degree intentional homicide, pleaded guilty in February to first-degree reckless homicide. His lawyers said at his plea hearing that he is afflicted with schizophrenia that is usually controlled with medication.

But because of his drug use, doctors who examined Keokanya for a possible insanity defense were not able to say that his mental illness was what solely caused Keokanya to act.

Assistant District Attorney Tracy McMiller, who recommended a 15-year prison sentence, said that on May 22, 2020, Keokanya snorted cocaine and smoked marijuana and became paranoid, then threatened his brother and their friends, later telling medical professionals that he felt "he needed to kill somebody."

A criminal complaint states Keokanya also told police he had to save himself and his brother from something that was attacking them, which he later said was Enoch, described by Keokanya as a fallen angel.

Armed with two handguns, McMiller said, Keokanya kicked in the door to the apartment across the hall from his, having heard the buzzing noise of a fish tank pump from inside. Fortunately, a woman who lived there and her young daughter were not home.

Keokanya then went downstairs to Lee's apartment and forced his way inside. He tried to fire one of the guns but it jammed, prompting Keokanya to begin beating Lee with the gun.

Berz noted later that Lee's wife, who is hard of hearing, was asleep in a bedroom and did not hear what was happening.

The beating left Lee with a brain injury. He never came out of a coma and died from blunt force trauma injuries three days later.

After the attack, Keokanya called his brother and said he believed he had killed someone, and when police arrived at the apartment building, Keokanya jumped out of a second-story balcony, fracturing his ankle. He had taken one of the guns apart.

Widow speaks

Lee's widow, who was not identified by name in court and gave a statement through a victim-witness coordinator, said the loss of her husband has been devastating, as they took care of one another.

"Now I do not have someone to talk to or to turn to," she said. "A stranger created a void by taking my husband from me."

Crystal Vera, one of two state public defenders representing Keokanya, recommended a prison sentence of three to five years, followed by 10 years of extended supervision, telling Berz that the most important sentencing factor for Keokanya would be his rehabilitation.

Aside from a single drunken driving ticket, she said, Keokanya has no criminal record. His life was taking care of others, she said, including his aged father, who like Keokanya has a mental illness. But in doing so, she said, Keokanya has neglected his own needs, including taking his prescribed medication.

With supervision to assure that Keokanya takes his medication, Vera said, he could function safely in society.

But Berz disagreed.

"There's nothing that can be done to protect the public from a recurrence of the same sort of situation," she said. What happened resulted from a choice Keokanya made not to take his medication and to use cocaine, Berz said.

"The problem is that there is nothing anyone can do to ensure that such an incident would not happen again," Berz said. "The only person who can do that is Mr. Keokanya."

Before he was sentenced, Keokanya apologized for his actions and "for the pain I've caused." He asked for forgiveness.

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