By Shereen Siewert
MERRILL — A Wausau man who claimed insanity in the fatal shooting of a friend will spend at decades in prison, after his sentencing hearing Wednesday in Lincoln County Circuit Court.
Eric Moen, 35, was convicted in May of first-degree intentional homicide in connection with the 2017 murder. Circuit Judge Robert Russell sentenced Moen Wednesday to life in prison with the possibility of extended release after serving 40 years.
Police say Moen shot 52-year-old Charles Ramp, of Tomahawk, five times with a .20-gauge shotgun on Nov. 16, 2017 after luring him outside of his home. The two men were friends for several years before the shooting.
Ramp was taken to Ascension Sacred Heart Hospital in Tomahawk, where he died of his injuries.
During a February 2018 arraignment hearing, Moen pleaded not guilty by reason of disease or defect. The so-called insanity defense asserts that a defendant is not responsible for criminal conduct because he did not possess “substantial capacity either to appreciate the criminality of his conduct or to conform his conduct to the requirements of the law,” according to the Legal Information Institute.
But that claim fell apart following a court-ordered competency exam filed early last year that was reviewed by prosecutors and defense attorneys shortly before Moen entered his plea, court records show.
Judge Russell granted Moen 1,021 days credit for time served while awaiting trial.
