Forester-Hoare Guilty of First-Degree Intentional Homicide

Sean Forester-Hoare, 30, of Wind Point, was found guilty of first-degree intentional homicide for the April 4, 2011 murder of his neighbor, Jonathan Kwiatkowski.

Forester-Hoare stabbed Kwiatkowski in the neck during an altercation about Kwiatkowski's driving. Several members of the Kwiatkowski family took part in the physical fight that preceded the stabbing. The jury -- comprised of nine men and three women -- also convicted Forester-Hoare of two counts of recklessly endangering safety for the injuries he caused Kwiatkowski's parents, Lori and Timothy.

Just after the verdict was read, the Kwiatkowski family left the courtroom gallery and went into commons area of the Racine County Law Enforcement Center. Hugging and in tears, they all repeated the last entry Jonathan Kwiatkowski left on his Facebook page: "Heads Up, Hearts Up, Hopes Up." And Lori asked for everyone to donate blood because the family has held several blood drives in Jonathan's name since his death.

Forester-Hoare remained quiet during the reading of the verdict.

According to court records, the jury began deliberating at 11:54 a.m. At 2:05 p.m., jurors entered the courtroom to view exhibits and listened to a 911 call that Jonathan made to the Racine County Dispatch Center just prior to his death. The jury also reviewed the family interviews and went back to the jury room to deliberate about 50 minutes later. The verdict was announced at 4 p.m.

The defense has consistently said that Forester-Hoare did not mean for Kwiatkowski to die, and that it was Forester-Hoare who was under attack by the Kwiatkowski family.

Defense attorney Jonathan LaVoy painted an alternate picture in his closing arguments, saying Forester-Hoare probably “acted like a jerk” by verbally fighting with the Kwiatkowskis, but he certainly didn’t intend to kill anyone.

LaVoy argued that on a 911 call Jonathan screamed for his dad to stop.

“If it was Jonathan who had to tell his father to stop, I think it’s reasonable to conclude that Mr. Forester-Hoare was on the receiving end of Timothy Kwiatkowski’s rage. And Mr. Forester-Hoare, when he was laying on the ground, had two choices – he could stay and continue to be hit or…use his weapon,” LaVoy said. “There was no opportunity to get out of this because they were all on him.”

However, Racine County District Attorney Rich Chiapete told the jury that this was an easy case to decide because they had “heard everything” and he painted Forester-Hoare as “a ticking time bomb waiting to go off and the Kwiatkowski’s were unfortunately there when he went off and they couldn’t have been prepared for what was in store.”

Chiapete pointed to how Forester-Hoare had been “prowling the streets with a 9 ½-inch killing knife”."

For that reason, Chiapete said, Forester-Hoare was guilty of first-degree intentional homicide while armed.

A first-degree intentional homicide conviction carries a mandatory life sentence. At sentencing, the judge will determine how many years Forester-Hoare must wait before he could be released on extended supervision—if ever. The sentencing date is set for July 2. However, Racine County Court Judge Allan B. Torhorst said that date could be changed if needed.