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Sean R. Pickett was sentenced to life in prison on September 20, 2022, for killing his mother in Avoca, Wisconsin, with eligibility for release to extended supervision after he has served 40 years.

An Iowa County jury found Pickett, then 22, guilty of first-degree intentional homicide and mistreatment of animals causing death on July 7, 2022, after a trial of several days and about an hour and a half of deliberation. Grant County Circuit Judge Craig Day presided, with Assistant District Attorney Curtis Johnson prosecuting and attorney Jeffrey Erickson defending. Pickett initially pleaded not guilty, changed his plea to not guilty by reason of mental disease or defect in August 2021, and changed it back to not guilty on June 30, 2022. The defense argued that he found his mother stabbing the dog and that she then attacked him with a knife.

Pickett was 21 when arrested in May 2021. He lived on Williams Street in the Village of Avoca, Iowa County, Wisconsin, with his mother, Susan Pickett, 54, and the family dog, a pit bull named Chico. At about 3:30 p.m. on Monday, May 10, 2021, he contacted law enforcement and reported his mother dead inside their home. Officers contacted him and found Susan Pickett and the dog dead. Reports placed the killings between May 9 and May 10, 2021. A criminal complaint filed in Iowa County by the Avoca police chief alleged that Pickett beat his mother with a metal bar and stabbed her, then beat and stabbed the dog. An autopsy found that she died of blunt force head trauma; the dog had multiple stab wounds.

The Wisconsin Department of Justice Division of Criminal Investigation led the investigation, assisted by the Iowa County Sheriff's Office and the Village of Avoca Police Department. A Department of Justice release dated May 12, 2021 said Pickett had been arrested and was to appear in Iowa County Circuit Court that day. He was charged with first-degree intentional homicide and mistreatment of animals.

During questioning, Pickett initially told investigators that his mother's boyfriend and other men tied him up, blindfolded him and held him for days. He said the boyfriend killed his mother so Pickett would be blamed. The complaint said he later admitted the hostage account had not happened. The Avoca police chief also said Pickett first told him he had just returned home and found his mother and the dog dead.

When investigators did not believe his accounts, Pickett said he had blacked out and heard voices telling him to kill his mother and the dog. The complaint said he thought he was possessed and that people in his head told him that once he killed them he would "go to rest." It also quoted him saying, "The evil in my head said I had to kill my mom and Chico in order to go to peace." Near the end of questioning, he told investigators he probably needed to go to prison for the rest of his life.

At sentencing, the prosecutor and the state Department of Corrections recommended no eligibility for release; the defense requested eligibility after 20 years. Judge Day also imposed 18 months in prison followed by 24 months of extended supervision on the animal count. The Iowa County Clerk of Court said the sentences run concurrently. There is no record of a Court of Appeals decision in the case.

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Part 2 of 2 of the recording described above.