Former Eureka Springs parks director sentenced to probation

Former Eureka Springs parks and recreation director Justin Huss was sentenced to three years’ probation after pleading no contest to an amended felony count of second- degree recklessly endangering safety in an agreement with prosecutors on Monday, March 18, in circuit court in Fond du Lac County, Wis.

Huss originally had been charged with attempted homicide. He was given a suspended sentence of three years in prison followed by three years of extended supervision on the felony charge. He also pleaded no contest to a misdemeanor count of battery, for which he was sentenced to time served after being held in the Fond du Lac County Jail since October 2023.

Both the endangering safety and the battery charged carried domestic abuse enhancements.

Prosecutors dismissed a felony count of strangulation and suffocation and a misdemeanor count of disorderly conduct but those charges were read into the official court record.

Huss, 50, had been scheduled to go on trial the same day that the plea agreement was approved. He had been held on a $2 million bond.

The charges against Huss stemmed from an Oct. 1, 2023, incident when deputies with the Fond du Lac Sheriff’s Department responded to a KOA campground in Forest, Wis., after a call to the county dispatch center at approximately 3:30 a.m.

The alleged victim, who is not identified in the criminal complaint against Huss, told police that her husband, later identified as Huss, was trying to kill her.

A deputy observed dried blood on the woman’s lips and nose as well as a mark on her forehead that appeared to be a smudge of dried blood and drops of what appeared to be dried blood on her face, according to the criminal complaint. The woman told deputies that she and Huss had two children together and been living together in Wisconsin since March 2023.

The woman told deputies that Huss had struck her several times and had choked her and threatened to kill her. She indicated that she had been choked and kneed in the ribs several times and that was it hard for her to breathe.

The woman told deputies that she believed she lost consciousness at some point during the incident. She said that as she made eye contact with Huss shortly after opening her eye, he wrapped his arm around her neck and began suffocating her. The only way she could get Huss to stop was by pretending to lose consciousness, the woman told deputies. When she made her body go limp, she told deputies, Huss relaxed his grip. At that point, the woman bit Huss and she when he pulled his arm away, she was able to run outside the residence.

A deputy observed what appeared to be dried blood on the woman’s shirt and pants and her pants were wet. According to the criminal complaint, the woman indicated she had urinated on herself at some point.

The woman was treated at a local hospital, where she was diagnosed with a concussion and soft tissue issue in her neck region as well as bruises.

Eureka Springs attorney Tim Parker, who is representing Huss in a lawsuit against the city over his termination, filed a complaint for divorce on Huss’ behalf on Feb. 14 in Carroll County Circuit Court.

The defendant in the divorce complaint is Lindsey Keck. The complaint says Huss and Keck were married in March 2023 and separated on or about Oct. 1, 2023.

SUIT AGAINST CITY

Huss, who was hired as Eureka Springs parks director in early 2016, was terminated on Oct. 9, 2020. He was notified that he was being fired in a text message from then-commission chair Ruth Hager. The text message was sent two days after the parks commission held a special meeting at which Hager announced that commissioners would be going into executive session “to discuss a personnel issue.”

The commission returned to public session 59 minutes later. Hager asked if there were any motions and none were offered. After a motion to adjourn, the meeting ended without any further discussion.

Parker filed suit on Huss’ behalf in February 2023, arguing that Huss’ termination constituted a breach of contract. Defendants in the lawsuit are the parks commission, Hager in her official capacity and Eureka Springs Mayor Butch Berry both individually and in his official capacity.

Parker filed an amended complaint in September 2023, seeking $450,000 in compensatory damages and $500,000 in punitive damages along with court costs and attorney’s fees.

On Dec. 12, Parker filed a motion for summary judgment, citing Hager’s testimony during a July 10 deposition that she alone made the decision to fire Huss.

During her July 10 deposition, Hager testified that the commission did not vote on firing Huss after returning from executive session because no decision was made during the executive session. Hager testified in the deposition that she made the decision to fire Huss and that she had the authority to do so as the commission chair. “According to the policies it does not require the votes of the other commissioners to fire the director,” she said.