GREEN BAY, Wisconsin —
A Wisconsin man already serving time for attempted murder has been sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole after strangling his cellmate in a brutal hate crime just hours after the two were housed together.
Jackson Vogel, 25, appeared before Brown County Circuit Court Judge Donald Zuidmulder on Friday to hear his fate for the killing of Micah Laureano, 19, inside Green Bay Correctional Institution. Vogel had pleaded guilty to first-degree intentional homicide earlier this year.
An Instant Decision to Kill
Court records reveal that Vogel, who was eight years into a 20-year sentence for the attempted murder of his own mother, killed Laureano within mere hours of being assigned to share a cell with him.
Investigators testified that Vogel was smiling in the aftermath of the killing, showing no remorse. He later told authorities he committed the murder because he was “bored,” and because Laureano was Black. Vogel also believed Laureano was gay and admitted the victim “checked all the boxes” for his hate-fueled violence.
During the trial, a disturbing note written by Vogel was entered into evidence, containing the phrase “Kill all humans,” along with hateful language urging violence against Black people and gay individuals.
Pleas for Leniency
During Friday’s sentencing, Vogel’s defense attorney, Luke Harrison, implored the court to consider the possibility that Vogel could change over time.
“I believe that giving Mr. Vogel an opportunity to be released to extended supervision at some time in the future speaks to that possibility that people can change,” Harrison said. “Change does take an extremely long period of time sometimes, but it is possible.”
Vogel himself addressed the court, stating:
“I may not show remorse. I may not be able to understand emotion. I may not be able to understand remorse itself. That doesn’t mean a person cannot be sorry for what they did at any point in time. ‘Cause I am sorry.”
He also pleaded for the chance of supervised release in the future.
Judge Unmoved by Pleas
Judge Zuidmulder was unequivocal in rejecting any possibility of eventual freedom for Vogel.
“You set in motion all the things that bring us here today,” he told Vogel sternly, before recounting the grim details of Laureano’s death.
“Eight years later, you commit a crime in which an anonymous human being, to whom you had no real relationship, is placed with you in a cell. And in very short order, you process the decision to kill him. You kill him in an opportunity where you basically garrote him with a clothesline. Your testimony and your statement, you put your knee up against him, and you pulled him back until he went limp. You literally squeezed the life out of him.”
Zuidmulder described Vogel’s demeanor after the murder as “excited,” calling it “frightening.”
“I believe you’re a killing machine. I believe that after eight years in the state prison system, there’s been no change. And therefore, I have no ability to have an expectation that you will ever change.”
No Chance of Freedom
Under Wisconsin law, a conviction for first-degree intentional homicide carries a mandatory life sentence, but judges retain discretion on whether the offender will ever be eligible for supervised release. In Vogel’s case, Judge Zuidmulder ordered life in prison without any possibility of release, citing the deeply disturbing nature of Vogel’s hatred and lack of remorse.
The murder of Micah Laureano, who had been serving a three-year sentence for assault and vehicle theft, has drawn fresh scrutiny to prison security and the dangers faced by vulnerable inmates, particularly those targeted for their race or sexual orientation.
Laureano’s family has not publicly commented since the sentencing but previously described Micah as a young man who “deserved a second chance and never got it.”
Vogel will remain incarcerated in Wisconsin’s prison system for the rest of his life.
