Junction City man, 81, sentenced for hate crime after he shot at Hmong victim

STEVENS POINT - The victim of an 81-year-old Junction City man convicted of a hate crime said she still has nightmares about him shooting at her.

Mai Houa Moua used an interpreter to give Portage County District Attorney Louis Molepske Jr. a written statement for Friday's sentencing of Henry M. Kaminski. Moua doesn't speak English well and didn't want to speak in court, Molepske told Portage County Circuit Judge Thomas Eagon.

"Seeing the gun pointed at me, my body went numb, and I thought to myself, 'This is where I die,'" Moua said in the statement Molepske read during the sentencing. "I have never felt this much fear in all my life."

Moua said her family was forced to relocate because they didn't feel it was safe to live next door to Kaminski, who had been free on a $5,000 cash bond his daughter posted for him the day after the March 6, 2017, incident. The family was paying for two homes, she said.

As part of a plea agreement, Kaminski pleaded no contest to and was found guilty of second-degree recklessly endangering safety as a hate crime and one count of child pornography possession.

Kaminski had problems with his Hmong neighbors in the past because he didn't like their children playing in his yard, Molepske said. On March 6, 2017, Moua was in her garden when Kaminski came out of his home, pointed a gun in her direction and fired.

Kaminski went into his house before going back out and firing two more shots toward Moua. When he went back into his home, Moua ran into her house and stayed there until deputies arrived.

One deputy stationed himself in a place to watch Kaminski's home when Kaminski came out and fired shots toward the deputy, Molepske said. Kaminski then went into his home and stayed there until deputies worked with his daughter to get him to surrender.

Kaminski was taken to a hospital where a blood test showed he had a blood-alcohol concentration of 0.259 percent. Kaminski also made comments to deputies about his dislike for the Hmong people and how they were taking over Junction City.

While searching Kaminski's home, officers found images of child pornography on Kaminski's computer, and he told officers he had the photos because he was curious about it.

Kaminski's attorney, Jonathan LaVoy, said comments Kaminski made to officers were about his neighbors and not the Hmong people in general.

Kaminski is a veteran who worked for the University of Wisconsin-Stevens Point for 24 years before he retired, LaVoy said. He had been a devoted father and husband, but turned to drugs and alcohol after his wife died of cancer in 1999, his lawyer said.

LaVoy said Kaminski's daughter has been caring for her father and came with him to Friday's sentencing. She gave him a hug goodbye prior to the hearing and fears it's the last time she'll see her father, the attorney said.

The child pornography charge carries a mandatory minimum sentence of three years in prison. As part of a joint recommendation, Molepske asked Judge Eagon to give Kaminski a stayed sentence of two years in prison on the recklessly endangering safety charge with two years probation and the required three-year prison sentence on the child pornography charge followed by three years of extended supervision.

Kaminski, who was clean shaven for Friday's hearing and wore suspenders and a plaid shirt, declined to make a statement prior to his sentencing.

Eagon said both charges were serious and it would unduly diminish the perceived seriousness of Kaminski's actions toward his neighbor and the deputy if his prison sentence were suspended.

The judge said Kaminski was lucky more than one person didn't die that day last year. Moua could have been killed by Kaminski, and Kaminski could have been killed if deputies hadn't shown restraint, Eagon said.

Eagon also said he was surprised that a veteran would show such hatred for the Hmong people, who helped Americans during the Vietnam War era to the point where many had to leave their homeland and find sanctuary in the United States. The judge said he found it disturbing that Kaminski would violate that sanctuary.

Eagon sentence Kaminski to three years in prison and three years of extended supervision on each of the two charges and had them run concurrently.

He granted LaVoy's request to find Kaminski eligible for the state's substance abuse program, which would allow him to be released from prison early if he completes the required work. But the judge said Kaminski would not be eligible for the program until he has served two years in prison.