Feb. 13, 2026 2:30p
(WGTD)---In handing down a lengthy prison sentence Friday, Racine Judge Robert Repischak said his primary concern was protecting the public from the defendant, Davonte Carraway, the 30-year-old Racine County Jail inmate who beat a fellow inmate unconscious on New Year's Eve in 2024 then dumped him head first into trash can on a concrete floor--all in the span of 47 seconds.
During the trial last year, a jailhouse video of the attack was played for the jury which ended up convicting Carraway of 1st Degree Reckless Homicide. "I watched an individual unleash a torrent of anger in a very short period of time," Repischak said Friday at the sentencing hearing. "You do not deserve to be outside," Repischak told him.
Repischak gave Carraway a 40-year prison term. Carraway could receive additional years behind bars if convicted in a pending attempted murder case.
For his part, Carraway said the victim--35-year-old Joseph Lee--had humiliated him in front of other inmates and Carraway said he reacted with rage. "There was a reason behind it," Carraway told the judge. "It wouldn't have happened otherwise...I'm human. I made a mistake," he said.
The argument didn't impress Repischak, who reminded him he was in his mid-30s and not an immature teen.
At Friday's hearing, Lee's mother tearfully addressed the court. "This is a wound that will never heal," she said. "We miss him so much. Also speaking was the mother of three of Lee's six children.
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