The 18-year-old who was on bail for a pending robbery case when police say he killed another robbery victim this month, had a plea deal in his prior case rejected by a judge in July.

Cullen Mitchell was set to plead guilty to battery and no contest to theft, both misdemeanors, on July 15. He had been originally charged with robbery, use of force, for a March incident in which, according to a criminal complaint, he beat up his girlfriend when she wouldn't give him about $800 she had gotten in financial aid.

Mitchell pushed the victim down four stairs, dragged her down a longer flight by her hair, and bit her three times before finally wrestling the money away from her. He fled with the money when his stepfather responded to hearing a commotion in the basement, according to the complaint.

His attorney, Al Richman, called it a "boyfriend-girlfriend spat that turned a little ugly,"  After Mitchell spent 43 days in jail, unable to make his $5,000 bail, Richman moved to reduce it to $1,000, noting his client had no prior record, lived with his mother, and was trying to finish high school and get a diploma.

Circuit Judge Charles F. Kahn Jr. agreed to lower the bail to $1,500 if Mitchell went on enhanced supervision with Justice Point, the county's pre-trial release monitoring agency.

Richman said Mitchell's mother posted the $1,500.

According to a July report from a Justice Point manager, Mitchell attended off of eight scheduled meetings since his release in April, had passed two random drug screens and breathalyzer tests at all the meetings.

Richman said he was surprised to hear about the homicide charge.

"He was going along real good," Richman said. "He looked like a pretty good risk."

Kahn rejected the plea deal, Richman recalled, because at the hearing Mitchell waivered about whether he really stole the $800 from his girlfriend, suggesting she had given it to him.

Kahn rejected the plea, "for lack of factual basis to sustain" it, according to court records. The case had been set for a pre-trial hearing in September.

Now Mitchell is being held on $250,000 bail, charged with felony murder in the fatal shooting of Cristian Garcia-Clemente, 23, early Aug. 15 in the 3700 block of W. Wisconsin Ave.

According to the complaint, Mitchell was with a group in a minivan and had already robbed two people on Milwaukee's north side when he spotted Garcia-Clemente near N. 35th and W. Wisconsin Ave.


Christian Garcia-Clement

An accomplice pulled the van into an alley adjacent to a parking lot and exited the vehicle with Mitchell.

Another person in the van told a detective that after he heard a gunshot, the two returned to the van, where Mitchell said he shot Garcia-Clemente because the victim was running away, according to the complaint.