Kevin J. Lombard, 25, Winnebago, entered a plea of guilty to first-degree reckless homicide.
Lombard was arrested on Aug. 12, 2011, after he called 911 and reported that his 18-year-old girlfriend was not breathing.
Officers found the body of Amelia Anne Schmitz in the room at the America’s Best Value Inn in New London where Lombard and the girl were staying.
According to the criminal complaint, Lombard said he and his girlfriend had been drinking, when she “started hitting me and stuff,” and that he put her in a headlock to keep her from hitting him.
At the plea hearing Tuesday, March 26, District Attorney John Snider said he would ask that Lombard be sentenced to 30 years in prison and 20 years of extended supervision.
As part of a plea deal with Lombard’s attorney, Troy Nielsen, Snider agreed to remove the repeat offender penalty enhancement from the reckless homicide charge. A second felony charge of strangulation was also dismissed and read into the court record.
Judge John Hoffmann ordered that the state Department of Corrections complete a pre-sentencing investigation.
Lombard’s sentencing is scheduled for May 20.
Lombard is currently confined at the Wisconsin Resource Center in Winnegago.
His extended supervisions on two prior felony convictions in Washington and Milwaukee counties were revoked shortly after he was charged in Waupaca County.
Lombard was convicted of battery to an officer in Washington County in April 2007 and placed on three years of probation with six months in jail.
In March 2009, his probation on the battery to an officer conviction was revoked due to an felony arrest in Milwaukee County. Lombard was sentenced to two years in prison and five years of extended supervision.