A 22-year-old Wisconsin man charged in the drowning death of a 13-year-old boy with autism has entered a plea of not guilty by reason of mental disease, claiming he did not understand that his actions were wrong at the time.
Tylor Birch faces a reckless homicide charge in connection with the death of Jakob Bowerman, who died three days after he was allegedly thrown into a lake by Birch and a then-16-year-old identified as Peyton Carnot. A judge had already ruled in April that Birch was mentally competent to stand trial. During Tuesday’s status conference, however, his defense shifted toward a mental-disease plea, and the judge ordered three separate psychiatric evaluations to determine his mental state at the time of the incident.
According to court records, the incident took place at a public pier in Marinette, Wisconsin, in August 2025. Investigators say Birch and Carnot initially told police that all three jumped into the water together and that they tried to help Bowerman once they realized he couldn’t swim. But that account reportedly fell apart as the investigation continued.
Carnot later told investigators that Bowerman had said he didn’t want to go into the water — and that he and Birch picked him up by his hands and feet and swung him off the edge of the pier into the lake anyway. Bowerman drowned three days later.
Prosecutors have acknowledged that both young men attempted to pull Bowerman from the water afterward, but say that doesn’t erase what allegedly triggered the emergency in the first place.
Carnot, now being tried as an adult, is due back in court in early August. Birch’s next hearing, where the results of his psychiatric evaluations are expected to be addressed, is set for October.