Courts
Suspect in 2023 stabbing death in La Crosse could reach plea agreement this summer
A plea hearing is scheduled for August in a La Crosse homicide case from two years ago.
Fifty-two-year-old Bryant Q. Smith of La Crosse had been set for a plea hearing next month, in the 2023 stabbing death of Timothy Salis. That hearing has been rescheduled twice, and is now on the calendar for August 4th.
Smith is accused of stabbing Salis more than 40 times at the Stokke Tower in downtown La Crosse, after the two had been drinking. Smith has told police that Salis tried to choke him, so he defended himself with a knife. He entered a plea of not guilty in the case last May, and court records show an offer was made last December.
nick
May 20, 2025 at 8:23 am
It would be interesting to understand why a lot of these trials and/or sentences take two and three years to conclude.
Maybe, instead of fluff interviews with democratic candidates you report on that.
Howard
May 21, 2025 at 6:22 am
I can tell you why it’s called gamesmanship. 1. The accused are caught and know they are screwed so they play the fire my attorney game. Maybe they can put it off so long they will get time served and not have to go to prison or the DA will give in and give them a good deal. 2. The public defenders office plays the conflict of interest game. 3. The private attorneys play I’m in such debt from law school but 350 bucks an hour isn’t enough to take a case. The judges play my schedule is so packed I can’t try this case for months but half the time the court rooms sit dark. But none of it really matters because the voting public cares so little that even if a local attorney or two had enough balls to run against the sitting judges the voting public is so ill informed and apathetic they wouldn’t bother to vote in a mostly local election. Like I said one big game.
Jimbo
May 20, 2025 at 8:49 pm
Set him free like everyone else does. No justice for concerned and worried people in this town. Great job judges for letting them all go.