CHIPPEWA FALLS — A Chippewa Falls man accused of repeatedly stabbing his friend in the neck with a broken beer bottle in May 2023 will return to court today, as Judge Steve Gibbs weighs a motion to throw out his interview with police.
Abraham Sanchez-Galicia, 29, 219 W. Grand Ave., is charged in Chippewa County Court with attempted first-degree intentional homicide, mayhem, and first-degree reckless injury. Gibbs previously set a five-day trial to begin on Oct. 6.
Last year, defense attorneys Kirby Harless and Ryan Kohler filed a motion to suppress, saying police began interviewing Sanchez-Galicia before he was properly given his Miranda rights reading in a manner that could be understood by Sanchez-Galicia. The defense attorneys are asking that the interview be suppressed, meaning it would not be allowed as evidence in a trial. A Spanish interpreter has been used in all court hearings in the case.
Chippewa Falls police officer Ryan Boie testified at a hearing in April about interviewing Sanchez-Galicia at the police station shortly after the assault, explaining that Sanchez-Galicia would speak and Eau Claire police officer Rogelio Gonzales, who speaks both English and Spanish, would interpret. At the time, the Chippewa Falls Police Department did not have any Spanish-speaking officers.
Both the defense attorney and the district attorney’s office have filed recent briefs with the court, stating their positions on if the interview with police should be allowed to be introduced as evidence to a jury.
“During the interrogation, when Officer Gonzales was giving the Miranda Warning, his language was often muddled and unclear,” defense attorney Harless wrote in a filing with the court this month. “Mr. Sanchez-Galacia is simply nodding along during this. At no point did law enforcement check to see if the nod was an actual affirmative understanding or the type that presents as just an effort to communicate.”
Harless concluded his brief by writing, “The translation by Officer Gonzales was not clear and there were insufficient indications that Mr. Sanchez-Galicia understood his rights and that he would be giving them up by talking. Officer Gonzales’ lack of training and experience as a translator resulted in confusing language that lacked grammatical clarity.”
At that April hearing, Assistant District Attorney Sheila Yohnk played a video of the police interview in court, which showed Sanchez-Galicia was read his Miranda Rights in Spanish, and he nodded his head that he understood them, then signed a form that stated he was given the reading.
Gonzales then testified and said he speaks both languages fluently because he grew up learning both at home. Gonzales said he has administered Miranda Rights readings five to 10 times in his career, and has served as an interpreter numerous times.
Sanchez-Galicia remains in custody on a $250,000 cash bond because he is deemed a flight risk.
According to the criminal complaint, the Chippewa County dispatch center received a call at 1:05 a.m. Saturday, May 20, 2023, but nothing was heard on the call. The dispatch center called the number back but did not get a response. A second call from that number came to the dispatch center at 1:08, but the voice was an unintelligible man; the call came from the lobby of the police department. “Dispatchers accessed the police department camera system and informed officers that a male subject was in the front lobby, covered in blood.”
Several officers responded to the lobby and spoke to the man, who was identified as Sanchez-Galicia. He was not wearing shoes, socks or a shirt.
“Officers observed the front side of Abraham’s body was covered in partially dried blood from the bottom of his torso to the top of his neck,” the complaint states. “Abraham had blood on his face and a large bloody handprint right below his right arm. Due to the amount of blood observed, officers were concerned Abraham was seriously injured. However, upon inspection, the only injuries observed were lacerations on Abraham’s hands, fingers, and knees.”
Due to a language barrier, officers had difficulty communicating with Sanchez-Galicia, but they believed he was indicating that there was an injured person at a nearby residence in the city. When officers arrived, they saw multiple broken glass shards on the cement outside the front door. They found a male victim, lying face down in a pool of blood, in the living room. The victim was not moving or speaking.
“Blood spatter was observed on all four walls in the room,” the complaint states. He was taken to a nearby hospital with “several lacerations on his face, neck and hands. The doctor advised the laceration to the neck would require emergency surgery due to potential injury to a large vein in [the victim’s] neck.”
With the aid of an interpreter, Sanchez-Galicia told officers his friend had attacked him and he had defended himself. Abraham took a preliminary breath test, which showed a .099 blood-alcohol level.
Sanchez-Galicia explained that his friend was eating Sanchez-Galicia’s food, and he told his friend he needed permission first. The victim said he was going to eat it anyway and insulted him. He claimed his friend came at him and they fought.
“Abraham stated while they were struggling on the ground, beer bottles were falling around them and [the victim] was attempting to reach for a beer bottle. Abraham admitted he used his left hand to hold [the victim] down by the neck, grabbed a broken beer bottle, and repeatedly struck [the victim] in the neck. Abraham informed officers he did not stop hitting [the victim] until [the victim] stopped moving.”
Sanchez-Galicia initially claimed he immediately went to the police department for help, but when officers confronted him that the blood on his body had already dried, he admitted he first called a family member. He added that he had consumed 12 bottles of beer before the incident.
The victim needed a blood transfusion at the hospital because of significant blood loss. He had emergency surgery due to injuries to his neck and a second surgery the following day. The victim told officers he was fearful for his life during the incident and believed Sanchez-Galicia was going to kill him.