Suspect in 2019 stabbing death in La Crosse agrees to get court-appointed lawyer

The suspect in a La Crosse murder case will let the public defender’s office find an attorney for him. 

At a hearing before Judge Ramona Gonzalez on Friday, Anquin St. Junious agreed to give the state more time to appoint a lawyer in the case. 

St. Junious is accused of reckless homicide, for the January 2019 stabbing death of Virgil Stewart inside a La Crosse taxi.  He has been dissatisfied with other court-appointed attorneys, and again on Friday, he told the judge he wanted to defend himself. 

Judge Gonzalez told St. Junious that it is not in his best interest to serve as his own lawyer. 

“It will be impossible to find you an attorney if your attorney is looking at you as a non-cooperative client right away, because you are doing things without legal advice.”

Disputes over attorneys and the pandemic have led to repeated delays in bringing St. Junious to trial.

Gonzalez tells St. Junious the case has been delayed for too long, and they “need to get it finished.”