Suspect in attack of woman inside storage unit set to be formally charged with attempted murder in La Crosse

One year after being arrested on an attempted murder charge in La Crosse County, Freeman Cole is expected to be formally charged later this week.

Cole is accused of trying to strangle a woman inside a south La Crosse storage unit in October of last year. Witnesses discovered Cole with the victim and ran. He was arrested in another state a few weeks after the attack.

Cole has not cooperated with the court, refusing to leave his jail cell during recent hearings.

At Monday’s hearing, the closed door of Cole’s cell was shown on a video link from the jail, while Judge Gloria Doyle asked him to take part in the process, using verse to make her argument.

“Give them a chance to fulfill their role,” Doyle said, talking about Cole’s attorneys, “Fairness to you, the defendant, is their goal. Justice will prevail, I believe, if your cooperation we can receive.”

After hearing testimony from a police investigator, Doyle found probable cause to schedule a trial in the case.

An attorney for Cole argued that the alleged attack was not serious enough to warrant an attempted homicide charge.