LaBarge charged with attempted murder, obstructing, more

Osicka suggested the victim’s injury was self-inflicted and that the victim had reason to lie and questioned the allegations; however, in light of the seriousness of the allegations and charges, Judge Galen Bayne-Allison set bail for LaBarge at $200,000 cash.”

Bradley LaBarge, age 31, of Merrill made an initial appearance in Lincoln County Court on Monday, Oct. 21, 2024. He is charged with five crimes, the most serious being one count of attempted first degree intentional homicide with the use of a dangerous weapon. He is also charged with one count of substantial battery, use of a dangerous weapon; one count of obstructing an officer; one count of criminal damage to property; and one count of disorderly conduct, use of a dangerous weapon. According to the Criminal Complaint on file, conviction of count one carries with it a prison term of up to 60 years plus an increase of up to 5 additional years for the use of a dangerous weapon.
Probable cause for the charges listed in the Complaint detail an alleged incident that occurred just after 8 a.m. on Saturday, Oct. 19, 2024, on Corning Rd. in the Town of Corning, involving a male victim who alleges LaBarge slashed his tires, smashed out his windows, “jacked” him in the face, and threatened to “cut him up and stab him” with a knife. The alleged victim called 911 and “told dispatch that Bradley pulled a knife and was chasing him.” He identified the weapon as a gray utility knife and said LaBarge had cut him with it “on the right side of his throat.”
When law enforcement arrived at the scene, they observed the victim’s shirt “below his neckline to be soaked in blood. Victim had a large laceration on the right side of his neck below his jaw line.” The victim was subsequently transported to Aspirus Merrill Hospital where he reportedly received 11 stitches.
“Law enforcement observed what appeared to be blood on his hands,” while detaining LaBarge. When questioned about it, law enforcement observed him “spitting on his hands and wiping them on the front of his pants.”
A witness, who has two young children with LaBarge, was with the victim and had been with the victim for several hours prior to the incident, driving around with him, according to the Criminal Complaint. The victim said he got a flat tire and pulled over to change the tire. LaBarge allegedly had called witness 30-40 times beginning at about 4 a.m. that day and tracked the victim and witness, who were together, using the “Find my iPhone” to locate the witness, arriving three or four minutes after the victim had pulled over to change the tire. LaBarge’s one-year-old daughter and three-year-old son were in the vehicle with him when he “pulled up at a high rate of speed and stopped right next to” the victim’s vehicle and “flew out of the car” before pulling his knife, damaging victim’s vehicle, threatening the victim, ripping his shirt, threatening “to slit his throat, cut him up and throw him in the ditch in the middle of nowhere,” and then lunging at him and cutting him on the right side of his throat with the knife.
LaBarge denied the allegations when questioned by law enforcement, but the Criminal Complaint said “Law enforcement observed damage to the victim’s vehicle consistent with victim’s statements” and “medical personnel expressed the penetrating trauma victim sustained was a small distance from his jugular vein or cartoid artery, which are life threatening injuries.”
According to the victim, “he and witness have been talking for about eight or nine months” and approximately two months ago, LaBarge had called the victim and threatened “something along the lines of” that he would shoot him, shoot up his house, and shoot his child or shoot him in front of his child, but victim said he did not report this to law enforcement at that time.
LaBarge appeared in court by video from the Lincoln County Jail, and was represented by Tim Osicka, special attorney for LaBarge at his intial appearance. Osicka suggested the victim’s injury was self-inflicted and that the victim had reason to lie and questioned the allegations; however, in light of the seriousness of the allegations and charges, Judge Galen Bayne-Allison set bail for LaBarge at $200,000 cash. Should LaBarge post the bail and be released from jail, the Judge also set additional conditions, to include, but not limited to, GPS monitoring of LaBarge and no contact with the victim or witness and staying 1,000 feet away from the residence or place of employment or education of both the witness and the victim in this case and that any visitation with the children must go through a third party.
A preliminary hearing in the matter has been set for Nov. 7, 2024, at 10 a.m.
This case has not been concluded. Unless a judgment of conviction is entered, LaBarge is presumed innocent of all charges.