Wesley Brice sentenced to 79 years in prison for March 2021 knife attack that killed motorist, injured bartender
GREEN BAY - A Green Bay man was sentenced to 79 years in prison Friday for stabbing to death a 70-year-old man after pulling him from his car as he waited for a passing train on the city's near west side in March 2021 and attacking a bartender.
Wesley J. Brice, now 24, was sentenced by Brown County Circuit Judge John Zakowski to 60 years in prison for first-degree intentional homicide of Gary J. Bosar, 70. He added 19½ years for five other felonies: two counts of first-degree recklessly endangering safety, false imprisonment, substantial battery involving bodily harm, and criminal damage to property.
Bosar's son, Trevor, spoke at Brice's sentencing hearing Friday. "He was always there when we needed him," Trevor said, stopping several times to choke back sobs. He said his father was killed three weeks after Trevor's wife gave birth to Bosar's first grandson, "but we were robbed of the joy" of seeing Bosar hold his grandson in his lap.
In letters to the court, which were read Friday, Brice's mother, Kim, and sister Kayla were apologetic, and wrote they wished they could turn back time so that Brice could have gotten professional help before the incident on Broadway took place. Neither family member spoke in court.
"I watched him try to take his own life," Kayla wrote. "He never received proper counseling or therapy; he had always been an outcast ... Getting help for mental health has always been an (obstacle) in our house ... I wish I had listened better to signs he was distressed."
Then, appearing to address members of Bosar's family, she added: "I'm sorry for those involved. I wish I could have taken their pain away, but I can't."
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The sentence was longer than the 40 years prosecutor Wendy Lemkuhl and the 30 years defense attorney Brianna Zawada had asked Zakowski to issue.
The judge said there were multiple victims because Brice was found guilty of a number of crimes: He pleaded no-contest to, and was convicted of, stabbing a bartender inside Rockabilly's Saloon, attempting to strike the owner of Rum Runners bar with his car, then stabbing Bosar 18 times with a knife until people from a third area tavern were able to pull Brice off Bosar.
"There are multiple victims, there are multiple crimes here, Wesley," Zakowski said. "You are not a monster, but you were a monster that night. Nobody put a gun to your head and said, 'you have to smoke marijuana, you have to smoke methamphetamine' ... you created this."
Green Bay police said that at about 7:30 p.m. March 15, 2021, Brice attacked a 28-year-old bartender inside Rockabilly's Saloon, 709 S. Broadway. After Brice stabbed the woman in the face, shoulder and leg and pulled her into a bathroom, she escaped to Rum Runners, a bar at 715 S. Broadway. The bartender suffered multiple stab wounds, but survived the attack.
After Brice left the bar, police said, the Rum Runners' owner phoned emergency dispatchers and was describing the incident outside his bar when he saw Brice at the wheel of a car. Brice drove toward the bar owner, who leapt out of the way as the car crashed into a wall of Rum Runners. Brice got out of the car and pointed a knife at the bar owner, then ran toward cars stopped at a nearby railroad crossing. He pulled Bosar from his Jaguar and stabbed him in the chest, shoulder and upper arm.
Moments later, men ran from a third Broadway bar and pulled Brice off Bosar. He was rushed to St. Vincent Hospital for treatment, but died the next day.
When Green Bay police arrested Brice, they said he told them "I am God" and repeatedly said his name.
These other charges against Brice were dismissed but read in when Brice was convicted in October: intimidating a victim by use of force as a repeat offender; substantial battery involving the use of a dangerous weapon; resisting or obstructing an officer as a repeat offender and disorderly conduct.
Contact Doug Schneider at (920) 265-2070, or DSchneid@gannett.com. Follow him on Twitter at @PGDougSchneider
This article originally appeared on Green Bay Press-Gazette: Wesley Brice to be sentenced for stabbing motorist to death in 2021
