A Madison man involved in a fatal stabbing outside a downtown Madison bar in September was convicted in Dane County court Wednesday on two felony charges, while the alleged killer is still awaiting trial.
Travis Knapp, 34, plead no contest to harboring a felon and bail jumping in connection with the deadly fight outside the Plaza Tavern Sept. 3 that killed 22-year-old Juan Bernal. Knapp faces a sentence of no more than two years behind bars based on District Attorney Brian Blanchard's recommendations.
According to a criminal complaint, Knapp, Bernal and 34-year-old Justin Stout were drinking at the Henry Street establishment when an altercation broke out over music playing on the tavern's jukebox. The men went outside the Plaza's doorway, where Bernal placed Stout in a headlock and hit him on the head as Bernal's friends pulled Knapp away from the brawl by his jacket.
After escaping from Bernal's headlock, the complaint states that Stout allegedly stabbed Bernal twice in the heart. Knapp said Stout handed him the knife used in the stabbing, which he then tossed before fleeing down West Gilman Street toward State Street.
Witnesses were able to chase down Knapp and detain him until police arrived. Police later found Stout at his apartment in Master Hall on West Gilman Street by following a trail of blood drops from wounds Stout sustained during the altercation.
Knapp was awaiting sentencing on a substantial battery charge after a February incident in which he punched a woman outside the Pub Tavern on State Street. He was ordered to abstain from drinking, but Assistant District Attorney Mike Verveer previously said Knapp's blood alcohol level was .13 percent at the time of the Plaza stabbing, a violation that resulted in the bail-jumping charge.
Stout is charged with first-degree reckless homicide and is awaiting a trial scheduled to begin in March.
