A Dane County court sentenced a Green Bay man who stabbed a University of Wisconsin-Madison student several times at the 2011 Mifflin Street Block Party to 2.5 years in prison.
Colin Rosenow, 23, pleaded no contest to first degree recklessly endangering safety, according to the Wisconsin Circuit Court files.
Rosenow stabbed a 21-year-old University of Wisconsin-Madison student multiple times on the 500 block of West Mifflin Street during the 2011 block party, according to Madison Police Department spokesperson Joel DeSpain.
In addition to prison time, the court also ordered Rosenow to face three years of extended supervision, and he is to continue mental health treatment, according to the court.
Ald. Mike Verveer, District 4, who represents the area including Mifflin Street, said Rosenow deserves to be incarcerated.
“I’m pleased that the court sentenced the attacker to real prison time,” Verveer said. “I think it’s only by perhaps sheer dumb luck that the student victim was not murdered that afternoon.”
A second stabbing also occurred at the 2011 Mifflin Street Block Party in addition to injured police officers, fights, sexual assaults and a high number of intoxicated party attendants.
“[The stabbing] cemented for me the notion that it is impossible to make this a safe event,” Verveer said.
The violence, especially the stabbing of a UW-Madison student, led to stricter enforcement laws at the 2012 party and will continue for this year’s inevitable event, according to Verveer.
Mayor Paul Soglin met with police officials for the first time last week to discuss their initial planning for the 2013 block party, although no official steps have been taken.
But Verveer said city and police officials have suggested moving the event off of Mifflin Street to a safer location such as a park or city parking lot.
“For that to happen we need an entity to come forward that would agree to come forward and organize the event and move the event to another location,” Verveer said.
Freakfest 2012, scheduled for late October, is currently the priority of city and police officials, according to Verveer.
