Former South Winneshiek student agrees to be sentenced on an amended charge in connection with last June's incident

Posted: Tue, Jun 4, 2019 5:43 PM

18-year-old Braxton Smith, one of five South Winneshiek High School students facing charges in connection with an incident last June at a home west of Spillville, on Tuesday entered a no contest plea to an amended charge in the case.

Smith had originally been charged with aggravated assault with intent to commit sexual assault, an aggravated misdemeanor carrying a maximum possible penalty of two years in jail. That charge was later changed to False Imprisonment, a serious misdemeanor with a maximum possible sentence of one year in jail.

On Tuesday Smith entered an Alford plea--a "no contest" plea--to a simple misdemeanor charge of Contributing to the Delinquency of a Minor. He will not spend time in jail for the charge, instead he will serve a self-probation for 6 months. At the end of that time--on November 19th at 9:00 a.m.--he will appear before a judge for a hearing on whether he complied with the terms of the sentence.

Smith will also pay $65 in fines and applicable court costs

The other four defendants in the case are minors, so their cases were handled in Juvenile Court, whose records are not open to the public.