ST. CLOUD – A Stearns County judge on Thursday sentenced a 25-year-old Sauk Rapids man to 20 years in prison in the stabbing death of a St. Cloud man in March.
Marquis J. Fisher was charged with three felonies after the death of 36-year-old Shane M. Brunner.
According to the criminal complaint, police were called to a home in the 600 block of 12th Avenue N. in St. Cloud just after 9 p.m. on March 13 on a report of a stabbing. Brunner told police in the 911 call that Fisher was the person who stabbed him.
Responding officers found Brunner with stab wounds on his lower back and buttocks; he was bleeding profusely and starting to lose consciousness. Brunner was taken to St. Cloud Hospital for emergency surgery. The Midwest Medical Examiner’s Office reported that he died from his injuries the following day.
Witnesses told police Fisher got into an altercation with the victim and stabbed him with a hunting knife, the complaint states. When police arrested Fisher the following day, he had “what appeared to be a fresh cut on his hand,” the complaint states.
In August, a jury found him guilty of one count of second-degree murder without intent and acquitted him of one count of second-degree murder with intent.
Judge Shan Wang sentenced Fisher to 20 years in prison with credit for the 231 days he’s spent in jail.
An obituary for Brunner says he loved biking on country roads, fishing, garage sales and his pets. It states he had a “sense of humor like no other” and a big heart, noting he often helped people facing hardship.
