Wilber gets 5.5 years for hurting father, nephew

A Keshena man, sentenced Friday to 5½ years in prison for severely injuring his father and a nephew with a utility knife, said he will leave the Menominee Reservation after completing his prison term.

It was Darin K. Wilber Jr.’s second conviction in about 10 years for assault with a dangerous weapon which had left his victims seriously injured.

“This is a serious offense, but one of most tragic things about it, you attacked your own father and a nephew. You called (your father) your best friend, who taught you to hunt and fish, and you attacked him with a box knife and cut him up pretty badly,” District Judge William Griesbach said during the Zoom sentencing hearing. “When a nephew comes to help him, he gets cut up, too.”

In 2011, Wilber was sentenced to five years in prison for beating a man with a baton and stabbing him with a steak knife after “drinking a significant amount of alcohol,” according to court records.

After prison, Wilber was employed at a casino as a housekeeper and received awards for his work but he returned to substance abuse, this time methamphetamine and alcohol, his attorney, Krista Halla-Valdes, wrote the court.

Last November, Wilber argued with his father about having to pay rent and left to go drinking and use methamphetamines. He returned drunk and high to his father’s house, on Lyons Road in Keshena and fought with his father when he saw that his things were packed up and some items were missing.

The fight became physical, and Wilber slashed his father with a utility knife. When his nephew intervened and hit Wilber with a wooden table leg, Wilber slashed him, too, according to court documents.

Wilber was arrested and taken into custody. His father and nephew were transported to ThedaCare Medical Center in Shawano. Wilber’s nephew received 63 stitches to close wounds that exposed tendon and nerve fiber in his upper arm. He was referred to a shoulder specialist in Appleton for further treatment.

Wilber’s father received 60 sutures to close deep laceration under his right ribcage, left arm and shoulder and his right hand.

Wilber pleaded guilty in February to assault with a dangerous weapon and face a sentence from an advisory guideline range of 41 to 51 months in prison.

Halla-Valdes didn’t oppose a sentence within the guideline range saying that Wilber knows he will serve some prison time and afterward, leaving the reservation may be the best thing for him.

“He has struggled on the reservation with its lack of transportation and work. And, he’s known there. He was always involved with people using alcohol and drugs. He needs to leave that area, and that’s his plan,” she said.

Wilber, 36, agreed that he would do better away from the reservation.

“I’m at the point in my life where I want to do better. I want to learn Spanish and sign language and become a productive member of society,” he told the judge.

Griesbach said that times was running out for Wilber to grow up and stay away from drugs and alcohol, which he has proven that he can’t handle.

Griesbach adopted Assistant U.S. Attorney Andrew Maier’s recommendation of a sentence above the guidelines which arguably don’t reflect the number of people injured and the seriousness of their injuries.

The judge said an even longer sentence could be imposed but was hopeful that the “fright or shame” of Wilber attacking his own father and nephew will matter to him.

Wilber is currently in custody in the Brown County Jail awaiting a transfer to a federal prison.