A Gillett man charged with taking a hostage during a standoff with sheriff’s deputies in Wittenberg in April entered a plea of no contest Wednesday under an agreement that found him not guilty by reason of insanity.
Travis W. Keiler, 29, will now undergo a pre-disposition review by the state Department of Health Services before the court decides where he goes from here and for how long.
Keiler could still face a maximum penalty of 40 years in an institution on the charge of taking a hostage. He could also face a maximum 3½ years on a felony count of failing to comply with an officer’s attempt to take him into custody.
Misdemeanor counts of disorderly conduct and carrying a concealed weapon were dismissed under the plea agreement.
Shawano-Menominee County District Attorney Greg Parker said there would be no recommendation until he sees the pre-disposition report.
That report will be the subject of a hearing scheduled for Aug. 26. In the meantime, Keiler is being held at Shawano County Jail on a $50,000 cash bond.
Keiler was arrested April 22 after a two-hour standoff. He was accused of going armed into the Wittenberg Shell station and McDonald’s, 413 N. Genesee St., where he said he “wanted to shoot it out with the police,” according to the criminal complaint.
Keiler let everyone out of the building except for a lone McDonald’s employee, whom he kept as a hostage for about an hour.
Keiler told a hostage negotiator he had quit his job in De Pere and had been driving around before ending up at the Wittenberg Shell station.
The negotiator convinced Keiler to release his hostage as a sign of good faith after about an hour. Keiler surrendered peacefully an hour after that.
Keiler entered a plea of not guilty by reason of mental disease or defect at a hearing last month and a psychological evaluation was ordered.
Parker said at Wednesday’s hearing that the state was accepting the psychologist’s conclusion that Keiler qualified for the insanity plea.
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