A Venezuelan immigrant living in Gillette charged with aggravated assault in a bloody fight with broken beer bottles canceled a Friday hearing where he’d planned to show the judge he acted in self-defense.

“The hearing … is no longer required as the parties are continuing to engage in plea negotiations in this matter,” says a court filing on behalf of Wilquerman Monsalpe, 30. Monsalpe faces up to 10 years in prison if convicted.

He’s accused of hurling a beer bottle at another man after an argument over whether to send money to a family member in Venezuela to get that person to the United States, according to the case affidavit.

Monsalpe’s attorney Dallas E. Lamb, senior assistant public defender in Gillette, said in the Wednesday filing that he’d let every person who’d been subpoenaed know that the hearing was off.

[Venezuelans showing up in the strangest places… ~ Beege]