U.S. Steps up Pardons, Commutations; Scott Walker Refuses

"President Obama finally used his power to pardon and commute sentences to order the release of 8 low-level drug offenders serving outrageously long sentences, but there are tens of thousands more in the same situation. The DOJ says it’s looking for others with similar sentences to commute," reads an item in FreeThought.

Meanwhile, Scott Walker maintains his refusal to consider pardoning the wrongfully convicted, including Marine combat veteran, Eric Pizer, innocent but convicted Green Bay ex-cop, John Maloney and Penny Brummer of Madison.

So why would a governor refuse to pardon the wrongfully convicted?

Walker says it's because there are probably 1,000s of wrongfully convicted in Wisconsin, hence Walker cannot use his pardon power.

"If you pick one there's thousands of other examples out there of people who may not have the media or other outlets behind them, who would be in an equal position who probably have a compelling case to be made that we don't yet know about," said Walker in an interview with WKOW TV(Madison, Wisconsin), specifically referring to his refusal to consider pardoning or commuting the Pizer case.  

Moronic human garbage.

If Mary Burke had any decency she would issue a press release indicating her intention to pardon Pizer and so many others on Day One of assuming office. 

Running for political office seeking a mandate to correct injustice, now there's a thought.

Wrongfully Convicted: Scott Walker: No Pardons for 1,000s with "Compelling Case" of Innocence

Wisconsin Governor Scott Walker explains why he has granted no
pardons to incarcerated citizens with compelling cases.
"If you pick one there's thousands of other examples out there of
people who may not have the media or other
outlets behind them, who would be in an equal position who
probably have a compelling case to be made that we don't
know about," said Walker in an interview with WKOW TV (Madison).

Update II: Eric Pizer—the Wisconsin man trying to become a cop and blocked by Scott Walker—is Marine Corps Iraq combat veteran.

Update: From WKOW TV (Madison) and Democurmudgeon: Scott Walker's offers an incoherent and truly sociopathic justification behind his policy of not granting pardons:

"If you pick one there's thousands of other examples out there of people who may not have the media or other outlets behind them, who would be in an equal position who probably have a compelling case to be made that we don't yet know about," said Walker in an interview with WKOW.

Walker states there are a lot of people with compelling cases for pardons, so we should pardon none of them. This is a not a logically compelling argument.

Wrongfully convicted? What matters is whether the media or other outlets are behind them, suggests Walker, a bizarre position.

What about innocent Green Bay ex-cop, John Maloney; the innocent Penny Brummer of Madison who police went after because she was an out lesbian, and the innocent Don Miller of Hurley just released on parole? 

And there are surely many more innocents incarcerated.

The great English jurist, William Blackstone, wrote that "the law holds that it is better that ten guilty persons escape, than that one innocent suffer" in his Commentaries on the Laws of England (1769), the source of Common Law in the United States courts, and often cited in opinions in the U.S. Supreme Court of the United States.

Walker went public with his disinclination to pardon in the Spring 2012, although he has broad power vested in Article V, section 6 of the Wisconsin Constitution, after being challenged not to pardon his aides and appointees convicted in WalkerGate. 

In Feb, 12, 2012, this mal contends site challenged Walker not to pardon his personally appointed, long time aide, Tim Russell.

"Gov. Scott Walker says he won't pardon anyone charged in the ongoing John Doe investigation of former aides who worked for him as Milwaukee County executive," Walker later said in a Wisconsin Public Radio report in May 30, 2012.

Jason Stein of the Journal Sentinel reported Barrett's call a week before the Recall Election in June 2012:

Milwaukee Mayor Tom Barrett stepped up his criticism of Gov. Scott Walker on Tuesday by questioning whether [Walker] would pardon any of his aides charged in a John Doe investigation.

“I want to be certain that we’re not going to have this election and he’s going to turn around and pardon all these aides of his who have been charged,” he said after a campaign stop at a Baraboo coffee shop. “I just want him to say that he’s never going to pardon any of these people. These are close associates of his.” (MJS. May 29, 2012)

Walker spokesman Cullen Werwie actually thinks the power of clemency and commutation belongs to the Judiciary branch. Gov. Walker "believes these decisions are best left up to the courts," Blogging Blue writes, notwithstanding Article V, section 6 of the Wisconsin Constitution which reads:

SECTION 6. [Pardoning power.] The governor shall have power to grant reprieves, commutations and pardons, after conviction, for all offenses, except treason and cases of impeachment, upon such conditions and with such restrictions and limitations as he may think proper, subject to such regulations as may be provided by law relative to the manner of applying for pardons. Upon conviction for treason he shall have the power to suspend the execution of the sentence until the case shall be reported to the legislalure at its next meeting, when the legislature shall either pardon, or commute the sentence, direct the execution of the sentence, or grant a further reprieve. He shall annually communicate to the legislature each case of reprieve, commutation or pardon granted, stating the name of the convict, the crime of which he was convicted, the sentence and its date, and the date of the commutation, pardon or reprieve, with his reasons for granting the same.

When Walker implies 1,000s of people do not rightfully belong in prison, and Walker justifies this state of affairs by saying not all advocacy groups and media support are, equal this seems capricious and bloodless.

And Walker's chief spokesperson doesn't even know to what branch of government the power of commutations and pardons belongs.

Does Scott Walker hear himself when he suggests there are 1,000s of innocents in Wisconsin prisons and jails, but as they all do not have the same advocates and media attention so they should all stay in prison?

From Tony Galli at WKOW:

Wrongfully Convicted: Innocent Green Bay Cop Was Prosecuted by Felon, Joe Paulus

Green Bay ex-cop, John Maloney was
wrongfully prosecuted by a Wisconsin DA
who later was convicted on federal corruption
and bribery charges. Maloney still is incarcerated
after 12 outside experts unequivocally said
there was no crime, and after former DA
Paulus admitted Paulus fixed 22 crimes and civil
violations for money in a blatant corruption of office.

John Maloney - Deplorable Lack of Evidence That Convicted and Imprisoned an Innocent Man for Life

Updated - Here's a quick overview taken from John Maloney's site.

Corrupt prosecutors and Wisconsin DoJ investigators tried to claim that a respected Green Bay police officer killed his wife by pouring a bottle of vodka in front of where his alcoholic wife (diagnosed at the Mayo Clinic with Arnold-Chiari Malformation (ACM)) who had a bad drug problem was found dead in 1998.

No evidence, no problem.

Not when the prosecution is corrupt and criminal—DoJ investigators Kim Skorlinski, Greg Eggum; and former Winnebago District Attorney and convicted felon, Joe Paulus (whereabouts unknown), and his former second chair, Vince Biskupic (resigned after misconduct), twisted facts through the trial alleging there was something evil at every turn in this rightwing community.

There was, in fact, no murder and no arson. There are plenty of prosecutors and DOJ investigators who acting with impunity to find crimes and persecute innocents.

Mrs. Maloney died of an overdose of alcohol (and likely many of he drugs she favored) and the fire started when she dropped her lit cigarette (as she often did) into the sofa cushion as she lost consciousness.

John Zakowski was Brown County DA at the time Sandy Maloney died, and he appointed his good buddy and future felon, Joe Paulus, as special prosecutor.

Yeah, Joe Paulus, with his zealous commitment to truth, is unshakable.

Zaworski is now a Brown County judge who worked with Attorney General Van Hollen in 2011 on the expansion of the state's election fraud task force, a GOP obsession that claims massive felony crimes though not one case of in-person voter fraud has been prosecuted out of tens of millions of votes casts in Wisconsin.

It never occurred to these people — Paulus, Van Hollen, Biskupic, Zaworski, and DoJ former investigators, Skorlinski and Eggum — that convicting and incarcerating an innocent man is a crime, an imprecation against humanity.

Mayo Clinic diagnosed Arnold-Chiari Malformation (ACM) - See more at: http://john-maloney.org/background.htm#sthash.HdVclUl3.dpand wife was found dead.

Over a dozen outside experts unequivocally say no

Over a dozen outside experts unequivocally said there was no crime in the John Maloney case, but the trial and appellate attorney did not mention these facts.

"Flawed forensics may have played a part in the conviction of former Green Bay police officer John Maloney, who is serving a life sentence for the fatal 1998 fire that killed his estranged wife, Sandra. The state alleged Maloney, a fire investigator for the Green Bay Police Department, set the blaze by pouring vodka on the floor in front of the couch where his wife was found," notes Dee Hall, (Wisconsin State Journal; May 18, 2011)

After Maloney's conviction, James Munger, a prominent fire investigator and former Alabama deputy state fire marshal, tried to re-create the scenario using the same type of carpeting. But it didn't work: Vodka is mostly water, and it failed to ignite for more than a few seconds.

A criminal defendant enjoys the presumption of innocence. The prosecution must prove its allegations at trial beyond a reasonable doubt.

Not in Winnebago County. Not in Brown County. Not in east-central Wisconsin.

John Maloney, a veteran cop in Green Bay never thought he could become the target of the justice system in which he placed so much faith. When his estranged, addicted wife, Sandy, was found dead in her fire-damaged home, John learned how swiftly he could be convicted and sentenced to life in prison.

Fire investigator Munger said the case against Officer Maloney is based on "junk science."

You want to know how junk science kills innocents when no rigor is used to convict an innocent man? Read David Grann's Trial by Fire. The state of Texas killed an innocent man, and bragged about it.

Junk science, that's the standard we use against police when corrupt prosecutors conspire, that would be Winnebago County DA Joe Paulus and his loyal deputy, Vince Biskupic.

District Attorney and his Deputy DA, Vince Biskupic are a piece of work—Winnebago County DA Joe Paulus (who served as DA from 1988 to 2002, until Paulus lost reelection and was convicted on federal charges of misconduct in public office and conspiracy to obstruct justice), and Deputy DA Vince Biskupic: "Winnebago County District Attorney Joe Paulus was convicted and served six years in federal prison after admitting to state and federal charges that he fixed 22 criminal and traffic cases in exchange for bribes," notes Jennifer K. Woldt in the Oshkosh Northwestern, July 13, 2013.

No one, and I mean no one in Oshkosh believes that number of malicious and corrupt prosecutions stops at 22.

But writer Woldt's piece cited above does not even focus on Paulus, its subject is Paulus' Deputy DA Vince Biskupic, and his cases are being overturned as innocent people are finally being ordered freed after the Paulus-Biskupic prosecutions are examined.

Biskupic came from the same pit of slime as Paulus, using jailhouse informers, incentivized testimony, withholding exculpatory evidence, and conspiring with Paulus to convict innocents in exchange for money.

Of course, in east-central Wisconsin, dirty cops and prosecutors can rise to the Wisconsin Judiciary where characters like Biskupic are free to destroy more lives.

Paulus, according to a October 2008 report: "With credit for good behavior, the former Winnebago County district attorney is expected to be released from a federal prison camp in Pensacola, Fla. on Nov. 15. He was sentenced to 58 months in his 2004 bribery case. Paulus was convicted of taking $48,000 in kickbacks from a defense attorney in exchange for reducing charges in 22 cases. ... Paulus still must serve a 2-year sentence on state charges of obstruction of justice and misconduct in office."

Paulus' lackey, Biskupic, today is a member of the Wisconsin Bar in good standing, working out of an office in Appleton.

Let's hope John Maloney gets a new trial because that trial would be a slamdunk.

On April 22, 1999 John Maloney was sentenced to life in prison with no chance of parole for 25 years

Sandra Maloney died the night before the final hearing of the divorce petition her husband.
For some unknown reason -- a real suicide attempt, or a call for help --
Sandy strung up an electrical extension cord like a noose in her basement

From the Case Files:

Sandra Maloney died the night before the final hearing of the divorce petition her husband, John, had filed.  She had lost custody of her children and could only see them in a public place, under supervision of a third party.  Her boyfriend had broken up with her because of her drinking, and he wouldn't even take her calls.  Her days consisted of drinking, smoking cigarettes and, when she could get them, taking prescription medications like clonazepam.  Sandy wrote suicide notes and left them around the house.  She also left cigarettes to burn on furniture and counter tops, even when an ashtray was adjacent.  For some unknown reason -- a real suicide attempt, or a call for help -- Sandy strung up an electrical extension cord like a noose in her basement. 

Eager to turn Sandy's death into murder and the fire into arson -- and to convict a cop of both crimes -- the Wisconsin Dept. of Justice criminal investigators, Kim Skorlinski and Greg Eggum, and then prosecutor Joe Paulus and his second chair, Vince Biskupic, twisted facts and injected sex at every turn.

According to them, Tracy was about to leave John -- with whom she had just signed a one-year lease on a rental house -- because his divorce was taking too long.  So during the same 30-minute "window of opportunity" when John was building bunk beds, he drove to Sandy's house, forced his way in, argued with her about showing up for the divorce hearing, hit her, strangled her, then took off her shirt and placed it in the clothes hamper in the basement.  Then John lit and power smoked a pack of cigarettes, leaving them to burn down all over the house, poured 80-proof vodka on a towel, laid one end on the sofa where Sandy's body was located and set the other end on fire.  After all that, he locked the storm door from the outside with a key he disposed of somewhere along the line, and arrived home before anyone missed him.

Tracy became the prosecution's best helper, especially after Joe Paulus told her it was going to be John or her, and he didn't care which one he convicted.  She starred in hour after hour after hour of hidden videotaping, in Green Bay, Madison and, finally, Las Vegas. And once John was charged, it was confirmed that the secret tapes were studded with a flow of expletives and slightly off-camera sex acts between the two.

The public in general and the jury in particular ate up the scandal-sheet spin.  Jurors watched intently, trying to figure out when they were doing "it" and what exactly they were doing when they did "it."  Joe Paulus was so persuasive that he convinced jurors that they saw things that simply were not on the video.

And where was the great defense attorney, Gerald Boyle, during all this?  There was more than enough evidence that no crimes had occurred in the first place, but no one heard about that from him.  Forensic experts cost too much, and he was "desperate for money" back then, so he didn't hire any.  He prosecuted Tracy,  And tried to cut a movie deal, but that was actually for himself, for the money.  And when John was convicted, Gerald Boyle filed the appeal, thus framing the issues.

What Gerald Boyle didn't let slip by failing to preserve at trial, he waived in the appeal. 

Timeline and Attorney Gerald Boyle

It the same time Joe Paulus and the DCI investigators were building a timeline to support their theory that John had a window of opportunity in which he could have killed Sandy and set fire to her house, another timeline was building in the background.  It was a simple and deeply disturbing timeline that no judge or jury would review. It supports a reasonable and legitimate inference that the special prosecutor, Tracy’s attorney and John’s attorney conspired to frame John Maloney for Sandy’s death.

•   May 2, 1998:  Tracy retains Steve Kohn to represent her regarding Sandy’s death.
•  May 8, 1998:  At Tracy’s insistence and on her lawyer’s recommendation, John phones Gerald Boyle, Kohn's former boss, and retains Boyle to represent him regarding Sandy’s death.
•  May 16, 1998:  John, along with Tracy, meets in person with his lawyer and pays a retainer. Tracy’s behavior is bizarre.  Boyle says Tracy is the one person John can trust.
• June 2, 1998:  Paulus and Kohn have sketched out a “use immunity” agreement in exchange for Tracy’s “cooperation”; Paulus gives S/A Skorlinski a list of Tracy’s records to be turned over by the IRS.
• June 8, 1998:  Tracy’s “use immunity” agreement is formalized, and she agrees to participate in one party “surveillance” taping to elicit a confession from John.

And why would John's own lawyer throw his client under a bus?  Money.

In 1997, Gerald Boyle borrowed $400,000 at high interest from a venture capitalist to finance a high profile case that he won at trial but lost on appeal.  By 1998, paying off the loan had become a huge problem.  Boyle later testified that, during this time, he was "desperate for money."

Joe Paulus, already a Republican golden boy for his extreme conservative views, believed that getting the state's first conviction of a police officer for first degree murder would enhance his chance for appointment as U.S. Attorney.

From 1998 through 2000--roughly the same time period that Gerald Boyle represented John--Joe Paulus took bribes to fix criminal cases prosecuted by his office.  The bribes totaled $50,000.

Paulus lost the Republican primary for re-election in 2002, after it was revealed that he participated in sexual hijinks in his office, during office hours.

When Paulus couldn't find another job, Gerald Boyle took him in as a partner, renaming the practice "Boyle, Boyle and Paulus," and specifically telling the Maloney family, at a press conference, "Go to hell."

In 2004, Joe Paulus was charged in federal court with taking bribes to fix cases and evading taxes.  He was sentenced to 5 1/2 years in prison.  The State of Wisconsin conducted its own investigation, gave Paulus immunity from prosecution in exchange for "honest answers" to its questions and limited his jail exposure to 18 months, which he served in the federal system.

The Maloney case is one of 22 cases identified by local prosecutors as potential wrongful convictions.  The record of the state's investigation is sealed, and no action has been taken in those 22 cases.  Paulus never publicly disclosed what he did with the money.

On Vodka

Independent experts have reviewed this case, pro bono, and agree that there was no murder, no arson.  But none of the real evidence has been heard by any court.

A 2006 series by reporter Dee Hall of the Wisconsin State Journal took a closer look at the scientific foundation for the state's claim that the Maloney fire was arson -- a claim the state has vigorously refused to re-examine.  - See more at: http://john-maloney.org/evidence.htm#sthash.2F6lQOau.dpuf

Independent experts have reviewed this case, pro bono, and agree that there was no murder, no arson.  But none of the real evidence has been heard by any court.

A 2006 series by reporter Dee Hall of the Wisconsin State Journal took a closer look at the scientific foundation for the state's claim that the Maloney fire was arson -- a claim the state [under a Wisconsin GOP attorney general) has vigorously refused to re-examine.

Independent experts have reviewed this case, pro bono, and agree that there was no murder, no arson.  But none of the real evidence has been heard by any court.

A 2006 series by reporter Dee Hall of the Wisconsin State Journal took a closer look at the scientific foundation for the state's claim that the Maloney fire was arson -- a claim the state has vigorously refused to re-examine.  - See more at: http://john-maloney.org/evidence.htm#sthash.2F6lQOau.dpuf