Update: Madison Police Chief Noble Wray's cops were vicious punks who knew that Wray always had their backs for whatever they did to the public. See Madison Bartender: 'The police almost killed this guy.'
Madison, Wisconsin — Attorney General Josh Kaul (D) signals he'll cover up Kenosha police misconduct in his announcement that he chose a retired police chief to review the Dept of Justice investigation of Kenosha cop Rusten Sheskey's shooting Jacob S. Blake seven times in the back.
Kaul said he chose retired Madison Police Chief Noble Wray to review the DoJ mandated probe at the request of Kenosha County District Attorney Michael Graveley (D), (Wisconsin Dept of Justice).
Using Wray as a consultant puts a black face on the expected coming no-charge decision. The appointment of Wray follows weeks of the DoJ releasing shaded facts and half truths to justify a no-charge decision against the racist cop Sheskey.
Wray's Troubled Tenure
Wray served as police chief from 2004-13, overseeing the Madison Police militarization, including the notorious new normal killing-first policy that drove Mayor Paul Soglin to defeat in 2018.
Noble Wray's tenure includes his steadfast defense of the infamous 2012 police killing of Paul Heenan.
Wray specifically defended the racist cop Stephen Heimsness' killing of the innocent Heenan.
Writes Madison human rights activist, Amelia Royko Maurer:
Kenosha D.A. Gravely and AG Josh Kaul have chosen former Madison Police Chief Noble Wray to review the Jacob Blake investigative file. They’re doing this because they believe that Wray’s identity alone will pacify those within the Black communities of Wisconsin who have been protesting Blake’s murder. They are doing this so they can say “how can the exoneration of Blake’s murderer be racist if it was done by a Black man?”
While a nice man, Chief Wray is the least objective and impartial person they could have found for this review. He is a “company man” through and through. Let’s briefly review who Chief Wray is and some of what he did here in Madison.
Chief Wray clearly wishes to make a name for himself as a police oversight expert and so it makes sense that over the past year, Wray lobbied against the Civilian Oversight Board (that won’t employ former MPD officers) claiming it wasn't necessary since we have the Police and Fire Commission knowing full well the two are completely different entities with different functions and under different jurisdiction.
Chief Wray also tried to convince the Madison Common Council that the Internal Monitor (that can’t be a former MPD officer) was unnecessary and would cause friction between the chief and the mayor. As two separate chiefs and one expert in civilian oversight put it “if the chief has nothing to hide, the have nothing to fear.”. But Chief Wray had a lot to hide so it makes complete sense for him to have advocated against civilian oversight and objectively impartial oversight period.
Chief Wray was Madison’s police chief in 2012, when Paulie Heenan was murdered by then Officer Steve Heimsness. Wray, being anything but objective, exonerated Heimsness in the media a couple days after Paulie was murdered and a full month before the criminal investigation was complete. Half of the Madison Police Department thought Heimsness was going to jail but Wray told me 8 times (because I asked him 8 times) that he trusted our lives in Heimsness’ hands. He refused to allow an external review of the criminal investigation. He found Heimsness to be honorable, honest and good. He said this knowing that Heimsness had been accused of hazing a female officer and lying about it - a case he was forced (by that same female officer, Sarah Mackasey) to reopen after exonerating Heimsness. Only then did he find 118 reasons to fire Heimsness including but murdering an unarmed man wasn’t one of them.
The list of Heimsness’s offenses include stealing, hazing, saying racist things, harassment, making statements about murdering people and hours before he murdered Paulie he wrote that he was "the right cop for the wrong job, no witnesses, no problem.” Much of what he got in trouble for was written on the police messaging system. His behavior and Wray’s negligence in oversight led to the destruction of an officer's job.
The Madison chief prior to Wray had a policy for reviewing the police messaging data system but Wray had discontinued it. He didn’t seem to oversee or manage much actually and any progressive steps towards shifting power away from punitive responses to restorative ones were ones that he was forced into.
Sometime in 2013, retired Captain of Training and Personnel Chief Maples called Wray out for failing to promote any BIPOC or women in general to meaningful positions. He had flanked himself with conservative white men and did little to make the department safe for anyone else.
This all being said, we have a presidential election coming up, racism is a hot topic for the candidates and this is currently the most high profile case in the country. Also, Blake survived. Wray doesn’t take risks where the gain isn’t obvious to him and it is much safer for Law Enforcement, the AG, the DA to find an officer in the wrong if the victim is still alive and in this case, hiring Wray takes the pressure off of the DA and Kenosha’s Chief. Wray might have more to gain in finding the officer at fault but whatever decision he does make will be about what he has to gain from it and not justice, at all.
Other cops who worked in Wray's regime — Justin Bailey, Gary Pihlaja and Matt Kenny — later gunned down Ashley DiPiazza in 2014, and Tony Robinson in 2015.
Wray never issued a public statement objecting to any Madison police killings.
Noble Wray is putting on a show now; he will give his imprimatur to another sordid story of Wisconsin law enforcement.
The Wisconsin Dept of Justice Sept 21, 2020 press release is reproduced below:
UPDATE: Kenosha Officer-Involved Shooting
Sep 21 2020
KENOSHA, Wis. Wisconsin Attorney General Josh Kaul and Kenosha County District Attorney Michael Graveley today provided an update regarding the investigation of the officer-involved shooting (OIS) of Jacob Blake.
At DA Graveley’s request, AG Kaul has identified a consultant to review the investigative file and provide the district attorney with an analysis of the incident. DA Graveley and AG Kaul agree that having such an analysis prepared for the district attorney’s consideration will serve the interests of justice in this case. The consultant identified by AG Kaul, who is being retained by DA Graveley, is Wisconsin native and retired Madison, Wis. Police Chief Noble Wray.
The shooting of Mr. Blake has been vigorously and thoroughly investigated. At this time, the Wisconsin Department of Justice (DOJ) Division of Criminal Investigation (DCI) is in the final stages of its investigation, and it will soon provide the investigative file to Chief Wray. While investigative files from DCI’s investigations of OIS cases contain reports regarding the relevant facts, they do not contain charging recommendations.
The next phase in this case will be Chief Wray’s review of the file and preparation of his analysis. Chief Wray’s analysis will assist the district attorney in his review of the facts and their relationship with standard law enforcement practices as he makes a charging decision.
“At the request of DA Graveley, I have identified an independent expert who can help ensure a just outcome in this case,” said Attorney General Kaul. “Noble Wray is a longtime Wisconsin resident and a widely respected retired Madison Police Chief who has extensive experience in law enforcement, including experience at the national level as a police reform specialist for the U.S. Department of Justice.”
When DCI is the lead investigating agency of a shooting involving a law enforcement officer, DCI aims to provide its reports of the incident to the prosecutor within 30 days. In this case, the prosecutor has directed that those reports be forwarded to a consultant for review and analysis. Following review and analysis by the consultant, the prosecutor will confer with the consultant, review the reports of the investigation, and then make an independent determination about what charges, if any, are appropriate. If the prosecutor determines there is no basis for prosecution of the law enforcement officer, and no other circumstances prevent the release, DCI will thereafter make the reports available to the public.
DOJ has previously provided the following information:
On the evening of Sunday, August 23, 2020, Kenosha Police Department officers were dispatched to a residence in the 2800 block of 40th Street after a female caller reported that her boyfriend was present and was not supposed to be on the premises.
During the incident, officers attempted to arrest Jacob S. Blake, age 29. After the initial attempt to arrest Mr. Blake, Kenosha Police Officer Rusten Sheskey deployed a taser to attempt to stop Mr. Blake. When that attempt failed, Kenosha Police Officer Vincent Arenas also deployed his taser, however that taser was also not successful in stopping Mr. Blake.
Mr. Blake walked around his vehicle, opened the driver’s side door, and leaned forward. While holding onto Mr. Blake’s shirt, Officer Rusten Sheskey fired his service weapon 7 times. Officer Sheskey fired the weapon towards Mr. Blake’s back. No other officer fired their weapon. Kenosha Police Department does not have body cameras, therefore the officers were not wearing body cameras.
The shooting officer, Kenosha Police Officer Rusten Sheskey, has been a law enforcement officer with Kenosha Police Department for seven years. Kenosha Police Officer Vincent Arenas has served with Kenosha Police Department since February 2019, with prior service with the United States Capitol Police Department. Also present was Kenosha Police Officer Brittany Meronek who joined Kenosha Police Department in January of this year.
During the investigation following the initial incident, Mr. Blake admitted that he had a knife in his possession. DCI agents recovered a knife from the driver’s side floorboard of Mr. Blake’s vehicle. A search of the vehicle located no additional weapons.
Law enforcement immediately provided medical aid to Mr. Blake. Flight for Life transported Mr. Blake to Froedtert Hospital in Milwaukee.
DCI is leading this investigation and is assisted by the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), Wisconsin State Patrol and Kenosha County Sheriff’s Office. All involved law enforcement are fully cooperating with DCI during this investigation. The involved officers have been placed on administrative leave.
DCI, along with the FBI, have completed the following as part of the investigation:
Conducted 88 witness interviews,
Collected 102 evidence items,
Downloaded 28 videos for review,
Issued 4 search warrants, and,
Dedicated over 600 hours working on this case as of Saturday, August 29, 2020.
DCI is continuing to review evidence and determine the facts of this incident and will turn over investigative reports to a prosecutor following a complete and thorough investigation.
No additional details are currently available.
Please direct all media inquiries regarding this incident to DOJ.
