Wisconsin Attorney General Picks Cop Defender, 'Company Man,' to Review Probe of Killer Kenosha Cop

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.

Madison, Wisconsin — A Young Generation Inspires

Minneapolis? Baltimore? This is Madison, Wisconsin
in 2015, with an enlightened police force that Chief
Mike Koval (ret) described as "cordial." In the shot
above just a bit more force and this non-violent,
young protester objecting to police killing could have
been the recipient of a police-inflicted fractured
vertebrae. Or choked to death. Quite sure that would
have been good for a few chuckles from Madison
Police. Photo: Reproduced from video by
Leslie Amsterdam

Madison, Wisconsin — A beautiful June Sunday at James Madison Park near the UW-Madison campus saw a crowd of some 150 people speaking on police violence and racism, behind a sign calling for the resignation of Matt Kenny, a killer employed by the Madison Police Dept.

Young park and beach-goers lounged near-by on blankets taking in the Sun, Lake Mendota and determined voices calling for justice.

Four years before, after Madison Police killed another human being in 2016, Mayor Paul Soglin (ret) said he lied in bed, thinking, "We’ve got a problem here," (WISC-TV, Mal Contends).

The perceived problem was not racism, not police entitlement to kill, not the ingrained adversarial attitude towards the public.

No, Soglin assured us, the problem is people don't follow police orders quickly enough, and Soglin was helpless to stop the police from killing.

This exemplified Soglin's problem, and not just Soglin's.

Said Soglin in an incredible statement:

We have to get to a point where it's understood, unequivocally, that when a police officer gives an order and gives a command that the only options are to fully cooperate or to go limp. Resistance is not an option. ... I'm very concerned, as we go further into the summer and the Fourth of July [2016] weekend, that if we get situations where police are called and it's a situation where they have to protect property and lives and they give an order, that they are not followed and obeyed.

Soglin' statement was bloodless, a typical reaction to what had become routine police killings, and hostile dealings from the black-and-blue, trained into delusions of monarchy.

Four years later, in 2020 Black Lives Matter and young police abolitionists across the nation are acclaiming humanity against police, against getting blinded permanently as police shoot out eyes with rubber bullets, as police beat, gas, pepper-spray, and arrest citizens for speaking the truth.

On a societal-level, a cult has developed in America, and police, "officers," are demi-gods — their every screamed whim and command is to be followed to the letter, or you faced imprisonment, death, beating, jailing, charge-stacking, defamation, character assassination, years in prison, or $1,000s in fines.

In Madison, the mayor had the cops' backs, (Isthmus, Mal Contends).

Soglin never encountered police killings to which he publicly objected, even going so far as to complain about several multi-million-dollar settlements with grieving families, victims of police assassinations.

See, for example:

• Ashley DiPiazza, gunned down by Madison Police in 2014, resulting in a record $7 Million verdict against Madison. A new record, and still standing
• Tony Robinson, gunned down by Madison Police in 2015, resulting in a $3.5 Million settlement against Madison. A short-lived record 
• Paul Heenan, gunned down by Madison Police in 2012, resulting in a $2.3 Million settlement against Madison. A short-lived record

The city of Madison criticized every settlement.

These three young people were gunned down by miserable people to whom life means little.

The partial list of killings above is not intended to minimize other police killings here, bogus arrests and citations, harassment and inflicted trauma. For that, the community deserves $100s of millions.

But reinsurance companies speak loudly. So, police reluctantly adopted a policy mandating, roughly, thinking before shooting.

Even as the Wisconsin citizenry increasingly said, 'no' to police killing, police unions and associations and then Chief, 'never-saw-a-killer-cop-I-didn't-like' Mike Koval bemoaned the new thinking-before-killing policy.

For victims of killer cops, trauma is never healed. Not ever. No matter the time passed.

It got to the point where even civil liberties and objecting community groups normalized police killing in Madison.

In 2016, a local group, the Boys and Girls Club of Dane County, announced it was hosting a "discussion for teens to teach them how to interact with police. The teens will receive 10 rules that can help them deal with police encounters. Law enforcement officers have also been invited to join the conversation to talk about the importance of de-escalation tactics and how they respond to these incidents without taking someone's life," (Mal Contends).

This discussion occurred days after Soglin publicly gave his renewed green light to cops to kill citizens.

Here are some rules, Johnny and Suzie, these will help police not to kill you. And for you police, here's how not to kill. Jesus.

I recall thinking, instead of a class on how not to be killed, blocking down the operation of the City is needed. Noone should ever have to receive lessons on how not to be killed, not from parents, not from community groups.

The next year, in 2017, Soglin's ally, outspoken Chief Koval (ret), said he canceled his subscription to watch NFL games amid "taking a knee" protests against racism and police brutality that he termed "self-absorbed ... diatribe," (WISC-TV).

Black folks taking a knee was too much for Koval to handle.

Three months prior to Chief Koval's insight on the nature of those protesting police violence, Lt. (then Det) Angela Kamoske of the Madison, Wisconsin Police Dept sent a letter to the St. Paul Pioneer Press on June 25, 2017 objecting to the police execution of Philando Castile in neighboring Minnesota.

It's was an extraordinary communication at the time; cops typically do not voice objection to their fellow cops executing the citizenry, much less a letter from a cop in a different state.

Soglin is gone. Koval retired because he was turned down after he requested more cops. Kamoske was promoted to Lt.

There is a new mayor, Satya Rhodes-Conway, who actually gives a damn about people.

Soglin lost badly to Rhodes-Conway, in the April 2019 election in large part because Soglin was perceived as out-of-touch and uncaring.

Groups such Urban Triage and Freedom, Inc work with 1,000s to keep pounding the message that Black lives do matter, and police need to act like human beings — controversial positions.

But rampant law enforcement's work against the public continues.

A young man was just charged with federal criminal extortion after using a bullhorn in a State Street restaurant to voice his opinion that people should be fed, instead of arrested by police. Federal criminal extortion? C'mon.

A pro-drug war Wisconsin State Sen. Tim Carpenter (D-Milwaukee) antagonized a group of protesters in Madison last week, grabbed some headlines and continues his crusade against minorities following his decades of service in the drug war. The sap, Carpenter didn't show up to Madison for support.

Carpenter is a cop-wanna-be who brags he "completed the Milwaukee Police Department Citizen Academy in 2018," and made the Wisconsin Professional Police Association Law Enforcement Honor Roll, (Drug Task Force).

Carpenter also helped killed marijuana reform during the 2007-11 period when the Democrats controlled both the Wisconsin state legislature and the governor office.

Police, prosecutors and wanna-be cops like Carpenter won't change.

We need to defang them.

I hate reading about cops preying on people.

On more than one occasion, I reread Angela Kamoske's letter on the execution of Philando Castile.

St. Paul Pioneer Press on June 25, 2017:

Philando Castile's Life Mattered

By Angela Kamoske

I have been a police officer for 19 years. I love my job and serving my community. I have learned over the course of my career to never assume anything. As I watched the events unfold on July 6, 2016, on a Facebook Live feed, I thought that there must be more that happened. There must have been such a threat that wasn’t captured on this video, that forced Officer Yanez to feel his only option was to shoot into a vehicle with a child in the back seat.

Over the past two days, I have listened to the audio interviews. I have read the documents. And then I watched the dash cam video. And it broke me. Officer Yanez was in a position that if he perceived a threat, he could have disengaged. He could have taken other steps to ensure everyone’s safety, and not have forced this outcome.

Shooting a seat-belted man, with a child in the back seat, was not the only option. Until those of us who wear the badge are willing to stand up and speak out when we see things that are wrong, and lead hard conversations, how can we ever expect change? How can we ever expect to rebuild trust within our communities? Barbecues and pick-up basketball games are nice, but that’s not going to do it.

So today, I stand up and speak out, even if it means standing alone. To the family of Philando Castile, to those that loved him, and to everyone who watched that video and felt broken inside, I am sorry. This shouldn’t have happened. His life mattered.
---
Broken and dead. We keep fighting.

Have a fun and safe Summer.

Police Records Kept from Public Show Killer Cop Is Violent, Dishonest Thug

Paul Heenan, at right, during a happy day before he was
gunned down by the cop Stephen Heimsness, formerly of the
Madison Police Department on Nov. 9, 2012. The killer,
Heimsness, was cleared of criminal wrongdoing of course.
Killing people is an acceptable practice of the Madison
Police Department. In 2013, Heimsness, a violent, anti-
social harasser resigned in the face of overwhelming
evidence of unrelated misconduct and dishonesty in
Oct. 2013, 11 months too late for Paul Heenan.
In a piece this week by Dylan Brogan in Madison's
Isthmus, Brogan reports Madison Police officials
knew all about Heimsness' history of dishonest and
violent misconduct and did nothing to get this
homicidal piece of shit off the streets and off the force.

Madison, Wisconsin—The murder of a young person is a trauma that lives on for generations.

I've seen it, and likely most of us are only one or two degrees away from experiencing the shattered lives forever altered by deadly violence inflicted by war, cops or criminals.

I first read about the murder of one young Madison man, Paul Heenan, on February 6, 2013, some three months after Heenan was gunned down in cold blood by a Madison cop.

Someone sent me a petition begun by Madison residents, Nathan and Amelia Royko-Maurer, objecting to the Madison Police killing their young friend, and the continued employment of the killer, Stephen Heimsness, formerly of the Madison Police Department.

This week Dylan Brogan in The Isthmus details the career of the Madison cop who killed Paul Heenan, using records the Madison Police fought to keep from being released.

The police records were obtained though an open records request that Isthmus had to go to court to have released, and Brogan in a meticulously researched piece uses the 729 pages that paint a portrait of a sociopath, the killer Paul Heimsness, as a lying, violent, malignant thug for whom Madison Police went to great lengths to protect, and cover-up Heimsness' violent history of misconduct.

Reading this superior piece of investigative writing by Brogan is a civic duty.

Two reader online comments to the Isthmus piece sum up community sentiment in Madison, and the comments are reproduced below:

This is absolutely disgusting. It makes me sick. Paulie was one of the most amazing people this planet had to offer. He wouldnt hurt a fly. Not to mention Heimsness weighed twice as much as Paulie did. It is ridiculous to think he couldnt handle a completely wasted person half your size. Its your job. But no, his actions went unaccounted and an amazing human was murder by the people we pay to protect and serve our community. I miss you Paulie, there are so many people that do.
- Greg Dellmann

Good work, Isthmus, in fighting the tough, protracted Freedom of Information battle that has revealed in progressively greater detail the many acts of malfeasance - some of it truly dangerous! - on the part of former cop Steven Heimsness, acts that preceded Heimsness's murder of the unarmed Paul Heenan. Not to mention the "Cover Your Ass" machinations that were carried out at the topmost echelons of the MPD. And so a hearty "Bad Boy, bad boy, whatcha gonna do!?!" goes out to former Police Chief Noble Wray. Of course I was just being rhetorically inclined; we already know the comfortably retired Mr. Wray will do absolutely NOTHING in the way of making amends.
- Dan A. Goldstein

Cops killing people is the world we live in.

Secrecy, Disrespect of Life and Liberty Define Madison Police

Paul Soglin Warns Citizens to Obey Commands or Police Will Kill You; Seriously

Update: "It's hard to call the police when you think someone is going to die," said John Hendrick, Dane County Supervisor, (WKOW-TV).
---
Take a honest look at the Madison police and observe a closed, violent society with a dangerous sense of entitlement and ingrained adversarial attitude toward the public, aka human beings.

Life is cheap with the Madison police so when this household heard on the local news (WISC-TV) that an apparent burglar was shot and killed by an unknown cop in the Isthmus, our reaction was: Quick-on-trigger cop kills another human being, and Happy Independence Day weekend.

Killing and beating people is SOP with the Madison police, so Madison Police Chief Mike Koval will cover up and lie as his first, second and third reaction to police killings and beatings.

We expect better from Mayor Paul Soglin and wonder what happened to this guy.

Said Soglin before any investigation of the police killing: "We have to get to a point where it's understood, unequivocally, that when a police officer gives an order and gives a command that the only options are to fully cooperate or to go limp. Resistance is not an option. ... I'm very concerned, as we go further into the summer and the Fourth of July weekend, that if we get situations where police are called and it's a situation where they have to protect property and lives and they give an order, that they are not followed and obeyed."

Soglin is concerned. He called for better education for citizens on how to interact with police and said resisting arrest was unacceptable. Yeah, that's right, Soglin said resistance or hesitation to a police command was not appropriate behavior, and police violence should be expected.

Has the 71-year-old Soglin taken leave of his senses, or is he hopelessly out-of-touch with simple decency?

I wonder if the Madison community realizes what an incredible statement Soglin is making. I don't know.

Soglin is giving a green light to police to beat and kill, and citizens not used to dealing with amped-up and authoritarian cops are now the subject of 'concern' from Soglin.

The formerly reformist-minded Soglin obviously has had a significant change of heart in addressing police violence: The police culture has changed Soglin and not for the better.

In much of America, police forces are coming to recognize that it is they who must be better-educated to interact appropriately with the citizenry, not the other way around.

From the Isthmus (Brogan):

The police shooting on Morrison Street Thursday night is just two blocks from Kevin O’Malley’s home. That’s where Paul Heenan was killed by officer Stephen Heimsness in 2012, right in front of O’Malley. 'I think the point we’re at right now in the neighborhood is complete and utter fatigue,'

O’Malley said on Friday. 'It feels like the new normal.' O’Malley is close friends with the homeowners at 1303 Morrison St., where police killed a man later identified as 41-year-old Michael Schumacher of Fitchburg. O’Malley said the homeowners were big supporters of his family in the aftermath of Heenan’s death. Now, inexplicably, his friends are going through a similar trauma. 'He came up to me and gave me a hug last night and let me know his family was okay. That’s where you’re at. You’re not at any other level when it happens to you.'

I've met Paul Soglin before. Brilliant and likeable, imbued with arrogance that is tolerable.

Now, I hope Soglin realizes it's time for him to resign from public office because he's either morally unfit or no longer has the best interests of the public at heart.

Arrogance not tempered with decency leads to tragedy at worst and vile public policy at best

Wisconsin's Trial Run for New Law, Verdict Is In: Lives Are Cheap

Updated - The New York Times has a piece on the new Wisconsin law mandating outside agencies investigate cases of police shootings.

Erik Ljung has a video with the Times piece with compelling footage of community outrage against recent police killings of Paul Heenan (Schenider, The Capital Times) and Tony Terrell Robinson Jr. in Madison, Michael Bell in Kenosha (2004), and Dontre Hamilton in Milwaukee (Luthern, Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel; Mal Contends).

Killer cops in Madison, the most liberal city, notes Paul Gottinger in CounterPunch.

Writes Gottinger:

Since 1976 there has been 1,403 people convicted of a crime, sentenced to the death penalty, and then executed. This number is only slightly larger than the number of Americans killed by cops LAST YEAR ALONE.

Imagine if ISIS, or Black gangs were killing at this scale. What would the country’s reaction be?

Now we’re told to wait for the investigation of Robinson’s murder by the Wisconsin Department of Criminal Investigation.

Acclaimed former Madison Police Chief David Couper (ret) has been writing about the police assaulting the citizenry as enemies residing in the occupied territories for decades. Stop the Killing—Now, writes Couper in a particularly incensed recent piece.

Blind faith in outside law enforcement investigators (the Wisconsin Department of Justice led by a Republican with a history of corrupt political action) gathering evidence on police killings is what we have now.

Considering the investigation into the police killing of Tony Robinson under 2013 Wisconsin Act 348, why not a new law mandating an investigative agency with subpoena power composed of civil liberty activists, retired law professors, legal journalists and other academics?

The reason is murderous police would not stand a chance.

Being Police gives police a license to kill, and prosecutors a (qualified) license to lie.

The Times piece asks: "As this Times video explains, it would be the first case to test how effective the new law is. Could it help provide a new faith in the justice system?"

No, no faith.

The law, 2013 Wisconsin Act 348, the Times cites is indeed on trial, but the verdict is in.

There won't be a prosecution.

Don't blame Dane County District Attorney Ismael Ozanne for this, Ozanne can't make up evidence that won't be presented to his office.
 
The law needs to be expanded and police killings considered in an objective sphere of justice and truth.

The Wisconsin DoJ will present the results of its investigation into the Tony Robinson killing within two weeks.

Consider that Wisconsin and the nation will never get the facts from the tainted Wisconsin DoJ whom adults know are playing politics every bit as much as 'law enforcement' in what passes for a criminal justice system.

In America, lives and liberty are cheap in the eyes of police and The Prosecutor, as the jurist Robert Jackson noted some 75 years ago.

Chief Couper: The Ombudsman: A Way Forward for Your City?

Chief David Couper (ret) asks: The Ombudsman: A Way Forward for Your City?

Chief Couper on Police Investigating Police Misconduct

Why was this peaceful man shot and killed in 2012?

"It is very difficult (and painful) for a police department to criticize or discipline one of its own. Why? Because in many instances of police review, those who are doing the reviewing know that 'there but for the grace of God go I.' This has a chilling effect especially when it comes to the use of force. Policing is a difficult job. And a community needs to support their police when they are doing a good job and ask for change and improvement when they are not."
- Madison Police Chief David Couper (ret), author of Arrested Development - A Veteran Police Chief Sounds off About Protest, Racism, Corruption, and the Seven Steps Necessary to Improve Our Nation's Police

Thoughtful discussion is needed; though none of this will have an effect on Paul Heenan and his loved ones. Heenan was unarmed and shot and killed by Madison Police Officer Stephen Heimsness on November 9, 2012.

I know many law enforcement personnel. And they are appalled when an innocent man is killed.

But the fact is police do gin-up police reports, act on prejudices and biases, cover-up, and in the words of Alan Dershowitz: Routinely testi(lie) in open court.

Outside investigation (Madison Mayor Paul Soglin is open to the idea) is not an option; it's an imperative.

Paul Heenan's father, John: "John Heenan told 27 News' his lifelong confidence in the actions of police officers was close to shattered by his son's death. 'I used to trust them. I used to not question anything. I question things now,' he said."

Madison, Wisconsin Citizens Start Petition: Police Killed Our Roommate; Review Force Now

Paul Heenan at right

Don't call the police, not ever

Former Madison, Wisconsin police chief David Couper has been thoughtfully posing questions about what the community should do about the killing of an unarmed man, Paul Heenan, by a Madison police officer.

A petition has been started by former roommates of Heenan's, as they grieve the loss of a loved one. Peace, examination and thoughtful action in Madison, Wisconsin:
---By Nathan and Amelia Royko Maurer

When our roommate and close friend Paulie [Heenan] was killed by Officer [Stephen] Heimsness, he was just trying to come home. Paulie had moved in only a few days before, and in the dark he mistook the nearly identical house two doors down for ours. Our neighbor recognized him and tried to make sure he made it home safely. His wife, unsure of what was going on, decided to call the police as a precaution. Paulie never made it home.

Officer Heimsness shot Paulie even though he was unarmed and, according to eyewitness accounts, backing away with his hands up.

We're devastated that Paulie is dead. Then we found out that Officer Heimsness has a dangerous pattern of taking violent force too far. We don't feel safe with Heimsness or other officers with records like his on the streets, so we started a petition demanding that the Madison Police Chief take Officer Heimsness off the streets and review the department's policy on use of force.

Click here to sign our petition.

Paulie was one of our best friends. When he decided to move back to Madison after 8 years in New York, we were thrilled. Paulie was your go-to guy for lending a helping hand or repairing broken stuff: your car, your computer, your heart. He played music with our daughter and read to her.

Officer Heimsness ran onto the scene without identifying himself as a police officer, with his gun already drawn. Despite years of training in non-lethal tactics, he shot Paulie three times in the chest. His backup officer, by contrast, had just arrived with her Taser -- not a gun -- drawn.

Heimsness' record of allegedly using excessive force stretches back to 2001. He's apparently even gone so far as to beat one man into a bloody pulp. We don't trust someone with this record of poor judgment to patrol the streets of Madison.

Police most effectively keep neighborhoods safe when they have the trust of those they protect. Thanks to Heimsness' reckless actions, that trust has been seriously eroded. Megan O'Malley, our neighbor who called the police that night, told one reporter, "I feel terrible I called the police. I wouldn't call them again."

Please join us in calling on the Madison Police Chief to do everything in their power to take Officer Stephen Heimsness off the streets and to review the Madison Police Department's use of force policy so no more people needlessly die at one of their officers' hands.

Thanks for your help,

Nathan and Amelia Royko Maurer