Making a Murderer — Dark Cloud Hangs over Wisconsin Judiciary Amid Corruption Concerns

The once exonerated Steven Avery faces
his most malicious enemy in the
Democratic Party and a corrupt
Wisconsin Judiciary that has abdicated
its duty to act with impartiality. Damage,
destruction are the aims against Avery
and his nephew who have committed a
mortal sin in Wisconsin: Fighting back
against state violence and corrupt cops.

Avery Seeks New Trial and Evidentiary Hearing in a Corrupt State Court System

Commentary

Update II: Rebuttal to State's Response in Opposition of Mr. Avery's Petition. This is a devastating public explanation that the DOJ undoubtedly will misrepresent amid its posturing that there is nothing to see here.

Updated: Madison, Wisconsin — Steven Avery and his nephew, Brendan Dassey, were convicted of first-degree homicide in Wisconsin in 2007 for the murder of a young photographer, Teresa Halbach. 

Both men are serving life sentences following much criticized investigations and trials held in east-central Wisconsin, known locally for small-town justice and police corruption.

Avery is appealing to the Wisconsin Supreme Court in post-conviction litigation, seeking a new trial and an evidentiary heating in his August petition.

The case is State of Wisconsin v Steven Avery, featured in the Emmy-winning Making a Murderer docuseries.

But the once-exonerated Steven Avery faces a vendetta from multiple foes, including the Wisconsin Democratic leadership, corrupt law enforcement and the Wisconsin Judiciary which has largely abdicated its role as protector of individual Constitutional rights in favor of covering for police misconduct.

Yesterday, the Wisconsin DoJ filed a response opposing Steven Avery's petition for a hearing before the Wisconsin Supreme Court.

Avery seeks a public evidentiary hearing on new evidence that was hidden by the prosecution for the purpose of blocking material facts pointing to Avery's innocence. He also seeks a new trial, reasoning that the non-existent case for his guilt combined with the clear law enforcement misconduct would make the spectacle of another guilty trial verdict impossible.

Notes attorney Jerome Buting: "State’s response to Avery’s @ZellnerLaw petition opposes SCOW review, claiming SA was not treated differently because his case was 'the subject of a television show.' Really? In no other case has WI fought so desperately to avoid any evidentiary hearing."

At each point is his post-conviction litigation, the State DOJ has blocked, delayed, deterred and opposed Avery's quest for his second exoneration.

A reader ought consider this whole affair is not akin to sick, ole-boy Louisiana corruption. Louisiana, Mississippi, Alabama, Oklahoma and Missouri have nothing on Wisconsin police-prosecutor corruption, more insidious than any conduct our fellows to the South can conjure.

Few believe in the impartiality of the Wisconsin Judiciary which is capable of doing anything in service to a corrupt police force.

WI’s phobia of an evidentiary hearing in Avery’s case can only be because they know truth would be revealed. Better to cover up #corruptiwoc than seek real justice. But it will only increase public distrust of American justice. #makingamurderer #illusionofjustice #brokensystem

— Jerome Buting (@JButing) September 9, 2021

Wisconsin has a nefarious cast of characters in law enforcement, but the Avery and Dassey cases approach the demented.

Kenneth R. Kratz, former Calumet County District Attorney, (1992-2010), was forced to resign in disgrace in 2010 for outrageous sexual misconduct in 2009, perhaps earlier, just two years after prosecuting the Avery-Dassey cases.

Kratz is self-described as suffering from narcissistic personality disorder, sexual compulsion disorder and multiple drug addictions.

But the Wisconsin DoJ has defended the work of this same repulsive figure Kratz in Avery's post-conviction litigation, instead of launching an investigation into Wisconsin law enforcement, Kratz and other prosecutors' subsequent conduct to determine the reliability of convictions.

"The State ... conveys an attitude of impunity for its past actions of withholding exculpatory evidence and its current action of continuing the concealment of its destruction of potentially exculpatory or useful evidence," writes Avery attorney, Kathleen Zellner in 2019 in a legal filing in appellate court.

The State of Wisconsin DoJ did worse in post-conviction litigation than convey an attitude of impunity. The DoJ has chided the defense for bringing multiple Brady violations to the attention of the Court, so strong is the prosecution's confidence that the Court will sustain the DoJ's positions.

Avery's attorney, Zellner, reacted with restrained outrage this posture.

Zellner replied to the Court on April 22, 2021: "It is a supreme irony that in one of the most blatant examples of a wrongful conviction the State's only response is to falsely accuse Mr. Avery's lead counsel of nefarious conduct for discovering a 6th Brady violation. Rather than seeking justice, the State wants to 'slay the messenger' by putting forth more false allegations, a skill that it has mastered over the last 16 years. The State turns a blind eye toward its past actions of withholding exculpatory evidence."

On July 28, 2021, the Court of Appeals (Dist II), delivered a results-oriented decision and opinion so blatant in adopting the State's errors that lay parties revealed the decision to be rife with misstatement, and misinterpretation of evidence (Reddit). Avery's attorney, Kathleen Zellner, followed up with a petition to the Wisconsin Supreme Court some four weeks later.

On Sept 8, 2021, when the DoJ filed its response opposing Avery's petition for a hearing before the Wisconsin Supreme Court, and the large pro-Avery community around the world reacted with gasps and disgust.

This DOJ posture, haughty and disingenuous, raises the question, if the State is so certain that its conviction of Avery and Brendan Dassey are on the level, why does it oppose bringing the case to light before the State high court, an evidentiary hearing, and a new trial?

Avery advocates have noted that the DOJ failed to even challenge Avery's arguments in its response, instead taking on the tone of how dare you challenge the integrity of this conviction?

Attorney Zellner, who has seen every type of State depravity in her practice around the country freeing dozens of wrongfully convicted persons, seemed shook by the pathological tone of the Democrat-led Dept of Justice's latest filing that reads more like a politcal document subtly calling for Party loyalty that a legal filing made in good faith.

Zellner sent out three tweets, deleted two, before she noted: "If we had wanted to re-read the same error filled COA decision again we could have. The State’s Regurgitation Response addresses none of the errors —it just repeats them. Justice delayed again for Steven Avery."

If we had wanted to re-read the same error filled COA decision again we could have. The State’s Regurgitation Response addresses none of the errors —it just repeats them. Justice delayed again for Steven Avery. @MakingAMurderer

— Kathleen Zellner (@ZellnerLaw) September 9, 2021

This is Wisconsin.

This is where Martin Lipske, a contemptible District Attorney in Iron County in northern Wisconsin, was driven into retirement just before Lipske fronted for child trafficking schemes.

So, the Wisconsin District Attorney Association named Lipske Prosecutor of the Year for the Department of Justice in 2016, and awarded Lipske the E. Michael McCann Award from the DA Association. 

The Wisconsin Judiciary cannot be counted on to police corrupt law enforcement, certainly not an odious figure like Kratz and the Democrat-led Wisconsin Dept of Justice.

Behind the scenes, the DOJ's attempt to rewrite the state's Brady doctrine will figure into this case.

The four Republicans on the Wisconsin Supreme Court are Avery's hope as Wisconsin Democrats will do their worst to protect wrongful convictions of Steven Avery and Brendan Dassey.

The DOJ dismissal of a Brady violation claim is preposterous, for instance, that even the DOJ notes features the defense failure to raise an issue of omission to which the defense was never alerted.

Would love to know how Avery was supposed to raise the destroyed bones argument in his 2013, when they were given back to the family in 2011 and none of his post-conviction attorney's knew about it.

I'd like to see any documentation he was alerted to this screw-up by the state. pic.twitter.com/0Xmy0P32w5

— TickTockManitowoc (@TManitowoc) September 8, 2021

Judge Emmet Sullivan Has No Clothes — Wants Michael Flynn, Flouts Rule of Law to Get Him

Update: Even the New York Times is forced to admit Emmet Sullivan's work against Michael Flynn is improper and the DoJ retains prosecutorial authority. Deep into a startlingly biased Times analysis, readers are treated to:

"Either way, the department is arguing that Judge Sullivan has little choice but to drop the case. A 2016 opinion by the Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit, which oversee his district, said that the judiciary 'generally lacks authority to second-guess' executive branch decisions about whether to charge or drop a case."

See also UNITED STATES OF AMERICA, v. FOKKER SERVICES B.V., APPELLANT (No. 15-3016, 15-3017): Judge Sri Srinivasa: "The Constitution allocates primacy in criminal charging decisions to the Executive Branch. The Executive’s charging authority embraces decisions about whether to initiate charges, whom to prosecute, which charges to bring, and whether to dismiss charges once brought. It has long been settled that the Judiciary generally lacks authority to second-guess those Executive determinations, much less to impose its own charging preferences."
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Prosecutors across the country are disgracing themselves — the very scenario that the jurist Robert Jackson warned us about 70 years ago.

And the judiciary branch appears determined to join the corruption.

Waycross (Georgia) District Attorney George E. Barnhill covered for three racist killers to achieve his plan to protect white supremacists.

This corrupt intent is autocracy. Writes Jay Bookman in the Wisconsin Examiner:

That willingness of the justice system to give safe harbor to the [Georgia killers] McMichaels sends a message to everybody in that community, but particularly to those in the minority.

It says the 'justice system' is not about justice, it’s about control.

Calumet County (Wisconsin) District Attorney Ken Kratz, a sex offender and fabulist, perpetrated a fraud on juries to convict two innocent men, before Kratz was driven from office. Kratz claimed narcissistic personality disorder, drugs and sexual addiction made him do it.

Iron County (Wisconsin) Martin Lipske persecuted the innocent and protected the favored guilty before leaving office under a cloud as reputed probes poked around this beautiful but notorious region in northern Wisconsin.

An innocent Penny Brummer was targeted by bumbling police, maliciously prosecuted and wrongfully convicted of murder because she is an out lesbian.

Crooked prosecutors populate our country, most commonly targeting black and brown folks, but most anyone will do.

Dominating the headlines now is Gen Michael Flynn and the determination of a federal judge to dodge the prosecution in his scheme to both privatize and appropriate the United States Department of Justice (DoJ).

U.S. District Judge Emmet G. Sullivan wants to do the job of the DoJ after the government dismissed its case against Flynn.

Instead of dismissing the case against Flynn, Sullivan rules he wants to hear what third parties have to say, no matter the position of the prosecution and defense, both of which want the case dropped.

Why doesn't Sullivan just put the case to a popular vote in his next ruling?

The United State Dept of Justice has exercised prosecutorial discretion and dropped a criminal case rife with misconduct and redolent of a political prosecution.

Holy shi!t! Judge Sullivan just told Project Democracy and Adam Schiff to submit briefing because Barr can't be trusted. https://t.co/11NXCjyteZ

— Margot Cleveland (@ProfMJCleveland) May 12, 2020

#FLYNN defense cites AG Holder, and Judge Sullivan track record “..proposed amicus brief has no place in this Court.. It is no accident that amicus briefs are excluded in criminal cases.. this Court, on 24 specific occasions has rejected all prior attempts..to intervene” @CBSNews pic.twitter.com/XqT2fKZWTp

— Catherine Herridge (@CBS_Herridge) May 13, 2020

And Sullivan wants Flynn every bit as badly as the DoJ did before the Attorney General and a U.S. Attorney put a stop to this malicious prosecution.

DA in Iron County Drops Crazy Charge Against Clean Water Activist

Katie Krow Kloth was targeted by the now defunct Mining
Co., GTAC, and Corrupt Wisconsin DA, Martin Lipske

The capricious charge of preference for a corrupt Wisconsin District Attorney—Felony Bailjumping—was dropped last week against clean water and environmentalist, Katie Krow Kloth in Iron County court in northern Wisconsin.

Before being rebuffed in January by Judge Fox of Price County for an array of contrived charges against Kloth, Lipske instituted the new felony charge of Bail Jumping, a Class H Felony hours before Fox refused a prison term and instead sentenced Kloth to nine months in Iron County jail for actions at a protest against the proposed GTAC mine two years earlier. (Mal Contends)

Reached by phone, Lipske said there is a forbidden area in the forest of Iron County on which Ms. Kloth set foot in January, and this constituted felony bailjumping.

The Bail Jumping charge was without merit, and had Ms. Kloth been convicted of this malicious prosecution, she faced years in prison. The felony charge was dropped.

Instead last week, Lipske on May 27 stipulated at a hearing to a civil infraction, trespassing, under which Kloth will have to pay the Court: $263.50.

Why would Lipske launch this crazy felony charge in the first place?

Lipske is a corrupt, out-of-control District Attorney who should have his license to practice law revoked, again. (Mal Contends) (Mal Contends)

Detecting Wrongful Prosecutions

During the Bush-Cheney years Karl Rove turned the DoJ's US attorneys into a political hit squad, and human rights attorney Scott Horton and others at Harper's chronicled some of the worst instances of wrongful prosecutions amid the purging of US attorneys refusing to go along. (Taylor, McClathchy Newspapers; Horton, Harper's Magazine)

Horton used to conduct an annual seminar (after the break-up of the Soviet Union) for the State Department entitled "How to Spot a Political Prosecution" in a foreign land (Horton, Harper's Magazine).

Political prosecutions in former totalitarian societies of the USSR bear resemblances to malicious and wrongful prosecutions domestically, and as Horton noted elsewhere, prosecutions by Rove and US attorneys whose victims include Don Siegelman, Keith Roberts, and Georgia Thompson lack any semblance of public integrity and the rule of law.

Horton points out some of the elements that should be examined to determine if a political prosecution has been inflicted:

• Nature of the Charges
• Timing and Circumstances of Criminal Investigations and Charges
• Circumstances of Investigation; Arrest and Detention; Media Dealings
• Conduct of the Preliminary Investigation
• Conduct of Trial
• Interview of Prosecutors and Defense Counsel
• State Secrecy
• Parallel Public Campaigns
• Media Coverage

Writes Horton, "... you should be prepared to question the motives and conduct of the prosecutor. Is the prosecutor investigating and acting on a crime, or is the prosecutor 'out to get' an individual? The latter case is per se abusive. When the prosecutor is 'out to get' an individual as part of a political agenda, the act of prosecution is an assault on democratic institutions."

Horton cites Robert Jackson—whose wisdom and humanity informs jurisprudence today—but not in Iron County Wisconsin.

An interview with Iron County District Attorney Martin Lipske would rightfully ask Lipske to explain the volatile, arbitrary and disparate sentences Lipske sought for similar (and highly dubious) convictions because Lipske's conduct would not withstand Constitutional scrutiny or an objective and thorough ethics investigation.

Moreover, many of Lipske's prosecutions bear the hallmarks of wrongful/political prosecutions that one might expect of former totalitarian countries with no tradition of Constitutional safeguards against the state.

But this is Iron County, so I guess anything goes.

Maybe. Watch this space.

Iron County DA Martin Lipske's Misconduct on Display Again

The volatile Iron County District Attorney Martin Lipske in northern Wisconsin has struck again.

Yesterday, John Michael Kallas of Hurley, Wisconsin was found Not Guilty of "Repeated Sexual Assault of Same Child" by a jury in a criminal trial, Price County Circuit Court Judge Douglas T. Fox presiding, (notations from the Wisconsin Court System - Circuit Court Access (1st Degree Sexual Assault).

The acquittal of Mr. Kallas for an alleged incident in 2001 illustrates the pattern of DA Martin Lipske using the district attorney's office in a capricious (and corrupt) manner—filing severe criminal charges, and then filing more spurious charges in what has become Lipske's bizarre game of playing with defendants' lives—hence defendants often exercise their right for a judicial substitution [requesting a new judge per Wisconsin statute] because Lipske is widely viewed as being in political bed with Iron County Judge Patrick Madden, and Lipske's cases often end with dismissals and acquittals when judicial substitutions are requested.

Lipske likes to drag out cases, the better the process harasses and injures the defendants.

Lipske's conduct cries out for an investigation by the Wisconsin Office of Lawyer Regulation (OLR).

"Martin Lipske has run his district attorney's office in a vindictive and slip-shod fashion since he got his license to practice back. [Lipske was "Suspended for Discipline" for two years under the category of "dishonesty, fraud, deceit or misconduct" in 1990, Mal Contends] Real people have suffered. Something, and I don't know what, has to be done," said Joe Agostine, Councilor of the City of Ashland and an environmental activist in neighboring Ashland County. "Lipske has terrorized people and I always say, for years, he keeps getting away with it. He gives lawyers a bad name. I have lost my faith in the criminal justice system if something isn't done and he is not held accountable. I mean he is in office supposed to be protecting people not terrorizing them."

The sordid story of Lipske and his routine perversion of the judicial system is largely off the Wisconsin political radar screen as Iron County is sparsely populated and isolated. And the local press, specifically the Iron County Daily Globe, frequently covers for Lipske and the Hurley sex trade.

This site has spoken with numerous activists and residents of Iron and Ashland counties, none of whom will speak on the record for fear of retribution from Lipske and his associated political machine that is viewed as vindictive. (Mal Contends)

Said one activist in the region, speaking on background. "Lipske is a sick SOB. He does play with peoples' lives. It's common knowledge, and I want to live long enough to see Lipske meet with some legal reckoning. I don't know what that is, but it shouldn't be that hard to make people see what's going on."

Kallas' exoneration comes just weeks after new charges were piled on by Lipske against Kallas in a separate case.

This is the Modus operandi of Lipske: Inflict and intimidate disfavored defendants by use of public office for the purpose of harassment and obtaining an advantage over a defendant. It is also a clear and repeated act of abuse of process. 

GTAC Frontman

The source speaking on background above has had no legal or formal dealings with Lipske, and was contacted initially for his opposition to the now apparently defunct plan of the billionaire mining mogul, Christopher Cline, and Cline's subsidiary, GTAC, to slash a massive open pit iron ore mine, in Iron and Ashland counties.

The proposed mine owners' agents at GTAC are part of the massive Scott Walker-coordinated criminal scheme that was exposed and investigated by a bipartisan group of prosecutors in a John Doe probe (now under adjudication at the Wisconsin Supreme Court) that saw Walker's campaign, Friends of Scott Walker, engage in settlement talks with law enforcement officials last year. (Fischer, PRWatch) Lipske is roundly criticized by Wisconsin environmentalists for siding with GTAC in the few cases Lipske involved his office.

Volatility

D.A. Martin Lipske protects sex trafficking in Iron County 

Lipske is criticized as well for the all-over-the-map quality of his prosecutions.

Last year Lipske covered up for a favored defendant who engaged in sex trafficking, paying $1,300 for a 14-year-old girl to be transported over 600 miles to a hotel in Mercer in Iron County in 2013. Lipske gave the man a deferred prosecution to the shock of local residents who thought this was too much for even Lipkse. (Mal Contends)

Lipkse will often charge a defendant, and then file a felony bailjumping charge without cause.

So, Lipske gets to manipulate the lives of disfavored defendants for apparent fun, political profit, and a self-conscious use of his discretionary power to obtain a dishonest advantage over disfavored defendants in repeated violation of SCR [Supreme Court Rule] 946.12(3) and Wisconsin criminal statute, (946.12 Misconduct in public office):

(3) Whether by act of commission or omission, in the officer's or employee's capacity as such officer or employee exercises a discretionary power in a manner inconsistent with the duties of the officer's or employee's office or employment or the rights of others and with intent to obtain a dishonest advantage for the officer or employee or another

Martin Lipske ought to front every daily newspaper in Wisconsin, absent that this story must be told and this site is committed to doing so as often as necessary.

Sources in Iron County say Lipske is planning on retiring soon. With justice he ought to be criminally investigated first.

GTAC Mining Protestor Gets New Civil Rights Attorney

Katie Krow Kloth targeted by Mining
Co. and Corrupt Wisconsin DA

A woman protesting the siting of a proposed massive open pit mine in Iron County Wisconsin (since effectively withdrawn) is serving a nine-month jail sentence after Iron County's notorious District Attorney Martin Lipske insisted on filing numerous criminal charges associated with a protest in 2013.

Today, conservationist Katie Krow Kloth was granted a change of attorney, and now local Iron County attorney Anthony Stella will be representing Kloth against another criminal charge, felony bailjumping.

Attorney Anthony 'Tony' Stella is well-known throughout Wisconsin and is regarded highly in civil rights circles and the Wisconsin legal community.

The felony bailjumping charge was tacked on against Ms. Kloth by Lipske, in keeping with Lipske's penchant for employing this charge as a means of maliciously inflicting stress onto disfavored criminal and civil defendants.

This state of affairs in which a sitting district attorney runs his office in a capricious and often volatile manner is virtually unknown outside of isolated Iron County in far-northern Wisconsin.

Local residents describe Lipske, whose law license was suspended for discipline involving "dishonesty, fraud, deceit or misconduct" in 1990, as "terrorizing" the county with a sparse population of some 6,000 residents.

Lipske has been practicing in good standing since January 19, 1994, according to the State Bar of Wisconsin.

Lipske was criticized by local residents of Ashland and Iron County, (speaking on condition of anonymity out of fear of retaliation by Lipske), for stipulating last year to a deferred prosecution of a local politically connected man, Dennis D. Braun, involved in a child sex trafficking crime involving a 14-year-old girl who ran screaming out of hotel after being transported some 600 miles from Milwaukee to a hotel in the town of Mercer in Iron County. (Mal Contends)

Lipske minimized the incident saying, "the man only engaged in kissing the 14-year-old and providing wine." (KBJR News, Oct. 2, 2013), before agreeing to not prosecute Braun.

Braun was granted a liquor license in 2003 by the City of Hurley for an exotic establishment on Silver Street.

Conviction Integrity Unit Needed in Several Wisconsin Counties

Politicians, Police, Prosecutors, Judges the Whole Criminal Justice System Is Bleeding Lives
 
The career politician Scott Walker has left many victims in his wake.

In 1998 state Rep. Scott Walker (R-Wauwatosa) served as chair of the Assembly Corrections and Courts Committee.

Whether God-sent or not, Walker hit upon the idea the problem with the Wisconsin criminal justice system then was that not enough people were in prison long-enough.

Walker authored the "truth-in-sentencing" law, which was passed in 1998 and took effect in January 2000.

What wasn't known in 1998 is that Walker was a member of the Koch brothers-funded American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC) that "helped pioneer ... laws ... like mandatory minimums for non-violent drug offenders, 'three strikes' laws, and 'truth in sentencing' laws. In 1995 alone, ALEC’s Truth in Sentencing Act (PRWatch) was signed into law in twenty-five states." (Nichols, The Nation)

ALEC also pushed for the privatization of prisons by advocating bills allowing state contracts with for-profit prison corporations. (ALEC Exposed, Prisons)

Four years later in 2002, Walker began his furtive run for the 2006 Republican nominee for Wisconsin governor by ordering the installation of the first of at least two secret email systems in the Milwaukee County Executive's office used by Walker and his aides to secretly campaign from public office. (Kiefert, Green Bay Progressive.

Today, we see the tragic results. "Wisconsin ... has actually invested more in public and private prisons over the last 20 years. The state budget now allots more funding for corrections than it does for higher education. Wisconsin also incarcerates the most black men in the country, and in Milwaukee County, more than half of all black men in their 30s and 40s have served time. In the 53206 Zip Code alone, 62 percent of all men have spent time in an adult correctional facility by age 34. (WUWM)

As governor of Wisconsin, Scott Walker announced in December 2013 he would not issue pardons because 1,000s of Wisconsin deserve pardons; yes, Scott Walker said that.

As Walker coyly plays I'm-the-gonna-run-for-president game, the real POTUS released the President’s Task Force on 21st Century Policing Includes Recommendations to Protect the Innocent. See also Remarks by the President after Meeting with Task Force on 21st Century Policing.

In December, the Center for Prosecutor Integrity issued a white paper, Conviction Integrity Units: Vanguard of Criminal Justice Reform. Other white papers include: An Epidemic of Prosecutor Misconduct.

As Texas drools over killing another innocent man, Rodney Reed, and a rare stay of [cold-blooded] execution was granted, the All In with Chris Hayes Show featured a spectacular segment last night on Mr. Reed's story.

In Wisconsin, we also have the spectacle of a volatile District Attorney, Martin Lipske, of Iron County running interference for sex trafficking of minors, and often using the Felony Bailjumping charge indiscriminately and maliciously in revoking bail and in one recent case quite possibly driving another innocent man to death with unsubstantiated charges, literally killing him with stress and betrayal.

We need a Conviction Integrity Unit in several Wisconsin counties including Iron, Milwaukee, and Dane Counties.

Every case involving former Dane County Sheriff's deputy's Andrew Steele should be reexamined, for example.

If misconduct or an inadequate basis for conviction is found, the wrongfully convicted should be ordered released. Just ask Penny Brummer, an innocent woman still behind bars.

All In America: The 11th Hour

Wisconsin Gets Win Against Proposed Gtac Mine

Wisconsin needed a win, and Friday we got a big one.

The proposed massive open-pit Gogebic Taconite (Gtac) Iron ore mine that would destroy pristine habitats and waters and fill in wetlands looks dead in the wake of a statement issued Friday by Gtac President Bill Williams announcing the firm will close its Hurley office in Iron County effective Sunday. (Rick Olivo, Ashland Daily Press)

Amid Scott Walker's assaults against the Wisconsin environment and University of Wisconsin System, the news spread quickly across social media.

The closing of the mine was predicted two years ago by an attorney in Iron County, Tony Stella.

The proposed mine attracted national attention with New York Times writer, Dan Kaufman, calling the fight against the mine, The Fight for Wisconsin's Soul.

Professor Charles Wilkerson, Distinguished Moses Lasky Professor of Law at the University of Colorado Law School, also said Native American Treaty Law would doom the mine. (Mal Contends)

At the site of the citizens group, Citizens Concerned about the proposed Penokee Mine (Facebook), people expressed joy and determination to fight again should Gtac decide to move on another front in this massive con game.

Writes Wisconsin environmentalist, Jim Rowen:

GTac says it is shelving its plan to blow up, dig up and mill the Penokee Hills in the Bad River watershed for low-grade iron ore already in surplus supply - - because, it says it found too much water in the wetlands in the watershed at the edge of Lake Superior.

Sure, it took the mining company four years to make this discovery.

The uproar the plan caused in state politics helped force the moderate GOP mining opponent Dale Schultz from the State Senate and it seems as if the company wasted $700,000 in thank you money in routed to a Scott Walker advocacy group for his getting a sweetheart enabling bill that is still on the books through the Legislature.

A mining protestor, Katie Krow Kloth, is still facing a criminal charge from a corrupt Iron County District Attorney, Martin Lipske, who fronts for the Gtac mine and the Iron County sex industry, including sex trafficking of minors.

Maybe the U.S. Attorney for the Eastern District of Wisconsin or the FBI will look into this one day. I would not hold my breath.

In the mean time, those on the front lines in Iron and Ashland counties should be feeling good about themselves this weekend.

Said Wisconsin environmentalist, Barbara With: "I am glad that people are being realistic about GTac closing their offices, having intelligent discussions, etc etc but for this moment, can we please just be happy they are leaving? No it doesn't mean the stand is over, no, it doesn't mean they aren't coming back. But for now, thousands and thousands of people stood long and strong to protect our water, and GTAC is closing their offices and leaving. For now. So for now, we celebrate. It doesn't mean we are naive or stupid or don't understand the bigger picture. But for god's sake if we cannot savor a moment we have long dreamt of, what's the point? This effort has been exhausting. I don't know about anyone else, but I personally gave up my life for several years to take this action. So for now, please, just let me be happy. that is all."

Mining Protester Motion to Dismiss Denied, Faces Trumped-up Charge by Iron County's Corrupt DA

Katie Krow Kloth targeted by Mining Co. and
Corrupt Wisconsin DA, Martin Lipske

Gogebic Taconite mining company (GTAC) opponent, Katie Krow Kloth, appeared at an initial hearing today on Iron County District Attorney Martin Lipske's charge of felony bailjumping.

Kloth's motion to dismiss was denied.

An evidentiary hearing [Preliminary hearing] is scheduled for Feb. 17, 2015 at 2:p.m.] to determine whether probable cause exists for the criminal process on this charge to continue.

The case is State of Wisconsin vs. Katie M Kloth (Iron County Case Number 2015CF000001).

Kloth appeared in orange jail attire and hand cuffs, an observer said.

The case is manufactured by GTAC and Idea Drilling company working with Iron County officials to throw Kloth behind bars for as many years as it can get a judge to agree.

Not content to front for Gogebic Taconite mining company (GTAC), Iron County District Attorney Martin Lipske is pursuing felony bail jumping charges against Kloth, a mining protester whom Lipske threw the book at for a rowdy political demonstration.

Felony bail jumping charges are the go-to charge for Lipske who is volatile and has a shady history as district attorney; and before that position was suspended for discipline in 1990 for deceit.

After Lipske filed four criminal charges against Kloth for a June 2013 demonstration, Kloth appeared before Price County Judge Douglas T. Fox on January 21, 2015 and received a nine-month jail sentence with seven years probation.

Lipske had asked for a $80,000-plus restitution from Kloth for claimed damages against GTAC, a ludicrous request that was denied was Judge Fox.

Lipske wants the seven-year probation revoked.

Lipske refused to prosecute GTAC's "security" company, Bulletproof Security though Bulletproof acted in contravention of Wisconsin law, after Bulletproof Security's president, Tom Parrella, consulted with Scott Walker's administration in 2013.

Lipske had asked for a $80,000-plus restitution from Kloth for claimed damages against GTAC, a ludicrous request that was denied was Judge Fox.

Lipske wants the seven-year probation revoked.

In 1990, Lipske's license in practice was suspended for two years for professional misconduct.

District Atty Martin Lipske Covered for Child Sex Trafficking Offender

Iron County Martin Lipske runs legal interference for his
ally, Dennis D. Braun, in sex trafficking case in 2013-14

Update II: Another reader points out that Lipske, known for slow-walking cases, rushed this one though before Wisconsin's Sex Trafficking statute was passed and became widely publicized.

Updated - A reader points to the unpredictability and volatility of Iron County District Attorney Martin Lipske in allegations-of-sexual-assault cases, noting a case in which Lipske had recommended 60 years of prison and 20 years of parole. (Ansami, Daily Globe (Ironwood, Michigan))
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Suppose, and to be redundant hypothetically, a 14-year-old girl were transported over 600 miles to Madison to an isolated Madison hotel by three adults for the pleasures of a man paying $1,300.

Suppose early the next morning the girl fled the hotel screaming.

Suppose further that the man in the hotel room who paid the $1,300 was granted a liquor license 10 years earlier by the City, running a strip bar and brothel, among other dealings illegal under Wisconsin law.

Suppose further that the sitting District Attorney publicly took sympathies with the man in a local TV interview referring to him as a harmless "gentleman" after the incident, and then agreed to a deferred prosecution, meaning no prosecution of the man.

Suppose the absence of 'sexual predator' condemnations from the sitting District Attorney in the criminal complaint against the man, and no talk of protecting children.

I can tell you what would happen in Madison, and rightfully so: The community would be outraged, howls of condemnation would ring through the press, editorial demands for resignation of the DA would be legion across the political spectrum; child advocacy and sexual assault public interest groups would be all over the local media; a Recall petition would be launched within days; and national media would pick up the story asking: What is happening in Madison, Wisconsin?

This would not happen in Madison, Wisconsin and Dane County.

Iron County District Attorney Martin Lipske

But this is precisely what occurred in 2013-14 in Iron County in far-northern Wisconsin in a hotel in the town of Mercer (population 1,407).

The case is State of Wisconsin vs. Dennis D Braun (Iron County Case Number 2013CF000052). [Update: Link to Wisconsin Circuit Court Access indicates this case is no longer public. Strange. Circuit Court Access message reads, "Your request could not be processed. That case does not exist or you are not allowed to see it."]

And the offending District Attorney is Martin Lipske of Iron County for whom the local ribald sex trade community in the City of Hurley provides political support.

Lipske's Iron County has been a notorious playground for corruption and the sex trade for many years.

Silver Street in Hurley, Wisconsin, known
for its wide selection of 'gentleman's clubs'

Below is video of Lipske portraying one Dennis D. Braun as a harmless, "elderly gentleman," and in typical Lipske-bizarre fashion, Lipske says: "There's nothing glorifying about this," with Lipske then feigning surprise that sex trafficking occurred in his rural county when Lipske knows perfectly well about Silver Street in Hurley.

Lispke was just shocked, shocked.

After the KBJR News, (Oct. 2, 2013) piece ran, it was reported that Braun sought and was granted a liquor license in the city of Hurley's topless bar section and Braun is at the center of the sex trafficking scandal.

Lipske was in a corner, raising the question of how to help his ally, Braun.

Lipske first minimized the affair, "the man only engaged in kissing the 14-year-old and providing wine." (KBJR News, Oct. 2, 2013)

Lipske then filed one charge, "Soliciting a Child for Prostitution."

This is the same district attorney notorious for filing multitudes of criminal charges for disfavored defendants such as GTAC mine opponents, knowing his political alliance with Iron County Judge Patrick Madden will almost guarantee verdicts and sentences Lipske wants, hence smart defendants ask for judicial substitution when Lipske and Madden are together on a case, unless the case involves a favored prostitute and a favored John.

D.A. Martin Lipske protects sex trafficking in Iron County

When the media light was off the sex-trafficking story, on January 13, 2014, Lipske and Judge Madden amended the charge for the "gentleman," to "Solicitation of Prostitutes," and on the same day agreed to a deferred prosecution, no prosecution, no conviction.

Lipske had done his job for the Iron County political machine.

There is no end to what Lipske is capable of both in persecuting the innocent, and protecting the guilty.

The last judge or district attorney criminally prosecuted in Wisconsin was Iron County Circuit Court Judge Alex Raineri in 1980 in a federal corrupt-prostitution case.

Lipske and Madden ought join Raineri, and every criminal case prosecuted by Lipske should be opened and objectively and thoroughly examined for misconduct and abuse of process.

Lipske is desperate for political allies outside of the sparsely populated Iron County.

In 2008, Lipske ran for DA on the Democratic Party ticket.

In 2012, after Scott Walker and Republicans went to work for the GTAC mine in Iron County after state Republicans and their allies were compensated by GTAC, Lipske ran as an independent.

In 2014, after Waukesha District Attorney Brad Schimel successfully ran for Wisconsin Attorney General, Schimel put out a press release announcing "Another Democrat Endorses Brad Schimel," listing Iron County District Attorney Martin Lipske as a Democrat.

Lispke is for sale.

Worse, Martin Lipske is out of control and running wild as a sitting district attorney is literally terrorizing a Wisconsin county.

Wisconsin Is Passive as Out-of-Control District Attorney Runs Wild

"The right to do what the law does not prohibit, without fear of harassment or punishment, is one of the hallmarks of a free society."—Judge Alex Kozinski, Chief Judge, U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit [foreword to Licensed to Lie: Exposing Corruption in the Department of Justice (Sidney Powell, Brown Books Publishing Group, 2014)]
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Updated - A January 18 snow trek through the snow-covered forest in a northern Wisconsin county is felony bailjumping (Wisconsin Statute 946.49), according to Iron County (Wisconsin) District Attorney Martin Lipske, the precise sort of prosecutor with a history of misconduct Judge Richard Posner—judge of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit—had in mind when Posner wrote his crucial opinion hitting absolute immunity for prosecutors in Fields v. Wharrie and Kelley, (2014 U.S. App. LEXIS 133) (No. 13-1195).

District Attorney Lipske routinely files felony bailjumping (and other ludicrous) criminal charges, and these charges are not the result of meticulous investigations and objective gathering of facts and evidence by law enforcement.

Two days after January 18, District Attorney Lipske decided, without an investigation, that he had no choice but to file a felony bailjumping charge the day before an environmental protester was to be sentenced for Lipske's latest abuse of process, one could even say a malicious prosecution.

Lipske just wanted more control over the life of the anti-mining activist, Katie Krow Kloth, and this despicable model of a jurist had no compunction that the actions of his office inflicted pain on the 27-year-old Ms. Kloth, and on her family and friends, hence this site's recent characterization of Lipske as a psychopath.

The District Attorney's office of Iron County in Hurley is run by a little man, Martin Lipske, animated by spite, vindictiveness, and caprice, and whose criminal charges typically are not proceeded by investigations of any kind, just a vague contemplation of how Lipske can use contrived charges to achieve his ends as he revels in his world of Iron County.

The gravity of this situation is easily overlooked by Wisconsin media as Iron County is an isolated and sparsely populated county in far-northern Wisconsin, and Wisconsin has myriad issues of the moment demanding attention of the media, the political system and the citizenry.

Martin Lipske is part of the problem.

Martin Lipske's prosecutions slip through the cracks, giving Lipske carte blanche to run his office on personal whims with appalling results, and the regulatory Wisconsin Office of Lawyer Investigation is a case study in administrative law "capture theory," a state of affairs more insidious when the purpose of regulation and the rule of law is the Sovereign embodied by the District Attorney—"the power and might of the government," as noted by an out-of-state jurist.

I have spoken with victims of Lipske's over the last several years, and the shattering trauma of these victims is common in Iron County for both the legally exonerated and the morally exonerated.

DA Martin Lipske Fronting for the Proposed Gogebic Taconite (GTAC) Mine

District Attorney Martin Lipske threw the book at GTAC mining protester, Katie Krow Kloth, for actions at a June 2013 mining protest that would have brought a civil citation of disorderly conduct in most any other Wisconsin county.

But not Lipske.

Kloth was recently sentenced to serve nine months in the Iron County jail, after being charged with four criminal offenses for these actions at a rally against the proposed mine.

Advocating for GTAC and subsequently for the criminally operating Bulletproof Securities, Inc, (Marley, Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel) Lipske defended Bulletproof at a 2013 hearing of Kloth's, a window into Lipske's mindset and corruption of the judicial process for the benefit of GTAC.

Subsequently, Lipske violated a Wisconsin Supreme Court Rule [SCR 20:3.6  Trial publicity] in his pursuit of Kloth, (Mal Contends); vis:

Wisconsin Supreme Court Rule [SCR 20:3.6  Trial publicity]: "(a) A lawyer who is participating or has participated in the investigation or litigation of a matter shall not make an extrajudicial statement that the lawyer knows or reasonably should know will be disseminated by means of public communication and will have a substantial likelihood of materially prejudicing an adjudicative proceeding in the matter."

Bailjumping Charge

"Acting Judge Sam Filippo set [a $5,000 signature] bond recommended by Lipske under conditions that Kloth have no contact with the [alledged] victim, nor threatening behavior to GTAC or Idea Drilling employees," notes Ralph Ansami (Lakeland Times).

Now, Lipske on top of the four criminal charges, claims that Ms. Kloth allegedly entering the forbidden zone in the public managed forest land in the Penokee Hills last Sunday constitutes "bailjumping."

The "forbidden zone" reference is to the Republican-passed law, 2013 Wisconsin Act 81, effective January 2014 that the GOP designed for GTAC to test-drill and load and transport bulk samples (Wisconsin Public Radio). [Here is the link to Act 81's legislative history and record of committee proceedings.]

This is a not a criminal statute.

"All the right-winger media was abuzz about supposed so-called 'No Go Zones' that Muslim people have set up in cities in Europe where non-Muslims aren't allowed to go. Turns out, the real No-Go Zones are set up by the Corporate Persons in America where non-Corporates aren't allowed to go," noted Bobby L. Clark, a Wisconsin citizen in Iron County and member of the group, Citizens Concerned about the Proposed Penokee Mine.

The proposed mining zone language is basically a trespassing statute that outlines what constitutes a trespass for "Proposed Ferrous Mining Sites, (2m)," as has been widely noted by clean water advocates.

GTAC gets a 600-foot buffer in which to test-drill and transport bulk samples from its proposed iron ore mine.

Wisconsin "Trespass to law" is still the law used to enforce any alleged trespassing.

Trespassing is a civil infraction—and it is quite a stretch for Lipske to call a civil infraction, bailjumping.

No investigation

It would be silly to contend that Lipske conducted an investigation just after the hours of the alleged infraction and found that Ms. Kloth trespassed, and then conclude a felony bailjumping charge must be leveled.

Wisconsin's trespassing law requires some kind of notice. This means if the owner approaches people and says you are trespassing on land and can go no further, you will advance at your own risk.

If you are not actually told this, signage is also required, and the state trespassing law says you need each 40-acre parcel marked, ridiculous for Lipske to mesh these requirements with the "600-foot rule" that the special forbidden zone legislation created, with absolutely no investigation conducted, as Lipske has admitted.

The Trespass to land law reads in part:

(2)(am) A person has received notice from the owner or occupant within the meaning of sub. (1m) (b), (e) or (f) if he or she has been notified personally, either orally or in writing, or if the land is posted. Land is considered to be posted under this paragraph under either of the following procedures:

943.13(2)(am)1. 1. If a sign at least 11 inches square is placed in at least 2 conspicuous places for every 40 acres to be protected. The sign must provide an appropriate notice and the name of the person giving the notice followed by the word "owner" if the person giving the notice is the holder of legal title to the land and by the word "occupant" if the person giving the notice is not the holder of legal title but is a lawful occupant of the land. Proof that appropriate signs as provided in this subdivision were erected or in existence upon the premises to be protected prior to the event complained of shall be prima facie proof that the premises to be protected were posted as provided in this subdivision.

2. If markings at least one foot long, including in a contrasting color the phrase "private land" and the name of the owner, are made in at least 2 conspicuous places for every 40 acres to be protected.

Lipske would have had to investigate and first determine which 40-acre parcel the 600-foot rule affected, ensure that each 40-acre parcel has the required signage, as required by statute, and that Ms. Kloth then intentionally violated the Proposed Ferrous Mining Sites, (2m) and conditions of her bond.

Each 40-feet forbidden zone is not marked, Iron County residents have confirmed.

This Proposed Ferrous Mining Sites law merely creates a right of the owner to close off the land to the public.

Lipske likely will be informed that the state will not be able to sustain a trespass charge against Kloth, meaning there was no violation of her bail conditions in this respect (i.e., no law violated).

As far as the specific conditions of Kloth's bail forbidding her from entering a mining site on GTAC's premises, there is neither a mining site, as defined in state law, nor a premises owned by GTAC that was ventured into by Kloth or anyone else, and moreover no one was encountered Sunday, January 18, as one would expect in the middle of the forest in the middle of January in far-northern Iron County Wisconsin.

That the conditions of Kloth's signature bond were violated is at best silly conjecture accomplished with no investigation, and to file a felony bailjumping charge is an abuse of process intended to cause Kloth harm.

Lipske had operated in this manner for years, thus demanding, at the least, that every case he has prosecuted be examined by an outside agency.

Hyperbole? I wish.

The 'Forbidden Zone,' a Psychopathic District Attorney and the Soul of Wisconsin

Edge of the Forbidden Zone
in northern Wisconsin

Update: "The Forbidden Zone is a corrupt political construct bought and paid for by people who should be behind bars.It is a special favor for the dark money donor class and should be challenged," said Jeff Silbert, a Wisconsin resident working to stop the proposed massive open pit mine.
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Pete Rasmussen of the Penokee Hill Education Project, offers viewers a compelling narrative of the Wisconsin "Forbidden Zone," created by Wisconsin Republicans and Scott Walker for the Gogebic Taconite (GTAC) mining company in the middle of "the Penokee Range of Northern Wisconsin, home to a proposed massive open pit operation that threatens the water and treaty resources of the Ojibwe ceded territory." (Indian Country News)

For a stunning and powerful video, see Paulette Moore's videos.

GTAC wants to slash open the largest open pit mine in the world in pristine northern Wisconsin, poisoning an entire ecosystem.

Dan Kaufman in the New York Times calls the proposed GTAC mine, "The Fight for Wisconsin’s Soul."

A corrupt Wisconsin District Attorney, Martin Lipske, wants to prosecute a mining protester with a felony crime for allegedly setting foot in the deserted, snow-laden Forbidden Zone in the middle of January 2015.

This writer has listened to and interviewed 1,000s, and I have never spoken with such a repulsive piece of human garbage as Martin Lipske.

The snowshoe trek, (there is a lot of snow in northern Wisconsin), began with "the Lac Coutre Oreilles band of Ojibwe Indians [which] established the Harvest Education Learning Project (HELP]: A five-acre camp in the Penokee Hills of Northern Wisconsin. The group joined local, national and international activists protesting the development of the worlds largest open-pit mine in pristine forest," said Wisconsin resident, Brad Geyer.

Mine Protestor Gets Light Jail Sentence, Corrupt Iron County DA Sought Long Prison Term

Katie Krow Kloth targeted by Mining
Co. and Corrupt Wisconsin DA

Updated - Nine-month Jail Term and Small Restitution for Mine Protester and Environmental Activist - DA Martin Lipske's 15-year prison sentence rejected by judge; GTAC's $80,000-plus restitution request rejected by judge [It was originally reported that the sentence is six months, but as the two counts' sentences are running consecutively and not concurrently, the jail term is nine months].

Update: A source in Iron County Wisconsin says Iron County DA Lipske, after being rebuffed today by Judge Fox, is now working on new charges against Ms. Kloth.

Lipske will not be satisfied until he has inflicted as much pain as possible on Ms. Kloth and will contrive virtually any charge in his ongoing abuse of process and malicious prosecution of Ms. Kloth.

The new charge is now Bail Jumping, a Class H Felony, though Ms. Kloth has never missed an appearance.

Reached today by phone, Lipske said there is a forbidden area in the forest of Iron County on which Ms. Kloth set foot.

The case is State of Wisconsin vs. Katie M. Kloth, Iron County Case Number 2015CF000001. Lipske said he is touch with Kloth's attorney, John C. Bachman of Eau Claire, Wisconsin.

Lipske claims that entering the forbidden zone in the Penokee Hills last Sunday constitutes "Bail Jumping."

 "On Sunday, at least 45 people snowshoed into the 'forbidden zone,' an off-limits mining zone in the Penokees established by Gogebic Taconite (GTAC) through the Wisconsin DNR, to peacefully protest the proposed mining in the region," reports Amber Mullen, Ashland Daily Press.

Objectively, Iron County District Attorney Martin Lipske is a despicable human being who should be investigated for misconduct again, and have his license suspended again by the Wisconsin Office of Lawyer Regulation.

Lipske said he had no choice but to pursue another felony charge though the political protest case is effectively closed. 

Lipske does have a choice, it's called prosecutorial discretion, but this human garbage is on a vendetta.
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Katie Krow Kloth was sentenced to serve nine months in Iron County jail before a packed courtroom in Hurley, Wisconsin, and was described by the presiding judge as committing an offense on the low end of the spectrum at a political protest in 2013.

Two sentences of six and three months are ordered to be served consecutively by Ms. Kloth who is eligible for work release and has two weeks to report to jail. "Kloth will have five years of probation with the felony charge and two years with the misdemeanor," notes the Ashland Daily Press.

The presiding judge, Price County Judge Douglas T. Fox, said a prison sentence was not "appropriate," and withheld requested prison sentences, rejecting Iron County DA Martin Lipske's appeals.

Lipske is notoriously corrupt and known for fronting for Gogebic Taconite (GTAC).

GTAC's $80,000 request for restitution was rejected in full.

A different company employee, Stacy Saari, was ordered to receive a small restitution from Kloth.

Ms. Kloth, a 27-year-old woman who had no criminal record prior, is an environmental and Native American activist who faced four criminal charges for actions at a 2013 political protest at the proposed GTAC mine site in northern Wisconsin, (see Kaufman, New York Times).

Ms. Kloth had pleaded No Contest to two charges last September.

Kloth's attorney, John C. Bachman of Eau Claire, Wisconsin said he had never seen so many letters of support in a criminal case today as at this hearing.

The Department of Corrections filed a presentencing report with the Court on November 13, 2014, ordered by Price County Judge Douglas T. Fox on September 23, 2014.

"Katie is an intelligent and skilled botanist who has much to teach about the natural world," said environmental activist Rob Ganson of Citizens Concerned about the Proposed Penokee Mine in a letter to  Judge Fox.

Ms. Kloth made a motion for a new judge in March 2014, as is her right (unique among the 50 states) to move for substitution in Wisconsin for no stated cause, though the case stays in the jurisdiction of Iron County.

Good move.

The District Attorney, Iron County's Martin Lipske, is a corrupt jurist, suspended for discipline in 1990, and like Iron County Judge Patrick Madden is not a jurist with whom you want to be dealing when you are protesting the proposed giant open pit GTAC mine in Iron County.

Lipske, incredibly (but not for Lipske), had charged Kloth on four criminal counts two of which could have resulted in a 15-year prison sentence for an incident during which the alleged victims were seen laughing on tape.

Judge Fox handed down the sentence—some 11 months after Kloth's motion for a substitution of judge—this morning after DA Lipske threw the book at Kloth in typical Lipske-abuse-of-discretion fashion.

The charges stem from a criminal complaint of June 21, 2013.

Kloth had reached a plea deal in September, facing DA Martin Lipske throwing the book at her.

Krow was described as "looking well" yesterday by a long-time resident of Ashland County who spoke with Krow at the produce aisle at Chequamegon Food Coop on Tuesday, January 20th in the city of Ashland.

The same source said, Krow told him, "she has a good feeling about tomorrow's trial and claims to be ready for whatever happens."

Today at the sentencing hearing, Krow was described as "emotional but composed, and remorseful," by an attendee of the hearing.

Kloth is also the victim of a PR campaign against her by Wisconsin GOP-front journals, the Wisconsin Reporter and Media Trackers, among GOP groups.

"[T]he Gogebic Taconite company contributed $700,000 to the Wisconsin Club for Growth during the recall races in 2011 and 2012. According to the John Doe prosecutors, that contribution was coordinated by agents of Gov. Scott Walker. Around the same time, Walker and the Republicans were promoting a bill that was partially written by Gogebic Taconite. That bill eventually passed, giving the company what it wanted for its controversial mine in Iron County." (Rothschild, The Capital Times)

Said Krow in July 2014: "Those who fight against the destruction of the water, land, plants, and human and non-human animals of the Penokee Hills and Bad River Watershed are not ‘terrorists.’ The only terrorists are those who plot to blow up the hills with ammonium nitrate and use the power of the state’s policing apparatus to repress and send fear and division through the communities that oppose them. Gogebic Taconite (GTAC) and Chris Cline have millions of dollars and the support of the state to destroy the Penokees [Hills]," (Bergquist, Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel).

A support group of Krow's notes:

On June 11th, 2013, Kroft was cited by the Iron County Sherriff for theft due to her alleged involvement in a rowdy protest earlier that day that disrupted bore-hole drilling on the Penokee Range. She was neither arrested nor detained that day.

Ten days later, Iron County District Attorney Martin Lipske increased the charges to robbery with use of force (a class E felony), two counts of criminal damage to property and one charge of theft of movable property.

It is apparent that the prosecutor gave into outside political pressure and that the charges were trumped up. The state legislature and powerful mining corporations seek to make an example out of anyone who dares to step out of line

A letter to Judge Fox by Rob Ganson of Citizens Concerned about the Proposed Penokee Mine (Facebook) is reproduced below:

Judge Fox,

Katie Kloth, in my opinion, is guilty of a crime, one like Bill Williams committed in the courthouse in Ashland, when he too, snatched a cell phone against resistance of the owner.

Small crimes like these, like the one perpetrated on 80-year-old Bruce Noble (no charges) occur on the streets of Hurley on a regular basis with no charges forthcoming. Please ask yourself why this particular case was so blatantly over-charged in Iron County.

It is clear on the video that a very minor assault was committed, while the victim’s co-workers, (a burly drilling crew) stood by laughing at the ill considered and rude antics. It is also clear that GTac responded by breaking the law; sending unlicensed mercenaries with military weapons, mercenaries in camo gear and masks, to confront hikers, including my wife. THIS was another sort of assault altogether! This assault was one including the brandishing of military rifles by masked men who seemed like some sort of terrorist cell and NOBODY was charged! The disposition of this case should be the same as it would be absent the political environment responsible for the elevated charges.

Katie is an intelligent and skilled botanist who has much to teach about the natural world, (if little about manners) and not some troublemaker with a record of crime or violence of any kind. I ask that you act in the spirit of justice and impose the slap on the wrist wake up call it would end in were it not for the politics that have so greatly exaggerated it.

Rob Ganson,
Washburn, Wisconsin
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Bulletproof Securities, Inc, Photo by Rob Ganson

Read as well the refusal of DA Martin Lipske to prosecute the rightwing Bulletproof Securities, Inc. which tried to provoke natives of northern Wisconsin by unlawfully carrying semi-automatic weapons captured in a shot by Rob Ganson that was picked up nationwide.

July 17, 2013

Martin Lipske District Attorney
300 Taconite Street
Hurley, WI 54534

Re: Bulletproof Securities, Inc.

Dear Mr. Lipske:

This is a follow-up to my letter of July 11, calling your attention to several violations committed by Bulletproof Securities, Inc. while their armed personnel were unlawfully present in Wisconsin at the GTAC mine site. Apparently Bulletproof’s application for a Wisconsin license is still under consideration.

In my previous letter I did not specifically point to Wisconsin Statutes Section 134.58, which suggests that some officials and employees of both Bulletproof Securities and GTAC may have committed felonies. Section 134.58 states:

“Any person who, individually, in concert with another or as agent or officer of any firm, joint-stock company or corporation, uses, employs, aids or assists in employing any body of armed persons to act as militia, police or peace officers for the protection of persons or property or for the suppression of strikes, not being authorized by the laws of this state to so act, is guilty of a Class I felony.”

It is difficult to argue that this provision was not violated by the hiring of unlicensed personnel carrying AR-15’s, engaged to conduct surveillance and to protect the employees and property of GTAC.

Given this and the numerous previously listed violations, it is incumbent on your office and state regulatory authorities to insure that Bulletproof Securities, Inc. is not allowed to operate in Wisconsin. In the event Bulletproof officials were to be convicted of these charges, they would lose the right to operate in Arizona as well as Wisconsin. GTAC is presently utilizing Wisconsin personnel, and the tension has de-escalated. It would be counterproductive to reintroduce this firm into Wisconsin, as GTAC has promised. While Governor Walker and others have insisted that you prosecute law-breaking protesters to the fullest extent possible, I am looking for some semblance of an attempt to enforce the laws against out-of-state corporations responsible for criminal activity within our state.

Your defense of GTAC’s right to hire Bulletproof’s guards at Katie Kloth’s hearing was troublesome.

It was unrelated to her guilt or innocence, and only served to conflate the issues. No one has ever suggested GTAC has no right to hire private security -- they have every right to hire licensed personnel. Don’t confuse that with utilizing unlicensed, armed security forces in violation of Wisconsin’s criminal laws. Your vigorous stance in support of the hiring appears inappropriate for one charged with the duty to decide whether that hiring led to multiple violations of the law.

Unlike Governor Walker, I am not requesting that you use every weapon at your disposal. I am merely seeking assurances that Bulletproof Securities, Inc. will not be granted a license to operate in Wisconsin. Wisconsin is better served by the continued use of local companies that have demonstrated knowledge of and compliance with the law.

Sincerely,

Anthony J. Stella, Jr.
Copy: Wisconsin Department of Safety and Professional Services