Iron County DA Commits Capricious Action Against an Innocent Man

Don Miller, an innocent man with his son, Kirk.
Iron County DA Martin Lipske committed
a malicious prosecution

Update III: Don Miller was ordered freed, with five years probation, after the University of Wisconsin-Madison Innocence Project secured this stipulation.

Meanwhile, the corrupt district attorney, Martin Lipske, violated a Wisconsin Supreme Court Rule [SCR 20:3.6  Trial publicity] in his pursuit against a 20-something woman protesting the GTac mine. How Lipske is still allowed to practice law, much less serve as a district attorney is mystifying. See Kochs Target Iron Co Races, as Corrupt Judge and DA Target Mining Protestor.

Update II: Had heard things are a little crazy way up in northern Wisconsin, but not like this. A source tells me that staff working with the University of Wisconsin Law School's Innocence Project was in negotiations with Iron County DA Martin Lipske, and that Lipske is in a phrase: Criminally dishonest. At a September 2012 hearing on paroling the innocent man, Lipske reneged on an agreement stipulating the release of Donald Miller, an innocent man serving a 42-year sentence, in an apparent underhanded attempt to have Miller burn up legal avenues. The judge, Patrick J Madden, a corrupt bozo, rejected the agreement and Lipske said nothing in response at the hearing. This is far-northern Wisconsin, a rat's nest of corruption the likes of which I have never encountered in Wisconsin, and have never even heard of.

Update: A reader says this capricious action by a sitting Wisconsin District Attorney in the letter at end is a sick prosecutor "taunting" the innocent man he threw in prison. I agree.

Corrupt, pro-mining District Attorney Martin Lipske Committed a Malicious Prosecution of Innocent Man in 1997.

Now, Lipske capriciously denies a parole recommendation for the man he prosecuted, a position reversing Lipske's prior position because Lipske said the imprisoned man's parents publicly noted Lipske's license to practice law was suspended for misconduct.

Yeah. This reveals how Martin Lipske makes value decisions.

See the Anatomy of a Wrongful Conviction website.

Lipske's letter on the official Iron County (Wisconsin) District Attorney letterhead, indicating Lipske's capricious reversal is below.

The Anatomy of a Wrongful Conviction site could perhaps be entitled a malicious prosecution site instead.

Some background.

The Wrongful Conviction site was recently updated to include a link to Anthony Stellas's The StellaReport.com,  featuring updates on the "developing GTAC (Gogebic Taconite Mine) fiasco in Iron County."

Stella ran against Lipske for DA in 2012 in an election that Lipske narrowly won after a suspicious recount that reversed the election result. Lipske won by four votes out of some 3,200 votes cast.

A background source, speaking without attribution because he said Lipske is vindictive, said including the two updates on Lipske's 2012 election and referencing the updates as "news" that Lipske had his license suspended has led to Lipske's bizarre behavior and his letter to an imprisoned man who, if my reading of these documents is correct, is innocent.

Lipske's letter has been posted since August 7, 2013 by a group in northern Wisconsin working to free an innocent man, and who have alerted me to this development, this posting of the letter.

Mal contends, began researching the career of the Iron County District Attorney, Martin Lipske, after news of Lipske's inappropriate and unethical public musing over launching prosecutions against Gogebic Taconite mining protesters prior to any criminal complaint or the inception of any law enforcement investigation.

Local jurists in Dane County (Wisconsin) where I live have confirmed that Lipske is indeed a reckless jurist, a pattern of behavior confirmed by the State Bar of Wisconsin in July 2013.

The bar confirmed a two-year suspension of Lipske's license to practice law characterized as engaging in professional misconduct composed of "dishonesty, fraud, deceit or misconduct" in July 1990, some 23 years ago. The Bar also confirmed other, less serious administrative suspensions.

Just how corrupt are things up north in Iron County (Wisconsin), population: Some 5,900?

Turns out District Attorney Martin Lipske is more corrupt and reckless than even what his fellow jurists believe.

A piece published here, entitled Iron County DA Has History of Professional Misconduct, Suspension of License for Discipline (Jul 17, 2013), drew a long comment from a reader blasting Martin Lipske for Lipske's wrongful prosecution of as many documents suggest (advise taking a few weeks to read them over), an innocent man, Donald R. Miller, subsequently sentenced to a 42-year sentence for a crime that has been publicly recanted by the alleged victim, who at the very least can be said to not be a credible accuser.

Malicious prosecution

Lipske's involvement includes almost no law enforcement investigation; Lipske just took a story that the former live-in girlfriend of Miller's apparently fabricated, and absent an investigation, ran with it and made a criminal case.

Turns out Miller is up for parole this year. Lipske has previously said Miller did not deserve the 42-year sentence, and had agreed to Miller to stipulate his release this year.

Last month, Lipske sent a letter dated July 11, 2013 to Miller reading in part: "My intentions were to send a copy of the stipulation in which I agreed to your release. However, between the time that I received the form and the due date, I received another letter through the actions of your parents challenging my license to practice law. Therefore, nothing was sent as I intended."

An innocent man is imprisoned by Lipske; and now Lipske is willy-nilly making value decisions on a man's life, and others.

This is the same District Attorney who has charged a 20-something mining protester, Katie Kloth, with multiple-felony robbery and other criminal violation for protesting, raising her voice and allegedly grabbing a cell phone from a mining company official.

This Miller matter will be brought to the attention of the Wisconsin Office of Lawyer Regulation—the governing Wisconsin authority for lawyer misconduct, and the office that prosecutes violations of lawyer ethics rules—if I have to do it myself.

Miller's son Kirk, after his efforts to free his father failed in the face of corrupt and unyielding Iron County officials, committed suicide.

How many lives will be ruined before we begin asking questions about Iron County District Attorney Martin Lipske?

Iron County DA Martin Lipske on display. Letter shows capricious behavior

This site has received no information whatsoever about Lipske's two-year suspension of his license to practice law in Wisconsin from Miller's parents. The State Bar of Wisconsin contacted by phone (and from whom I received an e-mail) on July 17, 2013 is my source for the piece, Iron County DA Has History of Professional Misconduct, Suspension of License for Discipline, run on July 17, 2013.

Just saying.

Iron County DA Has History of Professional Misconduct, Suspension of License for Discipline

Iron County District Attorney Martin Lipske's
law license was suspended for two years in 1990.
Lipske's  license was suspended four times
between 1985 and 1990 as well

Updated - Steven Verburg and the editors of the Wisconsin State Journal either have not vetted Iron County DA Martin Lipske as a credible source or do not care about Lipske's shady history of practicing law in Wisconsin.

The Wisconsin corporate press is playing stenographer to Iron County DA Martin Lipske as Lipske makes pro-mining political statements to the press and threatens to throw the book at a mining protester as he publicly muses about prosecutions of several other Gogebic Taconite mining protesters prior to any criminal complaint or the inception of any law enforcement investigation, the latest careless move in a reckless history of Lipske's, confirmed by the State Bar of Wisconsin this morning.

To this point, the Wisconsin press has failed to report the numerous instances of professional misconduct in Lipske's legal career, treating Lipske's overheated characterization of mining protesters as credible, despite Lipske's slipshod history as an attorney in Wisconsin, as referenced by the State Bar of Wisconsin's history of Lipske's license to practice obtained this morning from the Bar in an e-mail after a phone call, and reproduced below.

Lipske as an attorney had his license to practice law suspended for nearly four years in Wisconsin, and is currently barred from practicing law in Minnesota for numerous ethical violations, including a two-year suspension for discipline involving "dishonesty, fraud, deceit or misconduct."

Lipske is getting a free political ride as Lipske takes political shots at mining protesters in the press in his apparent attempt to criminalize opposition to the proposed, massive Iron mine in northern Wisconsin.

Steven Verburg of the Wisconsin State Journal offers editorial support for the Gogebic Taconite mining interests and its allies like Lipske in his news piece today.

Writes Verburg this morning: "The details on the [alleged criminal] incident help explain why the Gogebic Taconite mining company hired heavily armed security guards from Arizona who wore camouflage and masks, Lipske said."

Is that what Lipske said?

Verburg either has not vetted Lipske as a credible source, or does not care about Lipske's shady history of practicing law in Wisconsin.

The State Bar of Wisconsin confirmed this morning the almost four-year suspension of Lipske's license to practice law from 1990-1994, after a quick phone call.

Iron county in northern Wisconsin has a population of 6,861 people.

Lipske's suspension to practice law was lifted in 1994.

Lipske was "Suspended for Discipline" for two years under the category of "dishonesty, fraud, deceit or misconduct" in 1990, it was reported in the Ironwood Daily Globe (Ralph Ansami), after consultations with the Wisconsin Office of Lawyer Regulation.

The State Bar will not provide specifics per its policy, but a press account from the Ironwood Daily Globe (Ansami. September 6, 1994) when Lipske ran for Iron County DA, reads:

Lipske was also sanctioned for failing to provide competent representation, and for neglect of several legal matters.

[Lipske] was suspended from practicing law in both Minnesota and Wisconsin.

Additionally, Lipske had his license to practice law in Wisconsin suspended four times for administrative delinquencies between 1985 to 1988.

Specifically, Lipske was suspended three times for failure to pay dues, and once for failing to obtain a Continuing Legal Education (CLE) requirement in 1985.

The history of Lipske's license to practice is reproduced below.

All of Lipske's suspensions to practice law in Wisconsin have been lifted since 1994.

Currently, Lipske is a member of the State Bar of Wisconsin in good standing.

Further information can also be obtained through the Wisconsin Office of Lawyer Regulation.

Iron County DA Martin Lipske License Status (State Bar of Wisconsin)
Atty. Martin Lipske License Status’

10/31/1985 Suspended for CLE (Education requirements)

11/1/1985 Suspended for Dues and CLE

11/7/1985 Suspended for Dues (CLE Lifted)

11/11/1985 Good Standing (All suspensions lifted)

11/3/1986 Suspended for Dues

11/12/1986 Good Standing (All suspensions lifted)

5/11/1988 Suspended for CLE

07/05/1988 Good Standing (All suspensions lifted)

7/1/1990 Suspended for Discipline [emphasis added]

1/19/1994 Good Standing (All suspensions lifted)

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))
 ---

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.

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.

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)]
 ---
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.

Innocent Man Behind Bars Mines for Heart of Gold

Don Miller with his son in happier times
(Photo from Miller family)

Nasty, brutal and long, the terror campaign of District Attorney Martin Lipske

Updated - Say, you run into an unscrupulous attorney with anti-social, criminal habits.

Citizens do have a recourse.

In Wisconsin lawyers are regulated (not as heavily as some would like), animated from both a concern for the general public and a related concern for the best practices of the legal profession.

This quality-control mechanism in Wisconsin is the Office of Lawyer Regulation (OLR), an office with theoretical teeth to rid the legal profession of bad actors.

The OLR is an agency of the Wisconsin Supreme Court.

Since 2000, this regulatory "system assists the Court in supervising the practice of law and protecting the public from misconduct by lawyers."

Norm and Patricia Miller of Hurley, Wisconsin have a grandson who committed suicide, distraught over the unjust incarceration of his father who was given a 42-year sentence by an Iron County (Wisconsin) judge who was romantically involved with the alleged victim before, during and after their son's criminal trial.

And the unscrupulous attorney with anti-social, criminal habits is the sitting Iron County (Wisconsin) District Attorney, Martin Lipske.

A dead grandson, a wrongfully imprisoned son, Norm and Patricia Miller are looking for justice, freedom for their son, Don, and the clearing of their son's name.

Virtually everyone who looked into this case - outside of Iron County DA Martin Lipske and Iron County Judge Patrick J. Madden - believes Don Miller should not be prison.

The Wisconsin Innocence Project has taken up the case.

Their hearts broken, Norm and Patricia Miller keep working for their son's freedom, noting in an early 2013 complaint to the OLR about Lipske that Lipske misplaced exculpatory evidence that would have certainly exonerated their son in the infamous case—State of Wisconsin v. Donald R. Miller [Case Number: 97 CF 60], (1997).

Miller has asked his live-in girlfriend to move out of his home after it became clear one Connie Vargovich after Ms. Vargovich sleeping around town made it clear their relationship had ended.

Vargocich disagreed. She proceeded to make a host of accusations and the rest is tragedy.

Early this year, the parents filed an Office of Lawyer Regulation (OLR) grievance against Iron County DA Lipske.

Lipske then sent Don Miller a letter (at bottom of this page) conditioning action of his office stipulating Don Miller's immediate release from prison on the Miller's stopping sending letters to the OLR.

Lipske's letter, dated July 11, 2013, reads in part: "My intentions were to send a copy of the stipulation in which I agreed to your release. However, between the time that I received the form and the due date, I received another letter through the actions of your parents challenging my license to practice law. Therefore, nothing was sent as I intended."

Federal corruption statute - 18 USC § 201

So Wisconsin citizens can file a grievance with the Office of Lawyer Regulation (OLR), but they have to expect retaliation from the attorney, and coercion to not utilize this OLR check on the legal profession, or the sitting district attorney will use the power of this public office for the performance of a specific act (the release stipulation in Don Miller's case) for Lipske's corrupt purposes (perceived public clearing of his law practice history with no more future challenges made to the OLR)?

Screw that, I filed my own OLR grievance against Lipske August 29, 2014, and received an OLR response September 4, 2013. This matter is pending.

Lipske has worse than a checkered history of his practice of law in Wisconsin

Reached by phone today, the Millers say their Feb 21, 2013 response letter from the OLR found no issues in its "investigative jurisdiction."

The OLR letter also noted that more than ten years have passed since Lipske allegedly lost/destroyed DNA evidence.

The Wisconsin Innocence Project has not returned phone calls regarding this case.

Martin Lipske is quite a piece of work.

Lipske has jumped into bed with the Gogebic Taconite (GTac) mine company, tossing out the rule of law and impartiality with the fervor of a zealot.

We noted earlier at this site, this is the same District Attorney who has charged a 20-something mining protester, Katie Kloth, with multiple-felony robbery and other criminal violations for protesting the proposed Gogebic Taconite (GTac) mine, raising her voice and allegedly grabbing a cell phone from a mining company official.

And Lipske wants to criminally prosecute another man, a 76-year-old farmer, for attempting to bring in federal involvement that he believes is needed in Iron County.

This call for federal involvement in this den of corruption up north was recently echoed by six Native American tribes in northern Wisconsin to halt the environmental destruction that this proposed Gogebic Taconite (GTac) mine would wreak upon the whole region.

The farmer is concerned about the same proposed Gogebic Taconite (GTac) mine and other developers.

Citizens in Iron County are looking for evidence the armed militia, Bulletproof, operated in neighboring Ashland County, in the face of Lipske's refusal to prosecute Bulletproof for repeated violations of the law on behalf of the mining company.

I can't believe this county of 5,900 is part of the United States of America.

I can't believe Martin Lipske is allowed to practice law, and actually is a sitting district attorney.

As for Millers. Norm said, reached by phone in early September: "Don spent 16 innocent years in jail; 16 years of your life wiped away. I just want my son back; I want what is right."

Mining Company May Dump Its Wisconsin District Attorney

Mining Company: We're for you, Wisconsin

Gogebic Taconite Mine (GTac) wrote its own Wisconsin legislation; keeps scientific data secret from the people; forbids environmental experts from approaching the proposed mine site, and is now wants to keep the Wisconsin people away from 1,000s of acres of forests, as demanded in new legislation proposed and supported solely by the Republican Party.

This follows GTac's worst blunder yet in hiring a bunch of heavily armed, wanna-be Rambos from Arizona, Bulletproof Security, parading around on GTac's proposed $1.5 billion open-pit iron-ore mine site in the Penokee Hills of northern Wisconsin.

But perhaps the most foolish of GTac's blunders is keeping its Iron County (Wisconsin) District Attorney, Martin Lipske, as its legal frontman.

Lipske went from a Gov. James Doyle-endorsing Democrat to an Independent (he won reelection in 2012 after a controversial recount) after word went out in Iron County in 2011 that GTac was coming in with Republican support.

Lipske presents to the Wisconsin public the legal equivalent of the face of the corporate terrorist—corrupt, a shady reputation with a history of professional misconduct, and perversely disdainful of innocent Wisconsin people.

Check out Martin 'Marty' Lipske on search sites, and you won't find out much beyond the fact his license to practice law was suspended for professional misconduct, and he put an innocent man in prison after losing DNA evidence in 1997; and protecting favored defendants in Iron County, including favored prostitutes. Hey, welcome to Hurley, Wisconsin in Iron County.

Lipske had his license to practice law suspended six times in Wisconsin, once for professional misconduct in a suspension that lasted almost four years shortly before Iron County Judge Patrick J. 'Madman' Madden recruited Lipske to move from Douglas County (Wisconsin) to run for District Attorney in Iron County where Madden has served as judge with an equally corrupt reputation since 1986.

Rob Ganson’s photo of Bulletproof Security using silencers
on their semi-automatics was taken July 6, 2013 in Iron County

Madden recused himself from Lipske's latest attempted miscarriage of justice after Lipske targeted anti-mining Iron County resident, 76-year-old Robert Gollubske, for Gollubske's bumbled attempt to contact the FBI after Gollubske's home and farm were rocked by explosions by a local blacktop company that Gollubske fears is a precursor of what the huge open-pit mine will wreak upon the Penokee Hills range.

Lipske has also launched a heavy-handed prosecution against 26-year-old Katie Kloth whom Lipske wants to prosecute with a violent felony and three misdemeanors for protesting the Gogebic Taconite mine in June 2013.

However, Lipske now refuses to prosecute Bulletproof Security for operating without a license in Wisconsin, among other continued violations of Wisconsin law.

The gig is up on Lipske; everyone knows the guy is bent. GTac has its own district attorney.

The only question is how long before Cline Resource and Development Company (of which Gogebic Taconite (GTac) is one subsidiary) comes to the conclusion that Lipske is too much a liability.

In the July 2013 - August 2013 issue of Mining Magazine, Lee Buchsbaum puts it thusly in a piece in which Buchsbaum paints a picture of a lot of money at stake for keeping a frontman like Lipske in place with all his dirt. 

GTac would do better with the image of a semi-automatic rifle with a silencer pointed out in the north woods of Wisconsin. Writes Buchsbaum:

Though not as sexy as gold or platinum, many have argued that iron ore, the primary ingredient in steel, remains the world's most important commodity. ...

The majority of US iron-ore production is concentrated in Minnesota and Michigan, though historically it has also been produced in volume in Wisconsin and, during World Wars One and Two, it was extracted in large quantities from the southwestern states of Utah and Nevada. However, the heart of the industry remains in Minnesota. ...

 In total, 13 iron-ore mines (11 open pits, one reclamation operation, and one dredging operation), nine concentration plants and nine pelletising plants were operational during 2012, as reported by the USGS. However, eight mines operated by three companies - Cliffs Natural Resources, Essar Steel, and US Steel - accounted for virtually all of the production.

New direct-reduction-injection (DRI) processes, cheap natural gas and the enlarged Panama Canal are now driving investors to open new mines and return to old diggings and tailings piles, while reaching out to new international customers.

One of the biggest recent moves in the US iron-ore segment is the entry of what might prove to be a major new producer. Gogebic Taconite (Gtac), a subsidiary of the expanding US coal producer Cline Resource and Development Co (also owner of Foresight Energy) has literally redefined the concept of high-productivity, low-cost longwall mining.

Legislation vital to the re-establishment of iron-ore mining in Wisconsin passed with support from Gtac and, on June 18, Gtac filed for permits regarding its iron-ore mine and processing plant - the first new iron-ore mine in the state for decades. ...

GOGEBIC: NEW SHOOTER

Following an arduous and contentious two-year effort to change the mining laws in Wisconsin, on June 18, officials from Gtac, filed with the Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources a sample plan and pre-application notice outlining the firm's intent to file an application for an iron-ore mining permit, the first one requested in nearly a century.

Though the bulk sample plan is preliminary to the firm's first pilot efforts to actually recover and determine the quantity and quality of the ore in the deposit, the pre-application is also the first step in a process company officials hope will one day lead to the development of an operating taconite mine.

Gtac has estimated that the US$1.5 billion operation will eventually be capable of producing 8Mt/y of iron ore in phase one of the project, fully 15% of the current total US production.

Extracting from a two-billion-tonne body of crude taconite ore, the deposit Gtac will mine is approximately 35.4km long and dips at about 65 degrees to the north, while outcropping along the top of a hill. ...

Gtac's overall vision is similar to what the Cline Group has accomplished in a relatively short time in the Illinois coal fields. ...

"The company sat on this reserve for 60 years. During its restructuring in 2001 and 2002, US Steel purged its nonproductive and fallow resources," says Gtac mine president Bill Williams. "We now have a clear permitting process, and we're targeting the 2016 to 2017 timeframe to be in production."

Kochs Target Iron Co Races, as Corrupt Judge and DA Target Mining Protestor

Beautiful Penokee Range in
Iron County (Wisconsin).
"The Penokee-Gogebic Range
consists of two steep, parallel ridges
that dominate the local
landscape rising 1,200
feet above nearby Lake Superior.
The topography of the area
and the variety of soil conditions
 result in a wide range of habitat
that supports a diverse
group of species and
natural communities."
(Nature Conservancy)

Update II: Iron County District Attorney Martin Lipske—inclined to shoot his mouth off in service to favored litigants such as the GTac mining company—should read 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."

Now, I'm no attorney, but Lipske's statement made to Steven Verburg of the Wisconsin State Journal (July 17, 2013) sure seems to me like a "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."

State Journal headline reads: "Details of harassment incident at mine show a troubling threat, prosecutor says."

Here is Lipske's quote: '"The details on the [alleged criminal] incident (of Katie Kloth and a small group) help explain why the Gogebic Taconite mining company hired heavily armed security guards from Arizona who wore camouflage and masks, Lipske said."

On a different matter, hey Lipske, you ever ask for a favor in exchange for performing specific duties of your office?  Just checking it, friend.

Update: District Attorney Martin Lipke, working in service to GTac, reportedly wants mine protestor Katie Kloth to pay $10,000s to GTac because GTac brought in Bulletproof Security—heavily armed with assault weapons, unlicensed and operating illegally under Wisconsin law—to provide "security" against a handful of unarmed, young protesters and Native Americans growing rice and sharing traditional meals with journalists and visitors to the area, often at the Lac Courte Oreilles Harvest and Educational Camp.

There was never any question that Bulletproof operated illegally, yet Lipske refused to press criminal charges against Bulletproof, instead Lipske actually supplied free public relations for the criminal actor, Bulletproof: "The details on the [alleged criminal] incident (of Katie Kloth and a small group) help explain why the Gogebic Taconite mining company hired heavily armed security guards from Arizona who wore camouflage and masks, Lipske said." (Steven Verburg. Wisconsin State Journal)

Bulletproof also made "false statement(s) in connection with (its) application for a license or permit," a violation of  Wisconsin Statute 440.26(6)(a)(3), as Steve Horn reported in December 2013. Bulletproof's president, Tom Parrella had claimed "to have reached out to local officials in two counties and to the Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources (DNR) before he sent his employees to northern Wisconsin. But officials with those counties and the DNR deny this."

Lipske again refused to prosecute.

One would think this inequitable treatment, this selective prosecution, would perhaps supply grounds for dismissal of charges, or a substitution of judges.
---
"Iron County is a place of incredible natural beauty. With 300 pristine lakes encompassing 34,000 acres of pure water the only thing that could make it better is Lake Superior coastline. Good thing Iron County has that too. Come and enjoy an amazing waterfall or take a long walk on the beautiful sandy beaches of Saxon Harbor."

So notes the official website of Iron County in northern Wisconsin, population of some 5,200 residents, most of whom know each other personally or by reputation.

Rightwing money pouring into Iron County wants to see pristine lakes, watersheds and rivers fouled by toxins from a proposed massive, open-pit mine—brought and paid for by billionaire mining mogul, Christopher Cline, and one cog in his extraction operations: GTac or Gogebic Taconite.

The Wisconsin State Journal is reporting the Koch Brothers-funded Americans for Prosperity (AFP) is dropping over a 1,000 political pamphlets defaming residents in Iron County as "anti-mining radical(s)" in an effort to elect pro-mining members of the Board of Supervisors in the April 1 election. (Verberg)

"A well-funded Wisconsin conservative group is blasting seven county board candidates in sparsely populated Iron County, calling them 'radical anti-mining' environmentalists," reports Verberg.

No election is too small for the Koch brothers, and they are wreaking havoc on a planetary scale.

North of Wisconsin in Canada, a subsidiary of Koch Industries is the largest lease holder in Canada’s oil sands, reports EcoWatch.

One pro-mining resident, Saxon Assistant Fire Chief Karl Krall, "said he wonders where they (AFP)are getting their information. Krall said he is a strong proponent of the mine, and he is puzzled and angry about being described as a job-killing radical on the material sent to his friends, neighbors and potential voters in the district where he is a candidate," reports Verberg. 'Everybody in the town except me got the flyer saying I’m an anti-mine radicalist. It’s a joke,' said Krall."

Katie Kloth - A woman whose spirit
is as beautiful as the Penokees. The
rightwing hates her and is out to
destroy Ms. Kloth's life because of
her opposition to the Gtac mine.

Katie Kloth

What is not so funny about Iron County, is mining protestor Katie Kloth, a 20-something, anti-mining protestor about to get the book thrown at her, already overcharged by Iron County's notoriously corrupt District Attorney Martin Lipske.

The 26-year-old Kloth raised her voice at an anti-mining protest and is accused of stealing a cell phone and smashing it.

For this, Kloth is being subjected to an abuse of office by Lipske, who has a history of outrageous conduct of this nature.

Kloth faces three misdemeanors and one felony charge

Kloth's arraignment hearing is Monday, April 24.

Judge Patrick Madden and Iron County District Attorney Martin Lipske

I spoke to some Iron County folks (not Don Miller) the last few days, and as much as they detest Lipske, they believe few outside Iron County have any idea how corrupt this isolated county is, and specifically point to Judge Patrick J. Madden, presiding over Kloth's arraignment.

"I hope Katie Kloth's lawyers know whose courtroom they are walking into when they go before Madden. You think Lipske is corrupt; Madden is worse. I can prove plenty of stories of criminal conduct, but a lot of people could get hurt, but I'll still pull the trigger when the time is right," says a long-time resident, speaking to me, and asking to remain anonymous because of feared retaliation and the sensitivity of the topic. "At least the spotlight is on these __holes for a while."

Tiny and beautiful Iron County is a focus of billionaires, Christopher Cline and the Koch brothers.

The District Attorney and Circuit Court judge are corrupt, and fronting for GTac and the billionaires.

Now, 27-year-old Katie Kloth, a socially conscious woman with no criminal record, is going to get the book thrown at her as Lipske and Madden do the mining company's dirty work.

Last year, Lipske tried to charge a 76-year-old farmer, "Barrel Bob" Gollubske, a gentle farmer from Kimball in Iron County, with "bomb scares" and terrorizing the community after Gollubske called the FBI and said he is afraid of what the Gtac is planning on doing, and then complaining to the DNR.

Gollubkse had long said destructive blasting by a local asphalt company would be nothing compared to GTac's plan to blast open their proposed 26-mile-ling open-pit mine.

All criminal charges against Gollubske were dismissed in December 2013 because the charges were fabricated, ludicrous and intended to intimidate anti-mining sentiment; Gollubske's lawyer, Jeff Scott Olson of Madison, had successfully moved for a judge substitution in August last year.

Gollubkse said by phone in December, "I feel happy, I fell relieved, but my wife you know, she had a heart attack over this, a quadruple bypass, and thanks to Marshfield (Clinic). Being called a terrorist, how it felt. I still can't believe I was accused of being a terrorist."

 Lipske is a sociopath with no conscience about lying and literally destroying lives.

Madden is worse, having reportedly recruited Lipske to become Iron County District Attorney after Lipske's law license was suspended from 1990-1994 for misconduct, under the category of "Suspended for Discipline" for "dishonesty, fraud, deceit or misconduct" in 1990.

Perfect qualifications for DA in Iron County.

Madden, aka "Madman" and Lipske run their horror show in isolated Iron County. Other Wisconsin jurists cannot comment on corruption of their colleagues other than filing notice with the State Bar of Wisconsin Bar, actually an obligation.

Light and media attention are now being shone on their actions, and this site will be monitoring events closely.

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.
 ---
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
---

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