Law Calls for Tony Robinson Investigation Records to be Made Public

Madison Police Officer Matt Kenny
killed unarmed, young black man

Updated - Amid the citizen demand to stop the police killings (Kang, NYT) is the police involuntary response to cover its collective ass.

It is in this atmosphere that Dane County District Attorney Ismael Ozanne will announce on Tuesday his office's decision on filing charges against Madison police officer Matt Kenny for shooting the unarmed 19-year-old Tony Robinson (Facebook) to death on March 6.

The Wisconsin DoJ Division of Criminal Investigation (DCI) was tasked with the investigation of Madison Police Officer Matt Kenny's shooting, per 2013 Wisconsin Act 348, and delivering a complete report of the investigation to the District Attorney.

The results of the investigation should be made public and Act 348 demands precisely that: Section 1, 5(b) "If the district attorney determines there is no basis to prosecute the law enforcement officer involved in the officer-involved death, the investigators conducting the investigation under sub. (3) (a) shall release the report."

The Wisconsin DoJ is tainted as a Republican Party-led outfit and should not be accorded credibility based on partisan past action, none of which has been repudiated by the current attorney general.

The point of Act 348 is to have external investigations into police-involved shootings as a means of getting to the truth. I would have more faith in academics and civil rights activists rather than law enforcement officers conducting investigations into fellow law enforcement officers, as Act 348 calls for.

DA Ozanne should offer his reasoning online as well his decision as a means of repairing community trust destroyed by decades of police destruction of such trust.

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

Erik Ljung has a video with the Times piece with compelling footage of community outrage against such recent police killings in Wisconsin of Paul Heenan (Schenider, The Capital Times (2013)) (killed by Madison Police Officer Stephen Heimsness who resigned in June 2013 (Erickson, Wisconsin State Journal), Tony Terrell Robinson Jr. in Madison (Dean, The Capital Times), Michael Bell in Kenosha (2004), and Dontre Hamilton in Milwaukee (Luthern, Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel; Mal Contends). Too many victims to list.

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

Adam Gerol, president of the Wisconsin District Attorney’s Association, testified in December 2013 he thinks the law [Act 348] "will not create greater scrutiny of police officer-involved killings or more effective prosecutions." (Schneider, The Capital Times)

We need an engaged community for that, using the abundant analytical resources Dane County and Wisconsin has at its disposal.

Unfortunately for our community and the Robinson family, Ozanne only gets to use the evidence he is given in the report by the DCI as a basis on which to make a decision.

Whatever the action by Ozanne tomorrow, don't blame him or his office as he has no discretion in this matter.

Madison Mayor Paul Soglin addresses protesters on Martin Luther King Blvd
during a community action against the police killing of Tony Robinson in March

Culture in Local Police States Begs Direction for Ungrateful Populations

Family of slain Madison, Wisconsin, resident,
Tony Robinson, remains unappreciative of glory of
his sacrifice and the valor of Robinson's killer,
Matt Kenny of the Madison police department
- Image is a self-portrait by Kathe Kollwitz,
(1867-1945), an anti-fascist artist who endured
 personal tragedy captured in her work (NYT)

Police killing in man-just-asking-for-it case shows worst of American municipal populations rejecting unity and greater good of community

Madison, Wisconsin—Citizen reaction to the $3.35 Million federal civil action settlement with the family of a police victim killed in 2015 is revealing of a growing citizens' culture steeped in civil liberties and human rights.

This culture should be cleansed.

An unarmed, black nineteen-year-old Tony Robinson of Madison, Wisconsin, was shot seven times by veteran killer cop, Matt Kenny of the Madison Police Department. Kenny successfully shot and killed two people in his 14-year police career (CNN).

Wisconsin's corporate press typically offers compelling news accounts of the spectacular displays of systemic police violence and killings of domestic populations by municipal police departments, as in the Robinson case (Democracy Now).

In police killing-us-for-us incidents, local press often reports news-worthy developments, for example, profiles of the idealism and nobility of law enforcement—traits typically not acknowledged by ungrateful populations remaining unappreciative of the dedication, skill, sacrifice and commitment police employ when they kill people.

The Tony Robinson family of Madison are ingrates of a particularly virulent strain as word among young Madison human rights activists is the Robinson family has not contacted and thanked Officer Kenny in the some two years since he skillfully gunned down the young Tony.

City officials are all on message supporting the work of the City insurance carrier negotiating and paying the record $3.35 Million settlement, following a different local record settlement for a different police killing in August 2015 (Treleven, Wisconsin State Journal).

But let's not mix up righteous killings of our fellow citizens when the Robinson family so shamelessly perches on the wilderness of clean Madison society and takes pot shots at the helpless police working to make America great again.

"Attorneys representing the family of a man killed by a Madison police officer say the city’s mayor should not lie about how a federal lawsuit was settled," reports WMTV (Madison, Wisconsin).

Robinson's attorneys made their provocative reply comments following the statement by Mayor Soglin asserting neither the City Attorney nor the Mayor's office influenced in any manner the multi-million dollar settlement:

Mayor Paul Soglin stresses that the decision to settle the lawsuit was made by attorneys hired by the city’s insurance carrier.

'Neither our office nor the City Attorney were involved in the settlement,' writes Soglin in a statement. 'Let me be clear in asserting that the City of Madison, who was not a party to the case, had no standing and no ability to influence the court or the parties in approving a settlement. Any statement to the contrary is false.' (Potter, Isthmus)

[This writer does not believe Soglin's statement of no influence to be true. Soglin and City Atty Michael May appear to be brilliant politicians working behind the scenes for their conception of what civil libertarian types call 'police reform,' but this asserted long-game strategy is a different story with no direct evidentiary support, just a wild hunch.]

The traumatized Robinson family should be forgiven its collective transgressions against our community.

What is beyond dispute is the American police will kill some 1,000 people in 2017, (Killed by police), (Washington Post), following a better-than-average killing year in 2016 that saw some 1,155 people killed (Killed by police, 2016).

Methodologies used in compiling a killing statistic differ, so those tracking killings by police arrive at slightly different figures.

Is is as well incontrovertible that Madison police are courageous killers.

Madison Police Chief Mike Koval offers his latest analysis continuing Koval's expert, never-met-a-Madison-Police-killing-I-didn't-like commentary. This work should be adopted into a Hollywood movie, and everyone from Chuck Norris to Steven Seagal can rejoice in the Chief's prose.

Cleansing the culture and educating the citizenry are projects that should never conclude. We must be vigilant, as President Trump has said, powered by our love.

What Madison Can Learn from Baltimore

Undated family handout picture of Freddie Gray,
murdered by Baltimore Police (Baltimore Sun)

"Felony running" arrest of black man in Baltimore ends with near-severed spinal chord and death as noted by attorney Mary Koch, part of legal team representing the Freddie Gray family. I want know why"people think somehow it's not okay for a young man to run ... ." (Lawrence O'Donnell Show)

Baltimore — City officials suspended six police officers Monday as they investigate the death of a 25-year-old man who suffered a severe spinal cord injury while in police custody.

Freddie Gray had been hospitalized since his April 12 arrest and, according to his attorney, was in a coma when he died Sunday. On Monday, the mayor and police commissioner publicly pleaded for calm and promised a full accounting — an effort to keep Baltimore from becoming the latest flash point in disintegrating relations between police and communities across the country. (Hermann and Bui, Washington Post) ...

"It ain’t about being mad," Adrian Muldrow, vice president of the Baltimore City chapter of the NAACP, yelled to fire up the crowd. "It is about asking for

Baltimore? This is Madison, Wisconsin, with
an enlightened police force that Chief Mike
Koval described as "cordial" last week. In the
shot above just a bit more force and this
non-violent young protester could be the
recipient of police-inflicted fractured vertebrae.
Quite sure that would be good for a few
chuckles from Madison's finest.
Photo: Reproduced from video by
Leslie Amsterdam at SSWIDTMS.

justice."

The first thing Madison can learn from Baltimore and the Freddie Gray murder pertains to police: Madison police should do their killing of our citizenry behind closed doors with no on-lookers with cell phones.

Madison police officer Matt Kenny knows this lesson well, which is why—in part—we can expect no charges in Kenny's killing the unarmed Tony Robinson with five shots. (Ferguson, AP, The Grio)

I would reiterate that the greater Madison community cannot with any justice blame Dane County District Attorney Ismael Ozanne when Ozanne clears killer Kenny in the coming weeks.

Ozanne can not fabricate evidence, and the evidence his office has by statute was gathered by the Wisconsin Department of Justice's Division of Criminal Investigation led by an appointee of Republican Wisconsin Attorney General Brad Schimel, former district attorney of Waukesha County (R-White People). (Mal Contends)[Schimel was in the news again a couple of weeks ago for voting for an order banning the use of the words "climate change" in the offices of a Wisconsin state agency charged with state land management to the applause of a Scott Walker spokeswoman. (Roston, Bloomberg)]

As for the minority public anywhere, when you see the police: Take cover, run, and get near a trusted adult with a cell phone video. Mark Godsey posts other tips yesterday for innocent people to protect themselves from the police.

Godsey breaks down the non-legal, informal advice into six sections:

I. Have a Lawyer You Can Call

II. Don’t Talk to the Police

III. The Plea Bargain

IV. Be Ready for Trial

V. Shaken Baby/Child Abuse (Abusive Head Trauma)  [This requires special attention and treatment.]

VI. If You Are Wrongfully Convicted

As well, know the police have little to do with justice, though many police like to dispense their version of justice with deadly consequences, corrupt the judicial system, and for minor offenses determine a conviction. If you are harassed, consider yourself lucky. You were not killed.

In Tulsa, policing and killing blacks has become the new sport of wealthy campaign donors. (Love, The Grio)

That's the status of America, on a trajectory that ought to frighten every citizen.

Police lie on their reports, on the stand in the courtroom, and in dealings with the public. And police kill.

System Choice — Power to Direct State Violence Is Discretionary, Political and Vicious

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 and
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.
SPIRITS Goya sneered at malevolent clergy
in Hobgoblins.

Madison, Wisconsin — In Wisconsin, human rights workers fight for the innocent — brutalized by liars populating offices of district attorneys, attorneys general and seemingly an entire state judiciary — yet these same human rights advocates often labor under delusion.

This delusion is that the criminal justice system and the judiciary function in an intellectually honest, non-political fashion objectively finding facts, doctrine and application of law like detached, non-political agents of pure epistemology, so dedicated as to approach hard science.

Lunacy. Worse, it's a lie.

While not every Wisconsin district attorney is a verminous Ken Kratz (driven from law and Wisconsin), or an odious Vince Biskupic (a sitting judge!), nor is every cop a Matt Kenny (still a Madison cop) or Mark Wiegert (still a sheriff) or a cold-blooded killer Stephen Heimsness (sponging off Madison people as he claims he was traumatized for killing the innocent Paul Heenan), misconduct and malignant action of cops and prosecutors incur little costs, commonly garner professional awards, and win plaudits from most judges.

Put another way, cops will kill, and prosecutors will destroy life; and the judiciary, best understood as a cult of high  clergy, will stamp its imprimatur as agents of the Sovereign, smiling down on imprisoned slaves of the state like black-robed kobolds, diminutive "goblin-like creatures with short-tempers and a mischievous spirit."

See, for example, Wisconsin sitting County Circuit Judge Vince Biskupic: "[J]ust stay away from anything to do with [Vince] Biskupic. He will pull you into this (a homicide charge). You have nothing to do with it. He doesn’t care about you or your kids," a lawyer warned an innocent, lest she become another victim of Wisconsin injustice. 

And that was before Biskupic became a Outagamie County judge, and before he resigned in scandal as Outagamie County District Attorney.

Scandal and crime rarely disqualify for service in Wisconsin's criminal justice system.

The Judiciary

Widespread faith in the state and federal judiciaries persist no matter deceit.

This may be changing.

As judicial supremacists in the United States Supreme Court have decided women no longer possess autonomy over their own bodies and no longer have liberty to choose whether they have children, millions of Americans are asking, who the hell do these justices think they are? Monarchs?

It's a good question, but one that up to now was more likely to be brought up by Sidney Powell than the Democrat establishment.

The question of judicial supremacy especially as embodied in the federal judiciary that routinely overrides the will of Congress and the presidency on liberty questions, per Court caprice or service to favored interests, has been staring America in the face for a long time.

Civil disobedience is only now becoming widespread.

During COVID 19 that spurred a body of law governing citizen behavior on public health grounds, sheriffs the nation-over stated as Racine County Sheriff Christopher Schmaling said, "state law does not have the power to supersede or suspend the Constitutional rights of American citizens" (WISC-TV).

Racine's Schmaling and others were not going to let laws or any judge intrude upon liberty (Washington Post, The Guardian).

Following the heroic leaking of the draft Supreme Court opinion eviscerating reproductive liberty enshrined in Roe v. Wade, (Politico) (Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization), Democrat prosecutors across the nation raced to declare they will not prosecute women under existing state laws defining abortion as a criminal offense (Washington Post). See Thomas E. Dobbs, State Health Officer of the Mississippi Department of Health, et al., Petitioners v. Jackson Women's Health Organization, et al. No. 19-1392.

Wisconsin Attorney General Joshua Kaul (D) declared his office will not investigate or prosecute woman or doctors for abortion 'offenses.' Further, Kaul is discouraging district attorneys and law enforcement throughout the state from enforcing an 1849 ban on abortion.

Putting aside why Wisconsin Democrats did not legislate away this ban in 2009 when Democrats had unitary control of state government, Kaul said on social media this week that his determination to protect women's choice would be fought on several fronts, including the courts, "We must speak out against this effort to erode Wisconsinites’ freedom. If the Court abandons precedent and Roe falls, we must fight to protect reproductive freedom—and our other freedoms—in Congress, state legislatures, and state courts."

We must speak out against this effort to erode Wisconsinites’ freedom. If the Court abandons precedent and Roe falls, we must fight to protect reproductive freedom—and our other freedoms—in Congress, state legislatures, and state courts. 4/4

— Attorney General Josh Kaul (@WisDOJ) May 3, 2022

Human Rights

Disobedience of Court-sanctioned lawlessness is a healthy development for human rights.

Justice Clarence Thomas, the face of judicial malignancy, commenting on the Roe opinion leak, said people must "live with outcomes we don’t agree with" or the judiciary is imperiled.

Really? In Thomas' view, there is no recourse once the judicial kings and queens have spoken. It's how Thomas and his friends view the Court.

The United States Supreme Court is poised to issue an edict that women are no longer masters of their own bodies, and following the release of this information, Thomas reasons we have to "live" with it.

We can hope that recent disobedience to what Thomas terms an "outcome" will be the beginning of massive civil disobedience, transparency from the Court, and resulting reform that will include mandates that every oral argument, judicial memo and correspondence be revealed to the American people in as close to real-time as possible.

The institutional narcissism and unparalleled arrogance of the judicial branch, working for the police and totalitarian movements needs to come to an end.

Police Are the Problem

Update: "On Sunday afternoon, a veto-proof majority of Minneapolis City Council members will announce their commitment to disbanding the city’s embattled police department, which has endured relentless criticism in the wake of the police killing of George Floyd, an unarmed Black man, on May 25." - The Appeal  


Madison, Wisconsin — "You can’t tell me when that man had his knee on my brother’s neck, taking his life away, with his hand in his pocket, that smirk on his face didn’t say, 'I’m protected,'" said Stephen Jackson, retired NBA player and friend of George Floyd, (Gay, Wall Street Journal).

The police entitlement on a personal level is the belief — internalized perhaps — that I have a right to kill you, to inflict harm, torture, assault, harass, defame and assassinate your character because I am the police, you are not. 

And, I don't like your black hair, your dark skin, or your politics; and if you're white, I still might not like you, and I am God.

This collective malignant narcissism thrives in police culture, and the community here, and of course not just here, knows it.

A city of Madison cop told me a couple of years back that there was a substantial rush of early retirements from non-killing cops who were fed-up with being becoming social outcasts, virtual untouchables in the community.

Police psychology has never been well-explained despite worthy effort in  social psychology during the 1950s-70s that tried to find out how NAZI Germany and other fascistic states could have happened, how people could have jettisoned their own sense of morality and followed the anti-human directives of sick institutions and states.

Police tend to be anti-intellectual, careerist, hostile and authoritarian in their psychology. And duplicitous and tribal. Assholes.

Below is video from this weekend in Minneapolis of police passing peaceful citizens and shooting pepper balls at the human beings. Assholes. How many police will object? How about sexually assaulting women in LA. Cops did it, it's funny, right?

MINNEAPOLIS: Several MPD police cruisers drive by peaceful demonstrators and pepper spray them from moving vehicles for no reason. #BLUEFALLpic.twitter.com/aQQMbyYD17

— Chad Loder (@chadloder) June 5, 2020

A few years back, we don't know exactly why Madison police saw it necessary to beat up, taze and punch out a young woman, [a "bitch" as termed by a cop] who had phoned police filing a complaint that her phone had been stolen. The then Madison chief of Police, Mike Koval, termed the assault a "transaction."

Koval, by the way, expressed astonishment in 2017 that condemning police at football game protests for brutalizing black people is "self-absorbed ... diatribe," (WISC-TV). One wonders if Koval understands now.

There were quite a few Koval-approved transactions around here in previous years.

In 2016, Koval, exemplifying police, faced widespread condemnation for verbally assaulting a black grandmother whose young grandson, Tony Robinson, was gunned down in cold blood by Madison Police killer cop, Matt Kenny.

For police, killing is a ritualistic act, always worthy of defense against protesters. Consider, as we work to join the the freedom fighters for George Floyd:

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

The city of Madison disputed and criticized every settlement.

For victims of killer cops, inflicted trauma is never healed. Not ever.

But cops like to fuck with people, and not just kill them. Ask any black or brown person, how he feels when he sees a cop in a car coming near him, or saddling in behind him.

Cops are out to fuck with you.

Consider the parable of DeForest, Wisconsin Police Chief Daniel Furseth.

Furseth was caught on video mocking in a pathetic, racist and skin-crawling hostile narrative a group of young black youths out for something to eat.

The racist Furseth on video was too much even for white Wisconsin.

But no worries.

Furseth was quickly hired by the town of Madison, not the City, in October 2018.

An official with the town of Madison police department, not the City, confirmed by phone with me on August 14, 2019 that Furseth is still employed with the Town police, locally notorious for racism, harassment, bogus citations and misconduct.

Furseth and cops feel entitled to terrorize and belittle what the rest of us recognize as human beings.

And Ferseth is the perfect cop because we are not people, and we do not matter, not to cops.

Donald Trump, Scott Walker, Madison, Wisc Police Chief Hit NFL Players' Human Rights Stand

The face of hate in Madison, Wisconsin wears military blue
and black and has a home in the Madison Police Department.
Above are two killer cops.

Updated - Madison, Wisconsin—The lust for reenactment of mythic ritual is strong in the fascist mind.

Stronger still is the rage against open demonstration mocking such insipid ritual. Stronger still is the urge to kill.

Witness the National Football League and the NFL Players Association's support of players who protest police killing people, racism and brutality in the land of the free and home of the brave.

Many NFL players protest by taking a knee during the National Anthem at football games.

No surprise that Donald Trump "has stepped up the pressure on the National Football League over protests by its players during the national anthem by launching a petition and asking his supporters to show their patriotism by backing it," (Reuters).

No surprise that Gov. Scott Walker opines, "It is time for players in the NFL to stop their protests during the anthem ...," (The Capital Times).

Both craven politicians are hostile to military veterans, human rights and civil liberties. Both pols never served in the military, Peace Corp, even as a poll worker, or have volunteered for any civic duty.

In Madison, Wisconsin, it gets worse.

Madison's leading fascist municipal office holder, the Chief of Police Mike Koval, has now joined the cynical chorus of voices condemning protests for human rights at football games, (WISC-TV).

In Koval's mind, protesting cops killing people, racism and brutality is a "self-absorbed ... diatribe."

Koval need not look far for examples of cops killing people, racism and brutality now under NFL players' protest. Killer cops are allowed and defended in the Madison Police Department.

Koval never protests against cops killing people, racism and brutality. In Madison, Koval always, 100 percent of the time, cheers on his killer cops.

Last year faced Koval faced widespread condemnation for verbally assaulting a black grandmother whose young grandson, Tony Robinson, was gunned down in cold blood by Madison Police killer cop, Matt Kenny.

For Koval, killing is a ritualistic act, worthy of defense. Consider:

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

For victims of killer cops, inflicted trauma never is healed. Not ever.

It may help Koval to understand our community's objection to his killer cops by considering when players take a knee for victims, local victims of Madison Police such as Ashley DiPiazza, Tony Robinson, and Paul Heenan are honored.

Nationally, this year promises to be a good year for killer cops. 2017 is ahead of the 2016 in successful killings by police: As of Oct. 19, 2017, 958 people were killed by cops. On Oct. 19, 2016, that figure was 939 people killed by cops.

This killer-cop phenomenon should be studied, challenged and reversed.

But for craven politicians like Trump, Walker and Koval, failure to partake in ridiculous ritual is a worse offense.

Madison, Wisconsin — A Young Generation Inspires

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Said Soglin in an incredible statement:

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

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

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

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

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

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

See, for example:

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

The city of Madison criticized every settlement.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

We need to defang them.

I hate reading about cops preying on people.

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

St. Paul Pioneer Press on June 25, 2017:

Philando Castile's Life Mattered

By Angela Kamoske

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

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

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

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

Have a fun and safe Summer.

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

Update: Madison Police Chief Noble Wray's cops were vicious punks who knew that Wray always had their backs for whatever they did to the public. See Madison Bartender: 'The police almost killed this guy.'

Madison, Wisconsin — Attorney General Josh Kaul (D) signals he'll cover up Kenosha police misconduct in his announcement that he  chose a retired police chief to review the Dept of Justice investigation of Kenosha cop Rusten Sheskey's shooting Jacob S. Blake seven times in the back.

Kaul said he chose retired Madison Police Chief Noble Wray to review the DoJ mandated probe at the request of Kenosha County District Attorney Michael Graveley (D), (Wisconsin Dept of Justice).

Using Wray as a consultant puts a black face on the expected coming no-charge decision. The appointment of Wray follows weeks of the DoJ releasing shaded facts and half truths to justify a no-charge decision against the racist cop Sheskey.

Wray's Troubled Tenure

Wray served as police chief from 2004-13, overseeing the Madison Police militarization, including the notorious new normal killing-first policy that drove Mayor Paul Soglin to defeat in 2018.

Noble Wray's tenure includes his steadfast defense of the infamous 2012 police killing of Paul Heenan.

Wray specifically defended the racist cop Stephen Heimsness' killing of the innocent Heenan.

Writes Madison human rights activist, Amelia Royko Maurer:

Kenosha D.A. Gravely and AG Josh Kaul have chosen former Madison Police Chief Noble Wray to review the Jacob Blake investigative file. They’re doing this because they believe that Wray’s identity alone will pacify those within the Black communities of Wisconsin who have been protesting Blake’s murder. They are doing this so they can say “how can the exoneration of Blake’s murderer be racist if it was done by a Black man?”

While a nice man, Chief Wray is the least objective and impartial person they could have found for this review. He is a “company man” through and through. Let’s briefly review who Chief Wray is and some of what he did here in Madison.

Chief Wray clearly wishes to make a name for himself as a police oversight expert and so it makes sense that over the past year, Wray lobbied against the Civilian Oversight Board (that won’t employ former MPD officers) claiming it wasn't necessary since we have the Police and Fire Commission knowing full well the two are completely different entities with different functions and under different jurisdiction.

Chief Wray also tried to convince the Madison Common Council that the Internal Monitor (that can’t be a former MPD officer) was unnecessary and would cause friction between the chief and the mayor.  As two separate chiefs and one expert in civilian oversight put it “if the chief has nothing to hide, the have nothing to fear.”.  But Chief Wray had a lot to hide so it makes complete sense for him to have advocated against civilian oversight and objectively impartial oversight period.

Chief Wray was Madison’s police chief in 2012, when Paulie Heenan was murdered by then Officer Steve Heimsness. Wray, being anything but objective, exonerated Heimsness in the media a couple days after Paulie was murdered and a full month before the criminal investigation was complete. Half of the Madison Police Department thought Heimsness was going to jail but Wray told me 8 times (because I asked him 8 times) that he trusted our lives in Heimsness’ hands.  He refused to allow an external review of the criminal investigation. He found Heimsness to be honorable, honest and good. He said this knowing that Heimsness had been accused of hazing a female officer and lying about it - a case he was forced (by that same female officer, Sarah Mackasey) to reopen after exonerating Heimsness. Only then did he find 118 reasons to fire Heimsness including but murdering an unarmed man wasn’t one of them.
The list of Heimsness’s offenses include stealing, hazing, saying racist things, harassment, making statements about murdering people and hours before he murdered Paulie he wrote that he was "the right cop for the wrong job, no witnesses, no problem.”  Much of what  he got in trouble for was written on the police messaging system. His behavior and Wray’s negligence in oversight led to the destruction of an officer's job.

The Madison chief prior to Wray had a policy for reviewing the police messaging data system but Wray had discontinued it. He didn’t seem to oversee or manage much actually and any progressive steps towards shifting power away from punitive responses to restorative ones were ones that he was forced into.

Sometime in 2013, retired Captain of Training and Personnel Chief Maples called Wray out for failing to promote any BIPOC or women in general to meaningful positions. He had flanked himself with conservative white men and did little to make the department safe for anyone else. 

This all being said, we have a presidential election coming up, racism is a hot topic for the candidates and this is currently the most high profile case in the country. Also, Blake survived. Wray doesn’t take risks where the gain isn’t obvious to him and it is much safer for Law Enforcement, the AG, the DA to find an officer in the wrong if the victim is still alive and in this case, hiring Wray takes the pressure off of the DA and Kenosha’s Chief. Wray might have more to gain in finding the officer at fault but whatever decision he does make will be about what he has to gain from it and not justice, at all.

Other cops who worked in Wray's regime — Justin Bailey, Gary Pihlaja and Matt Kenny — later gunned down Ashley DiPiazza in 2014, and Tony Robinson in 2015.

Wray never issued a public statement objecting to any Madison police killings.

Noble Wray is putting on a show now; he will give his imprimatur to another sordid story of Wisconsin law enforcement.

The Wisconsin Dept of Justice Sept 21, 2020 press release is reproduced below:

UPDATE: Kenosha Officer-Involved Shooting
Sep 21 2020

KENOSHA, Wis. Wisconsin Attorney General Josh Kaul and Kenosha County District Attorney Michael Graveley today provided an update regarding the investigation of the officer-involved shooting (OIS) of Jacob Blake.

At DA Graveley’s request, AG Kaul has identified a consultant to review the investigative file and provide the district attorney with an analysis of the incident. DA Graveley and AG Kaul agree that having such an analysis prepared for the district attorney’s consideration will serve the interests of justice in this case. The consultant identified by AG Kaul, who is being retained by DA Graveley, is Wisconsin native and retired Madison, Wis. Police Chief Noble Wray.

The shooting of Mr. Blake has been vigorously and thoroughly investigated. At this time, the Wisconsin Department of Justice (DOJ) Division of Criminal Investigation (DCI) is in the final stages of its investigation, and it will soon provide the investigative file to Chief Wray. While investigative files from DCI’s investigations of OIS cases contain reports regarding the relevant facts, they do not contain charging recommendations.

The next phase in this case will be Chief Wray’s review of the file and preparation of his analysis. Chief Wray’s analysis will assist the district attorney in his review of the facts and their relationship with standard law enforcement practices as he makes a charging decision.

“At the request of DA Graveley, I have identified an independent expert who can help ensure a just outcome in this case,” said Attorney General Kaul. “Noble Wray is a longtime Wisconsin resident and a widely respected retired Madison Police Chief who has extensive experience in law enforcement, including experience at the national level as a police reform specialist for the U.S. Department of Justice.”

When DCI is the lead investigating agency of a shooting involving a law enforcement officer, DCI aims to provide its reports of the incident to the prosecutor within 30 days. In this case, the prosecutor has directed that those reports be forwarded to a consultant for review and analysis. Following review and analysis by the consultant, the prosecutor will confer with the consultant, review the reports of the investigation, and then make an independent determination about what charges, if any, are appropriate. If the prosecutor determines there is no basis for prosecution of the law enforcement officer, and no other circumstances prevent the release, DCI will thereafter make the reports available to the public.

DOJ has previously provided the following information:

On the evening of Sunday, August 23, 2020, Kenosha Police Department officers were dispatched to a residence in the 2800 block of 40th Street after a female caller reported that her boyfriend was present and was not supposed to be on the premises.

During the incident, officers attempted to arrest Jacob S. Blake, age 29. After the initial attempt to arrest Mr. Blake, Kenosha Police Officer Rusten Sheskey deployed a taser to attempt to stop Mr. Blake. When that attempt failed, Kenosha Police Officer Vincent Arenas also deployed his taser, however that taser was also not successful in stopping Mr. Blake.

Mr. Blake walked around his vehicle, opened the driver’s side door, and leaned forward. While holding onto Mr. Blake’s shirt, Officer Rusten Sheskey fired his service weapon 7 times. Officer Sheskey fired the weapon towards Mr. Blake’s back. No other officer fired their weapon. Kenosha Police Department does not have body cameras, therefore the officers were not wearing body cameras.

The shooting officer, Kenosha Police Officer Rusten Sheskey, has been a law enforcement officer with Kenosha Police Department for seven years. Kenosha Police Officer Vincent Arenas has served with Kenosha Police Department since February 2019, with prior service with the United States Capitol Police Department. Also present was Kenosha Police Officer Brittany Meronek who joined Kenosha Police Department in January of this year.

During the investigation following the initial incident, Mr. Blake admitted that he had a knife in his possession. DCI agents recovered a knife from the driver’s side floorboard of Mr. Blake’s vehicle. A search of the vehicle located no additional weapons.

Law enforcement immediately provided medical aid to Mr. Blake. Flight for Life transported Mr. Blake to Froedtert Hospital in Milwaukee.

DCI is leading this investigation and is assisted by the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), Wisconsin State Patrol and Kenosha County Sheriff’s Office. All involved law enforcement are fully cooperating with DCI during this investigation. The involved officers have been placed on administrative leave.

DCI, along with the FBI, have completed the following as part of the investigation:

    Conducted 88 witness interviews,
    Collected 102 evidence items,
    Downloaded 28 videos for review,
    Issued 4 search warrants, and,
    Dedicated over 600 hours working on this case as of Saturday, August 29, 2020.

DCI is continuing to review evidence and determine the facts of this incident and will turn over investigative reports to a prosecutor following a complete and thorough investigation.

No additional details are currently available.

Please direct all media inquiries regarding this incident to DOJ.