Wisconsin Innocents Remain Incarcerated, Two L.A. Men to Get $24 million for Wrongful Convictions

Brummer v. Wisconsin

Updated - See also piece at CounterPunch.

"Los Angeles will pay more than $24 million to two men wrongfully imprisoned for decades, settling lawsuits by the men that accused police detectives of ignoring key evidence or witness testimony in the separate murderer cases," reports Dakota Smith in Los Angeles Daily News.

The headlines reporting new exonerations across the nation are almost daily. And the reactions from prosecutors across the country are uniform: Nothing to see here, no systemic problems, nothing we could have done, good faith, all systems green in the American criminal justice system.

With respect to the 1994 wrongful conviction of Penny Brummer in Dane County Wisconsin, I'm starting to believe the obstacles behind the district attorney's refusal to stipulate to a new trial is not a combination of institutional arrogance, obstinance and careerism.

No, Dane County District Attorney Ismael R. Ozanne has to this point refused a new trial in the Brummer case because he is protecting a wrongful conviction begun with an animus towards lesbians, and the case at trial was virtually a string of defamations, character assassinations and suppositions made in open court by the two prosecutors, the retired Ann Sayles, (27 years as a prosecutor in the DA's Office) and the late Deputy District Attorney Judy Schwaemle. See Who Killed Sarah.

Ozanne must believe he owes his allegiance to his former colleagues whose names are of more importance than the life of Penny Brummer.

There is no chance Brummer would be convicted today at trial, so Ozanne, one speculates, made a calculation that an innocent woman's life is not worth the black eye the DA's office would incur and the substantial monies that would be paid out by the state of Wisconsin.

There is a darker more sinister explanation: Brady violations, that would constitute prosecutorial misconduct.

I asked Ozanne a series of questions when he was running for Wisconsin attorney general in 2014, One question in part is "how much does the imprisonment of an innocent weigh on you?"

The relevant portion of Ozanne's response (via email) is below:

No prosecutor should want to have innocent people who have been wrongfully convicted stay in prison.  If evidence is brought to the attention of the authorities demonstrating that a mistake has been made, the interests of justice demand that the evidence is carefully reviewed and the individual should be released if exonerated. As Dane County District Attorney, I have worked with lawyers from the Innocence Project, and will do so in the future.  While these decisions are largely at the discretion of the DAs around the state, I would work with them as attorney general, providing resources and advice in these situations. The ultimate goal of the system is not simply to secure convictions, it is to do justice, (Mal Contends, April 2104) (emphasis added)

If Ozanne really believes his reference to "justice," I fully expect a review of Brummer v. Wisconsin (1994) (Dane County Case Number 1994CF000617) and a new trial.

Because the feeble, circumstantial case against Brummer should have been laughed out of court by former Judge Patrick Fiedler in 1994, Ozanne would be subjecting his office to ridicule, contingent on his position.

Notes attorney Sheila Berry:

All of the Signs of Innocence, criteria developed by David Protess, Director of the Chicago Innocence Project, apply to Penny.

Physical Evidence?
No physical evidence tied Penny to the crime; the murder weapon was never found.

Credible eye witnesses?
Key witnesses included James Foseid, who changed his story several times (and continues to change it).

Alibis?
Penny was home in Spring Green in time to see a TV show that started at 1:37 a.m. Sarah, forensic evidence suggests, may not have died until several hours later.

Any credible confession?
Penny maintains her innocence, although a police detective claimed she nodded slightly when he stated, "I think you were involved in Sarah's death."

Background of defendant?
No prior criminal record.

Enough pussyfooting around, Ismael Ozanne. Is your stated dedication to justice straight-up?

On Feb. 21, 2014 Rubin 'Hurricane' Carter (1937-2014), facing his imminent death, published his dying wish: That David McCallum of Brooklyn be granted a full hearing by the Brooklyn conviction integrity unit, (Carter, New York Daily News).

"I ask [District Attorney Ken] Thompson to look straight in the eye of truth, a tougher customer than death, and not back down either," wrote Carter. McCallum's 1986 conviction for murder and kidnapping was vacated in October 2014, (Moynihan, NYT), some six months after Rubin Carter died on April 20.

One hopes a similar legal result awaits Penny Brummer so that this woman who has over 20 years taken away from her can live out her life in peace.

Center for Prosecutor Integrity—Needed Here

An innocent woman, Penny Brummer, remains behind bars (in Fond du Lac county), a 1994 prosecution presided over by District Attorney Brian Blanchard's office (2001-2010) for reasons of careerism and bigotry against Lesbians

As the police continue to target black men and women in Dane County, the need for civil liberties checks on the police and the prosecutor is apparent.

One such check is the Center for Prosecutor Integrity (CPI).

When an innocent loses decades of his life, then is exonerated in Wisconsin, what happens? Does the press pound for an explanation? Do police self-evaluate? District Attorney's office?

Nothing happens, careerism and passive compliance remain the order of the day.

At CPR, the mission remains in part:

The Center for Prosecutor Integrity is the nation’s only organization with a sole focus on enhancing prosecutorial ethics.

Three major areas:Addressing Over-Criminalization, Ending Wrongful Convictions and Restoring Equal Treatment Under Law. ...

Our Prosecutor Integrity Registry help tell the story and address the very real problems in our Justice System today.

These are just some of the systemic problems.

Self-conscious malicious prosecutions and prosecutorial misconduct are common, common is Wisconsin.

Penny Brummer

Here in Dane County, for example, an innocent woman, Penny Brummer, remains behind bars (in Fond du Lac county), a 1994 prosecution presided over by District Attorney Brian Blanchard's office (2001-2010), and an injustice District Attorney Ismael R. Ozanne (2010-present) has refused to revisit, though the case lacks evidence of any kind—forensic evidence, eyewitness,  murder weapon, nothing but bigotry and what attorneys call "confirmation bias"—the rest of all call it bullshit.

So what happened in 1994? The D.A.'s office says: There's no case?

Of course not, Brummer was a lesbian so she likely murdered someone, so who needs evidence?

The judge was former Dane County (Wisconsin) Judge Patrick Fiedler, now a partner with Hurley, Burish & Stanton, S.C, after several decades of prosecutorial work in service to the Republican Party and his career. Fiedler, a rightwinger and typical bigot, agreed with the D.A's office.

A decent judge would have dismissed the case.

For the life of me it is incomprehensible to me why Ismael Ozanne lets this injustice stand.

"Police clearly had 'tunnel vision' in building a case against Penny, another common feature in wrongful convictions. Witness David Zoromski, who reported seeing a suspicious man standing by the open passenger door of a parked pickup truck exactly where Sarah's body was later found, was told by a Dane County Sheriff's Deputy, 'What you saw is all very interesting, but we have a suspect and it doesn't fit.' The man seen by Mr. Zoromski matched the description of the person Penny said she saw Sarah talking to near the Taco Bell at East Washington Avenue and North Oak Street in Madison, after she dropped her off that night. Police identified him and knew he was a convicted felon with a long history of violence toward women -- but they never followed up on this lead."
- From Who Killed Sarah-

To support this innocent woman, Penny Brummer.

"They didn't look at (Penny), they just looked at it as let's get another gay person off the street," said Nancy Brummer, Penny's mother (Pabich, WMTV-TV).

What is Ozanne's excuse?

Ozanne has made public statements that his office will cooperate with the Innocence Project.

This is an unusual commitment by district attorneys in wrongful conviction cases.

In light of the growing prison-industrial complex of American society and case after case of innocents behind bars, I asked Ozanne point blank when he was running for Attorney General, "how much does the imprisonment of an innocent weigh on you?"

Ozanne's response is a source of hope for Penny Brummer: "No prosecutor should want to have innocent people who have been wrongfully convicted stay in prison. If evidence is brought to the attention of the authorities demonstrating that a mistake has been made, the interests of justice demand that the evidence is carefully reviewed and the individual should be released if exonerated. As Dane County District Attorney, I have worked with lawyers from the Innocence Project, and will do so in the future. While these decisions are largely at the discretion of the DAs around the state, I would work with them as attorney general, providing resources and advice in these situations. The ultimate goal of the system is not simply to secure convictions, it is to do justice."

These words do not square with Ozanne's inaciton.

As with all the other innocents whose lives were effectively murdered, Ms. Brummer's case calls for enactment of a Conviction Integrity Unit in Dane, Iron and Milwaukee counties, independent of the District Attorney's offices, for starters. (Conviction Integrity Unit, Wrongful Convictions)
-
[A version of this piece was published in 2014.]

District Attorney Ozanne's Decision to Prosecute Black Lives Matters Workers Is Disgrace

Madison, Wisconsin — The Dane County District Attorney’s Office concluded charges against John Doe cannot be proven to a trial jury beyond a reasonable doubt.

Variations of this generic statement explaining a decision to prosecute or not, routinely emanate from the district attorney.

The problem is our current district attorney sometimes engages in a political process to arrive at a legal determination rather than take an honest look at findings applied to the evidentiary standard of beyond a reasonable doubt that Ozanne claims guides his decisions.

Ozanne's, and not just Ozanne's, corruption is an example of a civil servant working under the color of law, substituting his perceived political expediency to displace the community, the Constitution and his duties.

Corruption and political prosecution define the current cases of Black Lives Matter protesters Kerida O’Reilly and Samantha Hamer.

Both civil rights workers are being unjustly prosecuted for the felony crime of Substantial Battery with Intent to Cause Bodily Harm.

Funny thing is there is no specific allegation detailing how Mses O’Reilly and Hamer battered the alleged victim, State Sen. Tim Carpenter (D-Milwaukee), a rightwing, self-admitted "rash" drug warrior who has worked against black folks to build the carceral state over three decades.

No allegation of fists being thrown, nor elbows, feet, blunt instrument, nothing. 

The alleged victim, Carpenter, has not identified the defendants as touching him.

No eyewitness has identified Mses O’Reilly and Hamer as laying a hand on Carpenter.

No video exists showing Mses O’Reilly and Hamer as laying a hand on Carpenter.

In fact, according to Carpenter and another witness, the confrontation that Carpenter incited included some eight to 10 people during a chaotic melee. 

Did Carpenter, with a racist past and a proven hostility to the protesters, throw a punch first, and others then interceded to defend a victim?

No evidence has been made public that indicts Carpenter or any other single person. Yet, Ozanne says he has concluded charges against Mses O’Reilly and Hamer can be proven to a trial jury beyond a reasonable doubt.

Reports Chris Rickert in the Wisconsin State Journal on the decision of Judge Circuit Court Judge Stephen Ehlke at a probable cause hearing to allow these cases to go to trial:

Despite vigorous arguments from the attorneys for Samantha Hamer, 26, and Kerida O’Reilly, 33, both of Madison, Circuit Court Judge Stephen Ehlke found there was enough probable cause to continue with the case against the women, both of whom are charged with substantial battery in the June 24 attack.

Hamer’s attorney, Adam Welch, and O’Reilly’s attorney, Nathan Otis, argued that testimony from the lead Madison police detective in the case did not point to evidence that their clients had been the ones to punch or kick state Sen. Tim Carpenter, D-Milwaukee. ...

'(Carpenter) has not been able to say whether Ms. Hamer specifically touched him in any way. Is that right?' Welch asked Madison police detective Linda Trevarthen.

'Correct,' Trevarthen said.

Good enough for the cops. Good enough for Ehlke, and for Ozanne fronting for Carpenter because they share the same Party affiliation.

So, faced with a corrupt district attorney's office, we as a community can protest, write, and alert the community that two more civil rights workers are about to suffer another injustice.

I wrote Ozanne an email on July 31. We cannot stay silent, no matter how many Ismael Ozannes and Derek Chauvines stain an office of public trust.

The email is reproduced below:
--
Ismael,

As a member of our community, I have followed with grave concern the cases of Kerida O’Reilly and Samantha Hamer.

I am aware that you do not know how, and by whom and with what force violence was inflicted in the confrontation among Tim Carpenter and depending on whom you believe — the police quote a journalist saying some ten people, you say two people — and those who may be criminally responsible.

Did these two women use their elbows, fists, feet, head, or blunt instruments? You have no idea, yet you are charging them with being party to substantial battery by undetermined persons, a "group," as Carpenter told police.

Are you satisfied with Carpenter's credibility?

Did you know Mr Carpenter did not request medical assistance after speaking with protest medic and peacekeepers, as indicated in audio published by WORT News.

Did you know that after a WKOW-TV crew member phoned 911, Carpenter declined to go to the hospital?

Have you checked out Carpenter's story and timeline of the evening of June 23 and early morning of June 24.

Have you viewed video of Carpenter's 'collapse' performed right in front of WKOW-TV?

Do you ascribe responsibility to Mses. O’Reilly and Hamer because they are convenient faces on a video?

Carpenter said he was attacked by a "group." Yet, you divine O’Reilly and Hamer?

I ask you to drop these bogus cases, and issue a public apology to Kerida O’Reilly and Samantha Hamer, and Black Lives Matter.

Mike

Michael Leon
Marketing and Public Relations Consultant
http://malcontends.blogspot.com/

No Wisconsin Attorney General Candidate Ever Cited The Innocence Project, Until Now

Mal Contends contacted the four major candidates for attorney general, asking three questions pertaining to ethics, the wrongfully convicted, pardons, and the Wisconsin Office of Lawyer Regulation.

In this election for attorney general, a small fraction of the electorate will vote in the August 12 partisan primary.

It is likely the campaign for attorney general will not feature the issues of wrongful conviction, impartiality, and the role of the attorney general in advocating for the state vis a vis the cause of justice, though these are areas of concern for any elected law enforcement official.

One question singles out the case of combat Marine, Eric Pizer (2000 - 2004, Iraq, Kuwait) who pled guilty to a trumped-up charge by the district attorney's office of Grant County (a less-than-sophisticated office) for this Marine home just two days after his return from Iraq in 2004.

As the Wisconsin Constitution is vague on the authority of the attorney general (leaving much to the statutes), the discretion of the attorney general is amplified in our state.

This piece is to inform the campaign with the responses to the questions presented below.

Repeated attempts by phone, email, and campaign-contact applications were made to all four candidates; only one candidate has responded with a response to this three-question questionnaire. One candidate promised, but failed to follow through, and two other candidates declined comment and contact.

The four candidates contacted are Susan Happ, Ismael Ozanne, Jon Richards and Brad Schimel.

The only candidate responding is Ismael Ozanne.

Ozanne's responses along with my three questions are below.
---
Question: Our outgoing attorney general served as co-chair of a Wisconsin presidential ticket's campaign committee in 2008, a common practice of attorneys general.

In his capacity as attorney general, he and his political party (as Intervenor Plaintiff) filed a lawsuit in a voting rights case, Van Hollen v. Government Accountability Board (2008). This seemed untoward to me.

Do you believe it is ethical to serve as political party campaign chair while sitting as our state's attorney general?

Ismael Ozanne:

It is not unethical to serve as a campaign chair while serving as attorney general.  The service as a campaign chair is not the ethical concern.  The ethical concern is serving as campaign chair and then taking official actions as attorney general that are intended to benefit the campaign in question, and not reflecting the law and the best interests of the people of Wisconsin.  If AG Van Hollen thought it was necessary in his official capacity to participate in legal action involving the campaign, he should have either stepped down from any role in the campaign or recused himself from the legal action.

Question: Wisconsin's governor in December 2013 publicly dismissed Marine Eric Pizer's bid for a pardon in an interview with WKOW TV (Madison), continuing his stance against granting pardons. The governor stated in part: "If you pick one [to be pardoned] there's thousands of other examples out there of people who may not have the media or other outlets behind them, who would be in an equal position who probably have a compelling case to be made that we don't yet know about."

Scott Walker is correct about 1,000s of Wisconsin citizens having a compelling case for pardons.

In light of Walker's position unprecedented in modern Wisconsin history, would your office consider advising district attorneys to open cases for stipulations of time served to secure the freedom of the wrongfully convicted when an array of facts demand this action in the interest of justice?

Realizing this action of seeking justice would be unusual for the office of attorney general, but within its discretion, how much does the imprisonment of an innocent weigh on you?

Ismael Ozanne:

I think that it is unfortunate that Gov. Walker has decided, likely for purely political reasons, not to exercise his authority to grant pardons to deserving people who have turned their lives around.  Pardons are not intended to be used as a vehicle to reverse wrongful convictions.  No prosecutor should want to have innocent people who have been wrongfully convicted stay in prison.  If evidence is brought to the attention of the authorities demonstrating that a mistake has been made, the interests of justice demand that the evidence is carefully reviewed and the individual should be released if exonerated.  As Dane County District Attorney, I have worked with lawyers from the Innocence Project, and will do so in the future.  While these decisions are largely at the discretion of the DAs around the state, I would work with them as attorney general, providing resources and advice in these situations.  The ultimate goal of the system is not simply to secure convictions, it is to do justice.

Question: The Wisconsin Office of Lawyer Regulation (OLR) is widely regarded as both overly secretive and toothless, and a case study in administrative law capture theory.

As attorney general, would you advocate to the Supreme Court for reforms at the OLR for the health of the legal profession, and the judicial branch of government.

Ismael Ozanne:

The Supreme Court is a co-equal branch of government and it has the authority to maintain the system that we use to regulate the conduct of lawyers in Wisconsin.  In the event that I determined as attorney general that there were aspects of that system that needed to be addressed, I would have no problem making my opinion known through the process. 

Hope for the Innocent

Who killed Sarah?

Update: "Police clearly had 'tunnel vision' in building a case against Penny, another common feature in wrongful convictions. Witness David Zoromski, who reported seeing a suspicious man standing by the open passenger door of a parked pickup truck exactly where Sarah's body was later found, was told by a Dane County Sheriff's Deputy, 'What you saw is all very interesting, but we have a suspect and it doesn't fit.' The man seen by Mr. Zoromski matched the description of the person Penny said she saw Sarah talking to near the Taco Bell at East Washington Avenue and North Oak Street in Madison, after she dropped her off that night. Police identified him and knew he was a convicted felon with a long history of violence toward women -- but they never followed up on this lead."
- From Who Killed Sarah - To support this innocent woman.
---
An innocent women, Penny Brummer, sits in the Taycheedah Correctional Institution located just outside Fond du Lac, Wisconsin, convicted of first degree murder in 1994.

One problem among many with the case is that there is no physical evidence connecting Brummer to the murder of Sarah Gonstead, no murder weapon, and no witnesses. And no motive.

The case is an array of contrived theories, conjecture, and unadulterated bigotry predicated upon the fact that Brummer is a lesbian, hence the murderer of Gonstead (Berry and Berry, Who Killed Sarah?).

Penny Brummer is serving a life sentence for first-degree murder after being convicted on circumstantial evidence, a sentence handed down with apparent joy by former Dane County (Wisconsin) Judge Patrick Fiedler, now a partner with Hurley, Burish & Stanton S.C., after several decades of prosecutorial work in service to the Republican Party and his career.

Fiedler should never have allowed the trial to continue with the paucity of evidence presented.

But Fiedler is not known as a human rights activist, just a GOP hack who is making a lot of money over the lives of victims of the sick judiciary.

"They didn't look at (Penny), they just looked at it as let's get another gay person off the street," said Nancy Brummer, Penny's mother (Pabich, WMTV).

A few years back, Madison writer Bill Lueders visited Brummer at Taycheedah.

"Something's got to happen. God's not going to let me sit here for something I didn't do. I feel he's guiding somebody out there to help me," Lueders wrote, quoting Penny Brummer.

Not God, certainly not former Dane County Sheriff Rick Raemisch (1990-1997), now passing himself off as a prison reformer in Colorado (Goode, NYT).

Raemisch used the occasion of WMTV's piece (Pabich) on the Wisconsin Innocence Project's effort (following work by Wisconsin's Innocence Consultants) to exonerate Brummer to offer this lame, conscience-free statement: "We can place the suspect and the victim in the west end of Dane County at the time the suspect says the victim was being dropped off." (WMTV)

That's compelling. Wonder how this logical wizard, Raemisch, sleeps at night.

DNA Testing Ongoing

Fortunately, the Innocence Project is expecting more results of ongoing DNA analysis soon.

Reports WMTV's Pabich: "The DNA results are expected in the next few months. We (spoke) with the foreman of the jury that convicted Penny. He says he didn't want to talk about the situation 20 years ago and doesn't want to now. I did ask him if he still stands by the decision they made 20 years ago. He said that's a really difficult question."

Dane County DA's Office and Cause for Hope

The current Dane County District Attorney is Ismael Ozanne, and the office is now (to my mind) guided by facts and justice.

Ozanne has made public statements that his office will cooperate with the Innocence Project.

This is an unusual commitment by district attorneys in wrongful conviction cases.

In light of the growing prison-industrial complex of American society and case after case of innocents behind bars, I asked Ozanne point blank when he was running for Attorney General, "how much does the imprisonment of an innocent weigh on you?"

Ozanne's response is a source of hope for Penny Brummer: "No prosecutor should want to have innocent people who have been wrongfully convicted stay in prison. If evidence is brought to the attention of the authorities demonstrating that a mistake has been made, the interests of justice demand that the evidence is carefully reviewed and the individual should be released if exonerated. As Dane County District Attorney, I have worked with lawyers from the Innocence Project, and will do so in the future. While these decisions are largely at the discretion of the DAs around the state, I would work with them as attorney general, providing resources and advice in these situations. The ultimate goal of the system is not simply to secure convictions, it is to do justice."

The most recent piece by WMTV did not interview DA Ozanne but if he lives up to the above statement, he would be working with the Innocence Project to review the case against Brummer, and with new DNA evidence free her.

Any decent human being ought to hope for justice; Penny Brummer can only pray and wait.

Sen. Scott Fitzgerald Should Get Contempt Citation by Judge Sumi

Update II: Publish or Perish: The Budget Bill is Not Law, by Edward A. Fallone

Update: I think Republicans are feeling a tad desperate. Their arguments are now coming down to ignoring the TRO Decision text and the first sentence of the Order text, reading, "For the reasons stated on the record at the March 18, 2011, hearing conducted by the Court, ... ." What is the GOP thinking? Since when can a named defendant ignore a TRO?

" ... Nothing in this government happens in secret. ... I do, therefore, restrain and enjoin the further implementation of 2011 Wisconsin Act 10."
- Dane County Judge Maryann Sumi, in decision granting Temporary Restraining Order of 2011 Wisconsin Act 10.

Senate Majority Leader Scott Fitzgerald's bizarre machinations last Friday resulting in the Legislative Reference Bureau (LRB) publishing the anti-collective bargaining bill [2011 Wisconsin Act 10] is Fitzgerald's self-admitted attempt to implement as law precisely what he is enjoined from doing as a named defendant in State of Wisconsin ex rel., Ismael R. Ozanne v. Fitzgerald et al [Case No: 11 CV 1244].

This ought to earn Fitzgerald a contempt citation Tuesday morning.

It is a plain fact that Scott Fitzgerald (R-Juneau) is a named defendant in the March 18 order by Judge Maryann Sumi [Case No: 11 CV 1244] granting a motion by Dane County District Attorney Ismael Ozanne on behalf of the state of Wisconsin for a Temporary Restraining Order (TRO) on the implementation of 2011 Wisconsin Act 10, the anti-collective bargaining bill.

The named defendants are Scott Fitzgerald, Senate President Michael Ellis, Assembly Speaker Jeff Fitzgerald, GOP Assembly Majority Leader Scott Suder, and Secretary of State Doug La Follette.

"It's published," Fitzgerald said. "It's law. That's what I contend." (Marley and Stein, MJS, March 26)  Fitzgerald refers to the LRB's publishing the language of 2011 Wisconsin Act 10.

Judge Sumi found that the rushed, secretive process violated Wisconsin's Open Meeting Law that forbids exactly what occured in the Republican attempt to jam legislation through before the people knew what was happening.

Sumi cites Wisconsin Constitution Article IV, Section 10 as the policy rationale in the Open Meeting Law (19.81(3)) of the Wisconsin Statutes.

Reads Judge Sumi's order in part:

I begin with Wisconsin Constitution Article IV, Section 10, a straightforward statement of the public's expectation for the legislature: 'the doors of each house shall be kept open except when the public welfare shall require secrecy.'

Sumi found a probability of success of D.A. Ozanne's case on the merits.

Sumi also found that Republican leaders illegally held a "closed session of a body that took decisive action propelling 2011 Wisconsin Act 10 forward," noting in her decision that resulting action taken at an illegal meeting is voidable.

"I am now issuing a restraining order preventing further implementation of this act," writes Sumi.

Sumi repeated: "I do, therefore, restrain and enjoin the further implementation of 2011 Wisconsin Act 10."

But defendant Senate Majority Leader Scott Fitzgerald acted last week to implement 2011 Wisconsin Act 10 in plain violation of the restraining order.

Dane County DA Ozanne said last Friday, "I was surprised to learn shortly before 5 p.m. this afternoon that, despite Judge Maryann Sumi’s temporary restraining order, an effort was undertaken to try and make 2011 Wisconsin Act 10 (Governor Walker’s Budget Repair Bill) effective. I was even more surprised to learn that the impetus for an attempt at publication, contrary to Judge Sumi’s order, came from a named defendant in the lawsuit." (WisPolitics)

That would be Scott Fitzgerald who said publicly he consulted with others to see that the LRB acted to implement 2011 Wisconsin Act 10.

"Every attorney I have consulted said this will now be law," Fitzgerald said. "It wasn't a secret. I think they left the door open for this." (Clay Barbour and Ed Treleven, Wisconsin State Journal)

It appears that contra Fitzgerald and the Walker administration, 2011 Wisconsin Act 10 will not take effect.

But Republican lawlessness must end. Fitzgerald should be held in contempt.

Walker's Next Move as GOP Veers into McCarthyism: Attack Judge Sumi and Son as "Leftist"

Judge Sumi

Will Gov. Scott Walker and the Republicans act to defy the legal authority of a judge's ruling against the latest GOP move against the public?

No one knows.

What is known is that this is the most lawless and anti-public administration in Wisconsin history. And the Wisconsin Republican Party is the most ideological and dishonest since the Joe McCarthy era that today's GOP is apparently trying to emulate.

Illusory Tenant has a piece linking to a Dane County Republican press release [March 30] in which the party, upset with her rule-of-law ruling, accuses Judge Sumi of being a "leftist," having attended "cocktail parties held by leftists in Dane County," shopping at "organic, gourmet" food shops run by leftists, having a son who is a "leftist activist," and on and on.

The GOP does raise some questions.

When Tommy Thompson appointed Sumi to the bench in 1998 did he know about these leftist affiliations? Does the GOP have a list of accredited leftists in Dane County and the state of Wisconsin? Will the GOP legislature hold hearings on the leftists who have infiltrated our government?

And how about Dane County District Attorney Ismael Ozanne?

Ismael Ozanne. What kind of name is that? Sounds similar to a character right out of the emissions of that 19th century leftist, Melville.

Maybe these leftists hold secret allegiance to leftists around the world. Maybe to terrorists?

Sumi is running unopposed for reelection to the Dane County Circuit Branch Two seat in next Tuesday's election.

The next step is indicated on Judge Sumi's calender [item 67]:

County   Time   Date   Location

Dane   08:30 am   04-01-2011   7th Floor, Courtroom 7B

Activity Case Number Case Caption
Injunction hearing 2011CV001244 Ismael R Ozanne vs. Jeff Fitzgerald et al

Party Attorney Name(s)
Ozanne, Ismael R

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

Black Lives Matter Prosecution — One Bogus Charge Dropped; Atty Calls Remaining Charge "Shockingly Thin"

State Sen Tim Carpenter performs his collapse in front of a
WKOW-TV crew to dramatize a confrontation with
Black Lives Matter protesters.

Updated - Madison, Wisconsin — "Kerida O’Reilly and Samantha Hamer were arrested on charges of substantial battery and robbery with use of force," reported The Hill this week.

The arrest was a rush to judgement by Madison Police working against a political movement held in disdain by law enforcement.

Police and one rash, drug-warrior, state senator want these and other Black Lives Matter protesters behind bars.

One problem, though not for police, is the two young women are innocent. The case is a political prosecution.

Exemplifying a widely held view among local police, in 2017, Police Chief Mike Koval (ret) said he canceled his NFL subscription amid "taking a knee" protests because this protest is "self-absorbed ... diatribe."

And the police are not too hot on mass protests this Summer, much less taking a knee.

The Madison Police Union this week issued a vote of "no confidence" in the new progressive mayor for her temerity to publicly acclaim the First Amendment and express admiration for the protesters.

Wisconsin media and rightwing political operations have already found the two Black Lives Matter protesters guilty.

But facts can be stubborn things.

Dane County District Attorney Ismael R. Ozanne dropped the robbery with use of force charge yesterday, raising questions why this canard was included in the arrest warrant. But you won't find such questions in the local corporate media.

The two defendants' attorneys — Ms. O’Reilly's attorney, Nathan Otis, and Ms. Hamer's attorney, Adam Welch — made a motion to dismiss the remaining charge — substantial battery.

Reports the Associated Press:

O’Reilly’s attorney, Nathan Otis, said in an email to The Associated Press that it will become clear that she didn’t commit any crime, and that the lack of evidence will become clear as the case progresses.

In a separate email to the AP, Hamer’s attorney, Adam Welch, said his client is 'absolutely not guilty' and that prosecutors’ case against her 'is shockingly thin.'

District Attorney Ozanne can't tell you when, where, how and by whom Carpenter was allegedly battered. Neither can Carpenter. According to reports, Carpenter manage to incite some eight to 10 people during the chaotic melee.

No matter, Ozanne refused to drop the remaining charge. Court Commissioner Brian Asmus refused to dismiss it.

The alleged victim, Wisconsin State Sen Tim Carpenter (D), is a Milwaukee legislator who has worked to build the carceral state for decades, always busily working to imprisoning and demonizing black and brown folk.

Just this month Carpenter was reprimanded by the Democratic Party of Wisconsin and the State Senate Minority leader for online bullying and harassment of a black legislative candidate who dared criticize Carpenter's proposed expansion of the Wisconsin Criminal Code.

The Wisconsin Criminal Code. As a local Madison jurist is fond of saying, "Read the [fracking] statutes."

I did. The crime of which two women stand accused are not sustained by the weakest standard of evidence, (WKOW-TV, Pittman/WORT News).

Available audio and video of the confrontation that Carpenter began show a deceitful man who feigned a collapse in front of a WKOW-TV crew.

Carpenter wants blood. He wants as many Black Lives Matter protesters behind bars, and is not choosy who that is.

Two women protesters supporting Black Lives Matter are out on signature bonds.

This case should not see the light of a courtroom. But facts are not the only stubborn things in Dane County.

Corrupt Open Meeting Ruling Steels Resolve of Citizens

Ismael R. Ozanne v. Jeff Fitzgerald/State v. Circuit Court for Dane County

is a dark scandal in the Wisconsin justice system.

The four corrupt partisans on the Wisconsin Supreme Court handed the GOP the victory that is has been clamoring for this week.

But the recall and family protection movement will only strengthen.

Chief Justice Shirley Abrahamson's dissent blasted the corrupt partisan ruling: The majority " ... reached a pre-determined conclusion not based on the facts and the law, which undermines the majority's ultimate decision."

The majority justices "make their own findings of fact, mischaracterize the parties' arguments, misinterpret statutes, minimize (if not eliminate) Wisconsin constitutional guarantees, and misstate case law, appearing to silently overrule case law dating back to at least 1891," Abrahamson wrote. [MJS]

The case is Ozanne et al v. Fitzgerald, Ellis et al [Case No.: 2011AP000613-LV Ismael R. Ozanne v. Jeff Fitzgerald and Case No.: 2011AP000765-W State v. Circuit Court for Dane County].

From Blogging Blue, State Sen. Chris Larson had this to say: “It is a shame that the partisan agenda of special interest groups and big corporations has seeped into the very foundation of Wisconsin’s court system,” said Sen. Chris Larson (D–Milwaukee).

In March of this year, Republicans forced passage of Act 10 despite their actions violating Senate Rules and Procedures. Act 10 was the first step in Governor Walker’s unprecedented attack on basic worker rights and the middle class.

“Today is a dark day for Wisconsin,” said Sen. Larson. “This legislation and the subsequent ruling by the Wisconsin Supreme Court will undo over 50 years of progress in labor working with management to move Wisconsin forward.”

As Governor Walker and his rubberstamp Republican legislators have already made clear, this attack on worker’s rights was politically-motivated, not fiscal in nature, and will not be tolerated by the People of Wisconsin.

“We are reminded today what is at stake in Wisconsin,” said Sen. Larson. “Wisconsin is at the front of an unprecedented assault on workers and the middle class. Wisconsin voters

From One Wisconsin Now:

I remain here at the Capitol with thousands of other activists protesting Governor Walker and the Republican's continued assault on Wisconsin's way of life, and we have just received news that the four conservative member of our Supreme Court have aided and abetted Gov. Scott Walker's crime against 175,000 working Wisconsinites by overturning the lower court and allowing his disastrous attack on the rights of workers to stand as law.

But we remain unbowed. United. Standing for workers and Wisconsin's middle class.

Do you stand with us?

The disastrous agenda of Walker and the Republicans is fueling an unprecedented mobilization and awoken the middle class to the horrors of government bought and paid for by corporate special interests.

The fight goes on. I pledge that One Wisconsin Now will continue to aggressively fight for the values we share -- of decency, of caring for the least among us, for equal rights, for quality schools and the right to collectively bargain in the workplace.

Do you stand with us? If so, please help our efforts with a contribution tonight. I know that we have asked for your help many times, but you have all been so steadfast with your support so far. I know I can count on you again. Stand with us and speak out with one voice, and tell Governor Walker and his conservatives lackeys that this aggression against Wisconsin's working families will not stand.

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.

Dane County DA Files Complaint on GOP's Open Meeting Violation, Seeks to Void Legislation

The Republican Party of Wisconsin may find itself subject to the rule of law.

The so-called budget repair bill with its noxious attack on collective bargaining may soon be voided. One thing is certain the apparent violation will be litigated for quite some time.

Ed Treleven of the Wisconsin State Journal does a fine job of summing up the issues:

In a challenge to Republican leaders, Dane County District Attorney Ismael Ozanne has asked a judge to void Gov. Scott Walker's measure to limit collective bargaining for public employees, saying lawmakers violated the state's open meetings law when they pushed the legislation through last week.

In a civil complaint filed Wednesday in Dane County Circuit Court, Ozanne alleges that a joint Assembly-Senate conference committee met without providing the required 24 hours' notice, and that notice of the meeting did not give the public enough information about what would be discussed.

Ozanne also alleges that the space for the meeting, the Senate Parlor, was not large enough to accommodate members of the public and that people who wanted to attend the meeting were barred from entering the Capitol, also in violation of state law.

The complaint also seeks to bar Secretary of State Doug La Follette from publishing the legislation, as he has said he would do on March 25, the last step before it takes effect.

Judge blocks anti-union, anti-collective bargaining law with restraining order

Update: For a transcript of the opinion, see WisPolitics. Judge Sumi was appointed by Republican Gov. Tommy Thompson in 1998.

Democracy just scored a touchdown.

It's a high judicial standard to convince a judge to issue a temporary restraining order halting a law from taking effect.

But the underhanded, anti-democratic efforts of the Wisconsin Republican Party in ignoring Wisconsin Open Meeting requirements in passing the anti-union bill have managed to become the object of an emergency judicial remedy that is granted only in exceptional circumstances.

The order and opinion should become available online at the Dane County Clerk of Courts webpage. [Go about halfway down the page to: Dane County Circuit Court Case Number 2011CV001175 - Ismael R Ozanne vs. Jeff Fitzgerald et al.]

The Wisconsin State Journal reports:

A Dane County judge Friday issued a temporary order blocking implementation of Gov. Scott Walker's controversial measure limiting collective bargaining for public employees, saying a legislative committee likely violated the state Open Meetings Law when it rushed passage of the bill earlier this month.

[T]he ... decision was made soon after hearing arguments from Dane County District Attorney Ismael Ozanne and Assistant Attorney General Maria Lazar. There was no witness testimony. Sumi also denied a motion by Lazar to stay the restraining order pending an appeal.

Sumi ruled that a March 9 meeting of a joint Assembly-Senate conference committee violated Wisconsin's Open Meetings Law and went on to emphasize the importance of open government in remarks during her ruling.

'This was something that would and did catch the public unaware,' Sumi said, 'what ended up being a closed session of a body in propelling legislation forward.'

Patrick Marley, Don Walker and Jason Stein of the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel quote from Judge Sumi's order, reading in part: ""It seems to me the public policy behind effective enforcement of the open meeting law is so strong that it does outweigh the interest, at least at this time, which may exist in favor of sustaining the validity of the (law) ... ."

Score one for the democratic, open meeting good guy: Wisconsin democracy.

The order and opinion should become available online at the Dane County Clerk of Courts webpage.

Brooklyn, NY Woman’s Conviction Overturned after DA Revisits Old Homicide Cases

Penny Brummer - Wrongfully convicted in 1994
because she is a lesbian

New York — Brooklyn District Attorney Ken Thompson announced that he will move to vacate a second-degree manslaughter conviction from a 1998 jury trial, PIX11 has exclusively learned.

District Attorney Thompson said, "In the interest of justice, I will ask the Court today to vacate the manslaughter conviction of Vanessa Gathers. After a thorough and fair review of the case by my Conviction Review Unit and the Independent Review Panel, I have concluded that this conviction should not stand," Nicole Johnson of PIX-11 reports.

In the interest of justice.

This is a compelling reason to impose truth upon a miscarriage of justice.

Penny Brummer in Madison, Wisconsin

Locally, in Madison, Wisconsin if you have not signed the petition begun in January calling for a new trial for Penny Brummer, wrongfully convicted in 1994, please consider doing so now.

Ms. Brummer is an innocent woman railroaded by police tunnel vision, bigotry and a retrograde conception of lesbianism.

No evidence, no criminal record of Ms. Brummer who joined the U.S. Air Force straight out of high school, no motive, no connection to an unknown crime scene and an unknown murder weapon,  Brummer was nevertheless arrested, prosecuted and convicted of first degree intentional homicide of Sarah Gonstead.

Brummer reportedly wrote a letter earlier this month to Dane County (Wisconsin) District Attorney Ismael Ozanne asking for a new trial.

"Unless something does happen, Penny will die in a Wisconsin prison, damned for a relationship once forbidden in an era of intolerance," noted David Protess, President, Chicago Innocence Project, (Huffington Post).

DA Ozanne could call for a new trial today ... in the interest of justice.

To borrow from Robert H. Jackson's address 75 years ago, "While the prosecutor at his best is one of the most beneficent forces in our society, when he acts from malice or other base motives, he is one of the worst," (U.S. DoJ).

Prosecutorial Reform—70,000 Prosecutors Can Aspire to Be 70,000 Robert Jacksons

University of Wisconsin-Madison Innocence Project
Above are the proven-innocent-after-conviction; wrongful
convictions rarely draw a rush to find out what's wrong. Ask
the innocent Penny Brummer who remains incarcerated.
Ms. Brummer's real offense—Brummer is a lesbian
and victim of the Dane County Sheriff's Department
and a case study in Confirmation Bias, and was
convicted in 1994 on circumstantial evidence only.

Phil Locke calculates that in the United States there are some 70,000 prosecutors. (Wrongful Convictions)

Defense attorneys, civil libertarians and other advocates for those Americans unfortunate enough to enter into the American criminal justice system as defendants witness the dedication of prosecutors to make defendants and those forced into convictions—risk your life and go broke or plead (charge stacking)—spend as much time incarcerated as possible during and after adjudication, with the assistance of the odious Court Services systems around the country.

Some jurisdictions are much better than others, especially now that mass incarceration (Bravin, Wall Street Journal) and police and prosecutorial misconduct are coming to the fore thanks to the work of jurists and reformists such as Mark Godsey, Sidney Powell, Jeff Scott Olson, the Center for Constitutional Rights) and Chief Judge Alex Kozinski (U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit) and Richard Posner (U.S. Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit) and the various Innocence Projects around the country, for example.

The denial of liberty is a foundation of the land of the free, and for reasons surpassing understanding the objective of the many prosecutors is to incarcerate, period.

Writes Locke, Science and Technology Advisor for the Ohio Innocence Project and Duke Law Wrongful Convictions Clinic, "I have been doing innocence work for only 7 years, but just in that time, I have seen case after case in which prosecutors withhold evidence, badger or threaten witnesses, make deals with snitches, stack charges to coerce a plea deal, refuse to allow DNA testing, and refuse to allow post-conviction access to evidence. And once the litigation has moved into post-conviction, prosecutors will, without exception, vigorously defend every conviction, no matter how wrongful they might be. I’ve worked 63 cases in eight different states and two foreign countries, and, on top of that, have knowledge of probably 100 other cases; and I find it’s the same all over. Have I seen some exceptions to this 'rule?' Of course, but they’re not common. My belief is that this characterizes the preponderance of prosecutorial behaviors. I can only report what I observe, and clearly there is cause for change."

Dane County District Attorney Ismael Ozanne running for Wisconsin Attorney General last year wrote, "I have worked with lawyers from the Innocence Project, and will do so in the future. ... The ultimate goal of the system is not simply to secure convictions, it is to do justice." (Mal Contends)

In the Democratic Primary election Wisconsin voters chose Ozanne's opponent, Susan Happ, who rode a Harley in a frequently run campaign TV spot featuring Happ looking like an extra for Sons of Anarchy (Sutter, FX Productions, Art Linson Productions and Fox 21), despite Happ's sterling CV.

Prosecutors dedicated to truth don't carry much electoral appeal.

Locke has several suggestions, one of the most compelling is: "Let’s have all trial counsel, prosecutors and defense attorneys, sworn in at the beginning of each trial," sworn in to tell the truth.

Here's another, from Mal:

Each prosecutor before assuming office must read the disquisitions on prosecutorial discretion of Robert Jackson.

If at the end of trial the prosecutor determines the quantum of evidence is circumstantial or suffers defects that a reasonable jurist would determine is less the beyond-a-reasonable-doubt standard, then she must drop all charges.

GOP Justice Gableman's Piece in Rightwing Journal Is Political Shot

Update: Gableman's GOP ally, David 'Chokehold' Prosser, waives confidentiality in case of physical confrontation with fellow justice

Michael Gableman, who cast the deciding vote in two cases in favor of parties represented by the law firm that provided him free legal services, is well-versed in the rhetoric of the political right which funded his election.

The GOP journal, Wisconsin Policy Research Institute Inc. (WPRI), is running a piece by Gableman adapted from a talk Gableman gave at the annual WPRI dinner in November 2011.

Gableman asserts his duty to "faithfully apply the law," And he points to several cases written by the GOP majority as examples, the most recent of which is Ozanne v. Fitzgerald (more commonly referred to as the Budget Repair Bill case).

The so-called Budget Repair Bill was opposed by every legislative Democrat, supported by every legislative Republican, not legally signed into law by Scott Walker; and then given the judicial thumbs-up by every GOP justice on the Wisconsin Supreme Court in a decision that eviscerated Wisconsin's Open Meetings Law.

Chief Justice Shirley Abrahamson's dissent in Ozanne blasted the partisan ruling: The majority " ... reached a pre-determined conclusion not based on the facts and the law, which undermines the majority's ultimate decision."

As Abrahamson wrote:

[T]he Attorney General asserts that the legislature need not abide by the Open Meetings Law; that the legislature can choose when and if it will follow the Open Meetings Law; and that courts cannot enforce the Open Meetings Law against the legislature and any of its committees. ...

¶96 The order and Justice Prosser's concurrence are based on errors of fact and law. They inappropriately use this court's original jurisdiction, make their own findings of fact, mischaracterize the parties' arguments, misinterpret statutes, minimize (if not eliminate) Wisconsin constitutional guarantees, and misstate case law, appearing to silently overrule case law dating back to at least 1891. This case law recognizes a court's power to review legislative actions in enacting laws when constitutional directives are at issue.

¶127 .... Unreasoned judgments breed contempt for the law. The majority, by sacrificing honest reasoning, leads us down a pernicious path. The order today departs from fundamental principles. It fails to abide by the court's Constitutional authority and its own rules and procedures and harms the rights of the people from whom our authority derives.

This did not sit well with GOP justices, and Gableman's publishing his remarks to the GOP organization in the GOP journal is a political response against the Rule of Law by today's Republican Party that is so anti-intellectual and corrupt Joe McCarthy might blush.

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

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

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

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

Writes Gottinger:

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

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

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

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

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

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

The reason is murderous police would not stand a chance.

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

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

No, no faith.

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

There won't be a prosecution.

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

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

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

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