Wisconsin Wrongful Conviction and a $10,000 Reward for At-large Killer

Advocates for Penny Brummer - Wrongfully Convicted in 1994

"Investigators can prematurely arrive at conclusions that are incorrect and then focus on information that supports those plots and conclusions and disregard other information that comes in that does not support those conclusions. That's a process called 'tunnel vision.' And it can and it does lead to conviction of the innocent. Penny [Brummer's] case features many of these same features."
—John Pray, Co-founder of the University of Wisconsin-Madison Innocence Project

Advocates of Penny Brummer are working to correct a 21-year-old injustice in the wrongful conviction of Penny Brummer.

Penny Brummer was convicted of killing Sarah Gonstead in 1994 despite no weapon, no forensic evidence, no motive, and literally no evidence of any kind tying Brummer to the undetermined crime scene.

The police investigation was replete with anti-lesbian bigotry playing a big part in Penny's conviction, and is a case study of confirmation bias. Several jurors expressed disapproval of lesbian and gay relationships in jury questionnaires.

Police investigators questioned Penny's co-workers about her body language, 'how she carried herself at work;' her persona apparently appearing unladylike behavior in an atavistic conception of gender types.

A $10,000 reward has been offered for information leading to the arrest and conviction of the killer of Sarah Gonstead murdered in 1994 for which Brummer was convicted and given a life sentence for first-degree intentional homicide.

Madison, Wisconsin media—WISC-TV (Madison), WKOW-TV (Madison)—and advocates for Brummer heavily covered the news of the $10,000 reward as a private investigator, Rikki Glen, continues an ongoing investigation

Rikki Glen, Penny's mother, Nancy Brummer, and John Pray of the Wisconsin Innocence Project held a press conference yesterday in front of the Dane County Courthouse.

"The evidence [in the Brummer case] was beyond, beyond thin," said Ms. Glen at the press conference.

The reward for the 21-year old conviction in Brummer v. Wisconsin comes as Dane County has made strides in combating LGBTQ bigotry, and after the win-convictions-for-reason-of-advancing-careers dynamic in the legal community in Wisconsin and Dane County resulted in incarcerations that shamed the criminal justice system.

"Today, we are a more enlightened community than 20 years ago, and Nancy Brummer, and advocates are optimistic that champions for truth will come forward and our community, police and prosecutors will stand up for truth and free Penny Brummer," said Glen.

Said John Pray of the Wisconsin Innocence Project at the press conference: 

It's been over 20 years since Penny Brummer has been convicted of the murder of Sarah Gonstead. It's a very long time and it's been a very difficult 20 years for Penny, for the family, and for her friends and many supporters. In 1994 when Penny was convicted this country was at the beginning of a revolution in the criminal justice system. This revolution was brought about by the first uses of DNA which led to the formation of the Innocence movement. At that time, for the first time, we all became very aware of the indisputable fact that it is possible to convict people of serious crimes—murder, sex assaults—and be completely innocent. We've also learned that this happens a lot more than we are comfortable with and a lot more than we ever thought was possible. In the years since then, we've seen 100s of examples where DNA evidence has proved beyond any doubt the system has grievously erred and that the wrong person was in prison. A number of those people are from Wisconsin. Wisconsin is not immune from that. Some of those people served decades in prison before they were proved innocent. In many of those cases DNA led not only to the release of the innocent person but to the arrest and conviction of the actual murderer or the actual perpetrator who have, by the way, gone on to commit other serious crimes because they have been let free.

We learn from these exonerations what went wrong with the system. And for the most part it isn't because there are evil police and prosecutors who are trying to get it wrong. They're generally good people, they're trying to solve crimes and serve justice. But even when people are acting in good faith there are still many ways that things can go tragically wrong: Eyewitness identification is often unreliable. Witnesses' memories are prone to mistakes. Investigators can prematurely arrive at conclusions that are incorrect and then focus on information that supports those plots and conclusions and disregard other information that comes in that does not support those conclusions. That's a process called 'tunnel vision.' And it can and it does lead to conviction of the innocent. Penny's case features many of these same features.

[Note: Since covering the Brummer case, several jurists, advocates and other well-informed sources have told me on background coverage of this case here has on some occasions borders on ad hominem regarding the presiding judge of Brummer v. Wisconsin, Patrick Fiedler. They point to Fiedler's well-regarded status in the Wisconsin legal community, his CV (ballotpedia), attest to Fiedler as an honorable jurist and brilliant intellect, his swift exoneration of Forest Shomberg in the 2011 wrongful conviction case, and currently his work as an effective defense attorney working to defend the rights of the citizenry of Wisconsin. These assessments are often informed by those who have worked directly and closely with Fielder. This site is indexed in Lexis-Nexis and Bloomberg's Westlaw as a legal research document, and thorough commentary and analysis ought note the above facts.]

Below is the statement on Penny Brummer read by private investigator, Rikki Glen at the press conference held yesterday:

I'm Rikki Glen, a Wisconsin licensed private investigator retained by advocates challenging the wrongful conviction of Penny Brummer.

I am going to read a short statement about why we are here today, followed by statements from Penny's mother, Nancy and John Pray from the UW Innocence Project.

If you have questions we will be glad to try and answer them after we have finished.

Twenty years ago, Penny Brummer was convicted of killing Sarah Gonstead despite no weapon, no forensic evidence, no motive, and no evidence of any kind tying Brummer to the undetermined crime scene. It has long been asserted that anti-lesbian bias played a large part in Penny's conviction.

When I was asked to help with this case, earlier this year, I had a vague recollection of what transpired. As I was reading through the police reports I was shocked and bothered by some of the things that I read.

For instance, there was an alternate suspect. After Penny dropped off Sarah she saw her talking with some people. Penny remembered seeing an old gray van with distinctive bug eye windows. A few days later, Penny was looking for the van when she spotted it not far from the 3054 Club and Taco Bell. Penny gave the license number to her friend's mother, who turned it over to police. The license traced back to a person who had a long record of felonies against women. He admitted he frequented the area where Penny saw him talking to Sarah, and he said that he was the only one who ever drove his vehicle. His driver's license was revoked at the time, so it was a crime for him to drive, but police didn't seem to notice that. He was interviewed briefly, told them he wasn't at that location on March 14th, and that ended the interview.

Police clearly had 'tunnel vision' in building a case against Penny, another common feature in wrongful convictions.

Another example a witness came forward and reported seeing a suspicious man standing by the open passenger door of a parked pickup truck exactly where Sarah's body was later found. This suspicious man 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. He also noticed what looked to him to be a pink duffle bag on the ground next to the truck. Sarah was wearing a pink jacket when she disappeared. The police told the witness 'This is all very interesting, but we already have a suspect, and this doesn't fit.'

Today, I announce that a $10,000 reward has been established for information leading to the arrest and conviction of the killer of Sarah Gonstead. Advocates have set up a new toll-free number, (800) 407-1178, for tipsters seeking the $10,000 reward.

A decent and honest district attorney's office, we believe, will not defend this prosecution, because today we are a more enlightened community than 20 years ago, and Nancy Brummer, and advocates are optimistic that champions for truth will come forward and our community, police and prosecutors will stand up for truth and free Penny Brummer.

"Hope springs eternal in the human breast," said Alexander Pope in his An Essay on Man (1734).

For Penny Brummer, her family, her extended family of supporters and in the name of justice for Sarah Gonstead, one hopes truth is soon realized.

Petition Begun to Free Penny Brummer of Madison, Wisconsin

Penny Brummer - Wrongfully Convicted

A petition has begun by advocates to free the wrongfully convicted Penny Brummer of Madison, Wisconsin.

Penny Brummer was convicted in the 1994 murder of Sarah Gonstead despite no weapon, no forensic evidence, no motive, and literally no evidence of any kind tying Brummer to the undetermined crime scene. It has long been asserted that bigotry against lesbians in law enforcement investigators and among the jurors played a big part in Ms. Brummer's prosecution and conviction.

The petition follows the announcement in December of a $10,000 reward for information leading to the arrest and conviction of the murderer of Ms. Gonstead.

The petition at Change.org reads:

From Friends of Penny Brummer:

New Trial for Penny Brummer, Wrongfully Convicted
Friends of Penny Brummer

Penny Brummer of Madison, Wisconsin was wrongfully convicted of first degree intentional homicide in the 1994 murder of Sarah Gonstead.

Whereas the last 20 years have seen a sea change in public attitudes with respect to sexual orientation; criminal justice findings on eyewitness testimony have shown its diminished reliability; tunnel vision defined the police investigation; and 20 years have passed highlighting the frail circumstantial case resulting in the wrongful conviction of Penny Brummer, showing a reasonable person cannot find the presented trial evidence strong enough to exclude to a moral certainty every reasonable hypothesis of the defendant's innocence, we the undersigned request:

1. Dane County District Attorney Ismael R. Ozanne move to vacate the 1995 wrongful conviction of Ms. Brummer and stipulate to a new trial.

2. A declarative statement from the Dane County District Attorney that Ms. Brummer's wrongful conviction be vacated in the name of justice, administering justice being an element of the oath of office that all Wisconsin district attorneys take upon assuming their duties.

The law can afford to be and must be just.

Humans Suffer at Alter of Stupidity in Wisconsin

Goya, Saturn Devouring His Son,
painted sometime between 1819-1823.
The image represents America today,
as the country teeters on the brink.

Updated - Madison, Wisconsin—A piece in Vox Media by Sean Illing reports from a Yale Conference held this month noting democracy failings accelerating with Donald Trump and ascendant Republicans, including hostility towards liberties of people, who still enjoy an undulating significance in American society.

Of course, since America's birth popular liberty has been a lie for most living at a given moment. Those charged through history with keeping the faith of America as represented in rhetoric and myth, that is our fellow citizens, are typically ignorant, irrational and stupid, (Achen, Bartels).

Today, as contemptible as Trump and his white-supremacist followers are, one should note neo-liberals and Hillary Clinton have blazed the trail for Trumpists by promoting private prisons, mass incarceration, distribution of public resources to the one percent and unthinking corporatist tropes in politics.

On the up-side, a plurality of Americans reject neo-liberalism and fascism.

There are moments caught in American reporting that mark in iconic description the reality of American society. Wisconsin is at ground zero in hostility against democratic traditions with a strong ferment of pro-democratic institutions now under Republican-corporate attack.

Long Lake, No Wake

In Wisconsin in 2013, Kate Golden at the Wisconsin Center for Investigative Reporting took a famous shot looking out at Long Lake in central Wisconsin, (Plainfield, Waushara County), of a sign reading, "Long Lake, No Wake," surrounded by instead of water, dried-out weeds, trees next to ironic fishing-rules signage.

The proliferation of high-capacity water wells by Big Agriculture has depleted ground and surface waters, and lakes are literally drying up. Gov. Scott Walker and Republicans have worked specifically to make this crisis situation worse since 2011 with one Party objective being that multi-generational Wisconsin families become disgusted and leave the state.

Obama's Plan, White Slavery

In April 2009, Jesse Russell shot a small group of white Tea Party ralliers at the Wisconsin capitol in Madison. Russell captured a man holding a sign reading, "Obama's Plan, White Slavery."

The sign refers to the proposed 2009 Obamacare bill. No American white person was actually enslaved after the implementation of the Obamacare plan, but the sheer lunacy that drove opposition to Obama, and tame healthcare reforms led to the 2016 election of Trump, and was on display in Russell's iconic image, first published April 15, 2009 in The Lost Albatross.

An innocent woman was arrested and convicted because she is
an out lesbian. Railroaded by deceitful Madison and Dane
County police, found guilty by bigoted jurors, Penny Brummer
remains in prison today. This is a
crime committed by the state that no one wants to face.

Innocent Woman Imprisoned as Life Goes on in Dane County Wisconsin

When movements for civil rights, equality, innocence met the Police State in Wisconsin in 1994, the Police State won in Brummer v. Wisconsin.

An innocent Madison woman, Penny Brummer, is in prison for 23 years now since former Dane County Judge Patrick Fiedler in October 1994 declared at the murder trial that circumstantial evidence is "strong enough to exclude to a moral certainty every reasonable hypothesis of the defendant's innocence." Fiedler is nuts.

A honest human being, not Fielder, would have rejected the jury's verdict. See Penny Brummer. See Brummer-Mal Contends, Lueders-Isthmus, Ricks-The Advocate, and the Huffington Post, Wisconsin State Journal.

One honest woman, a paralegal Sheila Berry, listened to her daughter who read about this outrage in The Advocate. "You should do something," Berry's daughter said.

Berry wrote a book, Who Killed Sarah? This reporting is momentous, and one hopes can save a life.

Shelia Berry is modern-day Émile Zola, a Sidney Powell, a pro-liberty human being who says innocents do not belong in prison, not ever.

By now, many readers have seen or heard of Making a Murderer, the tale of vengeful law enforcement hicks from Manitowoc County Wisconsin preying on an intellectually challenged juvenile and framing a man suing Manitowoc County for $36 million in a civil lawsuit for a wrongful conviction.

While shocking to some, the capacity and inclination of law enforcement to harass, arrest, prosecute and convict is axiomatic to most criminal defense attorneys, intellectually honest scholars and certainly those citizens on the receiving end of the blunt instrument known as law enforcement by the "Sovereign," the "state in all its power and glory," as described to me by federal appellate attorney, Sidney Powell, a former Asst. U.S. Attorney.

The victims of Manitowoc County, (a region in east-central Wisconsin from which I hail), are a victims, a disgrace wrought by law enforcement.

But the progressive fountain of Dane County Wisconsin (Madison) is arguably worse than Manty County in the criminal justice realm.

Folks, we live in a police-prosecutor-prison state, (and its existence is a compelling argument for a coalition of the American libertarian right and left)

I present to you one Penny Brummer, an out lesbian who joined the military right of River Valley High School in Spring Green, Wisconsin and served honorably in the Air Force for five years before returning home and then moving to Madison in the early 1990s.

In her mid-20s, Penny fell in and out of love, drank beer and bar-hopped, rode motorcycles, living her life in a similar fashion to most young 20-somethings in Madison, Wisconsin.

In the early to late 1990s, Madison was not a welcoming place for the LGBTQ community by Madison law enforcement, whatever you may have heard about Madison being an progressive oasis with an enlightened police force.

Police harassment and hostility were tolerated by progressives and to this day, for example, the former Club 3054 on East Washington Street, the main drag in Madison, is recalled for targeting by the cops by former patrons.

So it was one March 15, 1994, after Penny broke up with her girlfriend, and looking for company called friends and co-workers to "go out" on a Monday night. Sarah Gonstead said, yes, and Ms. Gonstead and Penny happily bar-hopped before Penny dropped Gonstead off at a frequented short-cut to her ex’s place, where Penny saw Gonstead strike up a conversation with some guys next to a line of motorcycles, one of the men with long hair and slight build.

No one saw Sarah Gonstead alive again.

Gonstead’s body was found on April 9 outside of Madison.

Madison police and the Dane County Sheriff’s detectives decided Penny, 24-years-old, was the perpetrator.

No physical evidence, no weapon, no motive, no determined crime scene, just a half-baked theory about lesbians being violent—police "tunnel vision," disregarding all exculpatory facts and evidence that would not support or disconfirm the theory.

For example,as recounted by Sheila Berry in her book, Who Killed Sarah:

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, [by the short-cut], 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.

A new trial for Penny Brummer is demanded by advocates. They also offer a $10,000 reward for information leading to the arrest and conviction of the person(s) responsible for the death of Sarah Gonstead, and an 800 number for tips at 800 407-1178.

Brummer today sits in prison serving her 50-year sentence.

Prof. Keith Findley of the Wisconsin Innocence Project concludes in a column in the Washington Post after Making a Murderer hit the public consciousness: "We must make the system more responsive to post-conviction claims of injustice and less bound by blind obedience to finality."

Blind obedience is the norm in American society.

No jurist, journalist, or Brummer family member believes the kangaroo trial of 1994 could happen today, 23 years later at a time when we want to believe bigotry trumps an unthinking police state that could allow the Brummer persecution to occur.

The police investigation was replete with anti-lesbian bigotry playing a big part in Penny's conviction, and is a case study of confirmation bias.

Several jurors, a full nine members, expressed disapproval of lesbian and gay relationships in jury questionnaires.

Police investigators questioned Penny's co-workers about her body language, 'how she carried herself at work;' her persona apparently appearing unladylike behavior in an atavistic conception of gender types.

From 2015:

Madison, Wisconsin media—WISC-TV (Madison), WKOW-TV(Madison)—and advocates for Brummer heavily covered the news of the $10,000 reward as a private investigator, Rikki Glen, continues an ongoing investigation

Rikki Glen, Penny's mother, Nancy Brummer, and John Pray of the Wisconsin Innocence Project held a press conference yesterday, (December 2015), in front of the Dane County Courthouse.

"The evidence [in the Brummer case] was beyond, beyond thin," said Ms. Glen at the press conference.

The reward for the 21-year old conviction in Brummer v. Wisconsin comes as Dane County has made strides in combating LGBTQ bigotry, and after the win-convictions-for-reason-of-advancing-careers dynamic in the legal community in Wisconsin and Dane County resulted in incarcerations that shamed the criminal justice system.

"Today, we are a more enlightened community than 20 years ago, and Nancy Brummer, and advocates are optimistic that champions for truth will come forward and our community, police and prosecutors will stand up for truth and free Penny Brummer," said Glen.

Said John Pray of the Wisconsin Innocence Project at the press conference: 

It's been over 20 years since Penny Brummer has been convicted of the murder of Sarah Gonstead. It's a very long time and it's been a very difficult 20 years for Penny, for the family, and for her friends and many supporters. In 1994 when Penny was convicted this country was at the beginning of a revolution in the criminal justice system. This revolution was brought about by the first uses of DNA which led to the formation of the Innocence movement. At that time, for the first time, we all became very aware of the indisputable fact that it is possible to convict people of serious crimes—murder, sex assaults—and be completely innocent. We've also learned that this happens a lot more than we are comfortable with and a lot more than we ever thought was possible. In the years since then, we've seen 100s of examples where DNA evidence has proved beyond any doubt the system has grievously erred and that the wrong person was in prison. A number of those people are from Wisconsin. Wisconsin is not immune from that. Some of those people served decades in prison before they were proved innocent. In many of those cases DNA led not only to the release of the innocent person but to the arrest and conviction of the actual murderer or the actual perpetrator who have, by the way, gone on to commit other serious crimes because they have been let free.

We learn from these exonerations what went wrong with the system. And for the most part it isn't because there are evil police and prosecutors who are trying to get it wrong. They're generally good people, they're trying to solve crimes and serve justice. But even when people are acting in good faith there are still many ways that things can go tragically wrong: Eyewitness identification is often unreliable. Witnesses' memories are prone to mistakes. Investigators can prematurely arrive at conclusions that are incorrect and then focus on information that supports those plots and conclusions and disregard other information that comes in that does not support those conclusions. That's a process called 'tunnel vision.' And it can and it does lead to conviction of the innocent. Penny's case features many of these same features.

Below is the statement on Penny Brummer read by private investigator, Rikki Glen at the press conference held yesterday:

I'm Rikki Glen, a Wisconsin licensed private investigator retained by advocates challenging the wrongful conviction of Penny Brummer.

I am going to read a short statement about why we are here today, followed by statements from Penny's mother, Nancy and John Pray from the UW Innocence Project.

If you have questions we will be glad to try and answer them after we have finished.

Twenty years ago, Penny Brummer was convicted of killing Sarah Gonstead despite no weapon, no forensic evidence, no motive, and no evidence of any kind tying Brummer to the undetermined crime scene. It has long been asserted that anti-lesbian bias played a large part in Penny's conviction.

When I was asked to help with this case, earlier this year, I had a vague recollection of what transpired. As I was reading through the police reports I was shocked and bothered by some of the things that I read.

For instance, there was an alternate suspect. After Penny dropped off Sarah she saw her talking with some people. Penny remembered seeing an old gray van with distinctive bug eye windows. A few days later, Penny was looking for the van when she spotted it not far from the 3054 Club and Taco Bell. Penny gave the license number to her friend's mother, who turned it over to police. The license traced back to a person who had a long record of felonies against women. He admitted he frequented the area where Penny saw him talking to Sarah, and he said that he was the only one who ever drove his vehicle. His driver's license was revoked at the time, so it was a crime for him to drive, but police didn't seem to notice that. He was interviewed briefly, told them he wasn't at that location on March 14th, and that ended the interview.

Police clearly had 'tunnel vision' in building a case against Penny, another common feature in wrongful convictions.

Another example a witness came forward and reported seeing a suspicious man standing by the open passenger door of a parked pickup truck exactly where Sarah's body was later found. This suspicious man 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. He also noticed what looked to him to be a pink duffle bag on the ground next to the truck. Sarah was wearing a pink jacket when she disappeared. The police told the witness 'This is all very interesting, but we already have a suspect, and this doesn't fit.'

Today, I announce that a $10,000 reward has been established for information leading to the arrest and conviction of the killer of Sarah Gonstead. Advocates have set up a new toll-free number, (800) 407-1178, for tipsters seeking the $10,000 reward.

A decent and honest district attorney's office, we believe, will not defend this prosecution, because today we are a more enlightened community than 20 years ago, and Nancy Brummer, and advocates are optimistic that champions for truth will come forward and our community, police and prosecutors will stand up for truth and free Penny Brummer.

"Hope springs eternal in the human breast," said Alexander Pope in his An Essay on Man (1734). Hope for decency.

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.

Wrongful Conviction—$10,000 Reward Offered in Sarah Gonstead Killing; Innocent Penny Brummer Still in Prison

Wrongful Conviction for Reasons of Careerism and Bigotry Against Lesbians 
"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) -

Updated - As Penny Brummer remains in prison, convicted for the 1994 killing of Sarah Gonstead, a $10,000 reward is now being offered for information leading to the arrest and conviction of the person(s) responsible for 1994 death of Gonstead and Kelly Nolan.

Tipsters may remain anonymous. Email sheila0326@gmail.com, or call toll-free at 800 407-1178.

Penny Brummer's 1994 conviction remains an outrage perpetrated by the Madison Police Dept, the Dane County Sheriff's Dept., and the Dane County District Attorney's office still protecting the wrongful conviction to this day.

Penny Brummer

Here in Dane County, 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 Ozanne (2010-present) has refused to revisit, though the case lacks evidence of any kind—forensic evidence, crime scene eyewitness accounts, murder weapons, nothing but bigotry and what attorneys call "confirmation bias."

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

Brummer was a lesbian and veteran so she likely murdered someone, and police had a theory, 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.

It is incomprehensible to me why current DA 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, see Penny Brummer.

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)
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[A version of this piece was published in 2014.]

Notable Quotes from a Malicious Prosecution

Please sign Petition to demand new trial for wrongfully convicted Penny Brummer, convicted out of 1990s animus against lesbians by Dane County law enforcement, and tunnel vision.

"You are not judging a human being. [Sarah Gonstead] was killed by somebody who had an interest in seeing her dead. An interest that none of us can understand or fathom. An interest that none of us understand because we've never experienced anything like that. Tell the world what Penny Brummer did and find her guilty," said the (late) assistant D.A. Judy Schwaemle at trial in Brummer v.  Wisconsin (1994) (Dane County Case Number 1994CF000617), (Protess, Huffington Post).
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"One of the questions on the jury sheet was, 'Do you believe that lesbianism is morally wrong?' And I would say a good 75 % of the people we interviewed said yes. But then the district attorneys, [prosecuting attorneys], would ask if they thought they could set aside their opinion of lesbians and judge the case just on the evidence, and they would say yes," said Penny Brummer, (Ingrid Ricks, The Advocate (1995)].
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"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," said Penny Brummer, (Lueders, (Isthmus, (2005)).
 -
"We must make the system more responsive to post-conviction claims of injustice and less bound by blind obedience to finality," (Wisconsin Innocence Project, Keith Findley, Washington Post (2016)).
 -
Dane County District Attorney Ismael Ozanne

Dear Mr. Ozanne,

"I am writing this pro se (for the moment) and would like to respectfully request that you stipulate to a new trial in light of the paucity of the circumstantial case in Brummer v.  Wisconsin, (Dane County Case Number 1994CF000617)."

This request comes from the commonality we share that justice must guide the actions of the district attorney's office."
—Letter (Jan. 2016) from Penny Brummer asking for new trial

Person of Interest Hits Wrongfully Convicted for Serving in U.S. Military

Update: Shortly after this post appeared Glenda Johnson took down her comments in a Facebook response (Dec. 15; 7:01 p.m.) to a WKOW-TV (Madison) report. Ms. Johnson's over-heated response indicates a person who really wants this case closed for good, and she remains a suspect whose home the victim was heading before her body was found some two weeks later.
 ---
The day after a press conference this week announcing a $10,000 reward for information leading to the conviction of the person responsible for the 1994 killing of Sarah Gonstead in Madison, a person of interest in a private investigator's probe has come forward and stated she is "100% positive the right person is behind bars."

Glenda Johnson said she bases her certainty in part on the fact that Penny Brummer, the wrongfully convicted, served her country in the United States Armed Forces.

Writes Johnson in a Facebook response (Dec. 15; 7:01 p.m.) to a WKOW-TV (Madison) report by WKOW journalist, Matt Cash: "She [Penny] had her share of issues when she lived in California. She was in the military... A MP. Plus.... I am 100% positive the right person is behind bars ... ."

Penny Brummer did enlist in the Air Force right out of high school in 1987, and after basic training was transferred to Castle Air Force Base in California assigned to base security. She was honorably discharged in 1993, (Berry, p.14).

The full Facebook post by Ms. Johnson reads: "Well lets just say this... The facts on the [WKOW] page/link are wrong. They never made it back to the east side of Madison... Timeline doesn't add up. Last place they were seen together was 1.5 miles from where her body was found... Penny was a very controlling person.. She had her share of issues when she lived in California. She was in the military... A MP. Plus.... I am 100% positive the right person is behind bars. How many times do kids... Even adults lie to their parents. It's a ploy for money because the police have closed this case.... And Penny's mom says ... Penny wouldn't do it."

A reply to Johnson by a co-author of a detailed book on the homicide, by Sheila Berry, reads in full: "Glenda Johnson We have the police reports and the transcripts of everything -- initial appearance, preliminary, motions, trial and sentencing. It is clear from police reports that YOU raised the hue and cry that Sarah never made it to your house, before anyone knew she was missing. Did the police get that wrong? How about that 3 hour gap after you left work -- so upset -- but didn't go home? That's the same time frame when an independent witness saw someone dumping a bright pink "bundle" that turned out to be Sarah's body. As Shakspeare said, methinks the lady doth protest too much."

Why Glenda Johnson—who lived in the home to which Ms. Gonstead was last reported to have been intent on visiting—is so vested to see Penny Brummer behind bars and affirm the integrity of a clearly faulty police investigation is interesting, certainly pertinent to the 1994 criminal investigation.

The police quickly developed their theory and declined investigating leads disconfirming or not supporting their theory, (tunnel vision in the vernacular of criminal justice), and barely questioned Ms. Johnson. The Dane County District Attorney's office went along for the ride.

Sarah Gonstead was last seen on March 24, 1994. Her body was recovered on April 9, 1994 in Pine Bluff, an unincorporated community west of Madison. "In less than a week authorities had zeroed in on 24-year-old Penny Brummer. The last person to admit to seeing Gonstead alive after their night of binge drinking [together]," (Pabich, WMTV (Madison).

Notes author and attorney Sheila Berry on her website:

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.

The blood alcohol level in Sarah's liver suggests a time of death several hours after Penny was back at her Spring Green home, watching TV. 

The dearth of evidence and many facts do not fit, and do not support a conviction, and Penny Brummer remains in prison serving a life sentence.

Wrongful Conviction: Penny Brummer Is Innocent and Still in Prison

Don't worry Penny, we'll keep up the edifying debate about how noble Dane County (Wisconsin) police really are amid 'mistakes' like Dane County throwing your life away.

From MC, Jan. 14, 2016

Penny Brummer - Wrongfully Convicted
by bigotry and police tunnel vision

Bigotry, police tunnel vision, police deceit, prosecutorial misconduct and the prison-industrial complex all suggest a criminal justice system gone way, way wrong.

Manitowoc, Wisconsin is one international focal point; Madison, Wisconsin is another.

Penny Brummer was convicted in 1995 for first degree intentional homicide and given a life sentence.

This is Madison, Wisconsin. The question advocates ask: Will a more enlightened community 20 years later give Ms. Brummer a new trial for a prosecution that should never have taken place?

That's really what advocates want because there is no chance in a million Brummer would be convicted today.

Bill Lueders has the story at Isthmus.

Writes Lueders:

Which brings us to Penny Brummer, convicted of the March 1994 murder of Sarah Gonstead, the best friend of Penny’s female ex-lover, after a night of barhopping. The case has all the hallmarks of wrongful conviction: No prior criminal history on Brummer’s part. No physical evidence tying her to the crime. No credible eyewitnesses, and one manifestly non-credible one. 

Which Dane County jurist will come forward and champion justice, and save the life of an innocent woman in the process?

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.

Conviction Integrity from St. Clair County Illinois to Dane County

News from this weekend comes from St. Clair County, Illinois.

This southwestern county in Illinois was not a place on my radar screen, for anything. It is now.

George Pawlaczyk and Beth Hundsdorfer report in the Belleville News-Democrat (Illinois) a new Conviction Integrity unit begun in 2013 as a check on wrongful prosecutions and wrongful convictions has already exonerated a full nine people.

"[N]ine defendants accused in eight cases have been freed in prosecutions that involved murder, armed robbery, predatory criminal sexual assault, reckless homicide, possession of a weapon by a felon and felony retail theft," note Pawlaczyk and Hundsdorfer.

Nine more innocents exonerated from a county roughly half as populous as Dane County Wisconsin in some two years.

As Wisconsin (and the nation) comes to grips with the fact police routinely lie, coerce innocents and cook reports, prosecutors' prime objective remains to achieve statistics of convictions over truth. Reforms in district attorney's offices are as common as a 50-degree January day in Wisconsin, and the question arises what is to be done.

The criminal justice sensation chronicling the moral and legal disgrace in Manitowoc County Wisconsin, Making of Murderer, has provoked a reaction among law enforcement jurists.

This reaction from Wisconsin law enforcement, I'm told, is one of smug arrogance, inappropriate from the prosecutorial offices holding so much power over the liberty of American citizens in a Constitutional democracy.

Then again most jurists don't become prosecutors to serve the citizenry, and the district attorney's office is not a fountain of soul-searching intellectuals who stay up nights pondering what went wrong when another innocent is exonerated after losing decades of his or her life.

This isn't grade school, folks: Let's acclaim a truism, the district attorney's office (or the state's attorney's office) is typically a stepping stone to enhance a legal career; maybe a lucrative position as a partner in as a defense attorney in a mid-sized firm, (unless your were drummed out of office like the fetid, ethics-free Ken Kratz who runs a small firm exiled up north in Superior, Wisconsin) or maybe a cushy, tax payer-financed judgeship awaits.

Dane County's Penny Brummer

In Dane County, readers are familiar with the wrongful conviction of Penny Brummer, as the Innocence Project, journalists, jurists, scholars and advocates know well this woman is innocent and they cannot, to this point, get Ms. Brummer out of prison, much less exonerate her. No evidence plus no motive equals no justice for Penny Brummer, but hey, she is a lesbian and served in the military right out of high school. By the way, please consider signing this new petition RE getting Ms. Brummer a new trial.

The reason Brummer remains in prison, to be candid, is the obstinance of the district attorney's office, and the absence of an independent county Conviction Integrity Unit.

Considering the analytical resources in Dane County and the University of Wisconsin-Madison's Frank J. Remington Center, there is every citizen resource in place to draft a mission statement, policies and procedures, criteria and scope of an independent Conviction Integrity Unit as a check on wrongful prosecutions and convictions in Dane County such as Penny Brummer, and Forest Shomberg, and Ralph Armstrong, and Anthony Hicks, and Audrey Edmunds, perhaps you notice a pattern forming: These are human beings. And this is just a partial list in Dane County where being exonerated is very difficult and takes a lot of luck along with the dedication of the Innocence Project, for example.

Most of the growing number of Conviction Integrity units across America are part of the district attorney's office and their efficacy is under debate.

But in St. Clair County, Illinois, State's Attorney Brendan Kelly's Conviction Integrity unit works before conviction and a case's inception into Conviction Integrity protocol is begun at the request of defense attorneys to the state's attorney.

No reason Dane County cannot establish a Conviction Integrity Unit, independent from the district attorney's office, and staff it with retired jurists, journalists, students and other scholars.

Ask Brummer, Shomberg, Armstrong, Hicks, and Edmunds (and an untold number other citizens) if this might be a good idea.

To end on a positive note, $16.8 Million was awarded by the State of Connecticut to four wrongfully convicted men last week. Good thing those guys don't live in Manitowoc County, or Dane County.

"The quest for a conviction cannot outweigh the Constitution rights of an accused," wrote Commissioner J. Paul Vance, Jr., Claims Commissioner of the State of Connecticut.

Dare to dream.

Help for Exonerated Individuals in Wisconsin Needed

A District Attorney destroys exculpatory evidence; a presiding judge
has an affair with the alleged victim, and an innocent Don Miller
draws a 42-sentence in a clear abuse of office. The Wisconsin
Innocence Project is on the case as the Miller family endures.

"There is no more cruel tyranny than that which is exercised under cover of the law, and with the colors of justice." [UNITED STATES v. JANNOTTI (No. 81-1020), UNITED STATES v. SCHWARTZ  (No. 81-1021)]

A long over-due discussion is needed on innocence and what we as a society can do about the criminal justice system herding innocent people into prisons in a manner right out of the dark ages.

This phenomenon is not caused solely by corrupt prosecutors, though they play a prominent role.

Very few institutions exist to address this atrocity of an innocent person, unjustly arrested, falsely accused and unjustly convicted.

Ask Penny Brummer; hey, she's a lesbian so in a more bigoted time she was an instant suspect, and ultimately convicted because of her sexuality in Madison, Wisconsin.

Sheila and Doug Berry document Ms. Brummer's case in their Who Killed Sarah?

In the book, readers are treated to "a twilight zone where evidence is ignored or manipulated, innocence is disbelieved and justice is denied to both Penny Brummer and Sarah Gonstead (who was murdered with a gun)."

Writes David Protess in The Huffington Post, "In light of the progress that's been made by the LGBT movement, it's hard to imagine that not too long ago an innocent woman could be convicted of murder because she was a lesbian. And, it's harder still to believe that it could happen in a progressive city like Madison, Wis."

This twilight zone is the reality when innocents are systemically fed into the Police-Prison meat grinder; liberty and dignity prevented, human spirit assaulted and any type of human kindness systemically prevented, and life destroyed.

There are journalists, Dee Hall of the Wisconsin State Journal and Bill Lueders of the Wisconsin Center for Investigative Journalism are examples; institutions such the Milwaukee-based Innocence Consultants and the University of Wisconsin Law School's Innocence Project, all of whom do tremendous work.

Facing the power of the prosecutor's office, the mindlessness of politicians, the unthinking actions of law enforcement and the apathy of the public, an innocent man or woman convicted of a crime is up against what author Glenn C. Loury terms an "American ... leviathan unmatched in human history."

A leviathan today is defined as a totalitarian state with a vast bureaucracy. 

And a leviathan is an uneven match in our nation of by-standers, as politicians posture as tough-on-crime, and the prison-for-profit industry soars and one company is actually publicly traded on the New York Stock Exchange, as it too lobbies for harsher sentencing laws.

Keith Findley, faculty director of the Wisconsin Innocence Project, discusses in this linked video an effort to help exonerated innocents in Wisconsin.

It would of course be better that innocents never be convicted. 

The putative nature of American culture and the careerism of American jurists and law enforcement in the system make the incarceration of innocents almost a fait accompli.

The English jurist William Blackstone in his 18th century Commentaries on the Laws of England famously declares, "It is better that ten guilty persons escape than that one innocent suffer."

One can only reference Blackstone today with dark irony

Too many American jurists delude themselves into thinking Blackstone's tenet guides the criminal justice system. 

Denying liberty is the go-to move today, it's convenient for police, prosecutors and judges.

Most of us—untouched by the cruel tyranny of the criminal justice system—view a common effort with the unjustly incarcerated (done in our names) as relevant to our lives as the passing appearance of the moon.

One person who can be helped now is Penny Brummer. She gets a DNA test, she'll get cleared.

Writes Protess:

Penny Brummer - Arrested and convicted of murder
because of absurd, atavistic bigotry towards lesbians.
No evidence, no eyewitness, just ignorance and hate

The best hope at this point, Sheila (Berry) says, is DNA from the bullet that pierced Sarah's brain. Funds are needed to conduct Y-STR testing, which produced results in another infamous Wisconsin murder case involving Laurencia "Bambi" Bembenek. The testing costs $10-15,000, and the Berrys are offering copies of Who Killed Sarah? to anyone who makes a donation.

Will the justice system ever admit its mistake? Penny herself thinks so. "Something's got to happen," she told investigative reporter Bill Lueders, who first exposed the injustice. "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."

But without the DNA testing or other new evidence, Penny's chances are slim. Now 43, she will not be eligible for parole until she turns 70. Unless something does happen, Penny will die in a Wisconsin prison, damned for a relationship once forbidden in an era of intolerance.

An online contribution, or a check can be sent to:

Penny Brummer Defense Fund
The People's Community Bank
P. O. Box 369
Spring Green, WI  53588

Penny Brummer Wrongful Conviction Penetrating Consciousness

Penny Brummer - Wrongfully Convicted
by bigotry and police tunnel vision

Bigotry, police tunnel vision, police deceit, prosecutorial misconduct and the prison-industrial complex all suggest a criminal justice system gone way, way wrong.

Manitowoc, Wisconsin is one international focal point; Madison, Wisconsin is another.

Penny Brummer was convicted in 1995 for first degree intentional homicide and given a life sentence.

This is Madison, Wisconsin. The question advocates ask: Will a more enlightened community 20 years later give Ms. Brummer a new trial for a prosecution that should never have taken place?

That's really what advocates want because there is no chance in a million Brummer would be convicted today.

Bill Lueders has the story at Isthmus.

Writes Lueders:

Which brings us to Penny Brummer, convicted of the March 1994 murder of Sarah Gonstead, the best friend of Penny’s female ex-lover, after a night of barhopping. The case has all the hallmarks of wrongful conviction: No prior criminal history on Brummer’s part. No physical evidence tying her to the crime. No credible eyewitnesses, and one manifestly non-credible one. 

Which Dane County jurist will come forward and champion justice, and save the life of an innocent woman in the process?

Alabama Lawmakers Propose Conviction Integrity Unit

Alabama, that's Al . a . bama has introduced legislation to review the integrity of felony convictions.

Reports Tim Lockette of the Anniston Star from Montgomery: A Republican member of the Alabama State Senate, (Sen. Dick Brewbaker, R-Montgomery), wants to create an Innocence Inquiry Commission to review felony convictions.

Time for my county, Dane County, to catch up to reformist Republican lawmakers in Alabama. Indeed, statewide, especially Milwaukee and Dane County, the need for conviction integrity units is clear, (Mal Contends).

Lots of talk behind the scenes among jurists of the necessity of an independent Conviction Integrity Unit (CIU) in Dane County enacted by the Dane County Board of Supervisors.

See Conviction Integrity Units: Vanguard of Criminal Justice Reform and An Epidemic of Prosecutor Misconduct, and the Innocence Project's Conviction Integrity Unit Best Practices for white papers.

Consider the cases from Dane County and the wrongful convictions such as Penny Brummer, and Forest Shomberg, and Ralph Armstrong, and Anthony Hicks, and Audrey Edmunds. These people had decades taken from the lives, and the toll on their families is incalculable.

An independent Conviction Integrity Unit (CIU) analyzing and providing recommendations to the District Attorney's office could have taken years off their wrongful sentences and returned these innocents to their families. CIU recommends X because of Y, Z. Easy to contemplate how facts and science would reveal the rush to judgement and tunnel vision all too common in law enforcement.

Consider Penny Brummer.

Any examination of the integrity of the 1994 conviction of Penny Brummer would lead to the exoneration of Ms. Brummer as there is literally no case against Brummer who was convicted anyway by a jury, most of whom were admitted homophobes.

If you have not signed the petition calling for a new trial, please do.

An observer of Ms. Brummer's case remarked if Wisconsin had a death penalty, the resulting necessary scrutiny of Brummer's case would have already led to her exoneration. Instead Brummer has fallen through the cracks of the criminal justice system, like an untold number of others.

Consider Dane County.

With the analytical resources available in the Dane County citizenry, staffing a Conviction Integrity Unit with retired jurists, scholars, students, journalists, intellectuals from labor, business and myriad other segments of the community, a low-cost check on the criminal justice system could result in avoiding tragedy. Finding CIU staff who would happily work for a stipend would be easy.

We must ask ourselves the question: How cheap are lives in Dane County?

"There is no crueler tyranny than that which is exercised under cover of law, and with the colors of justice ... ."
 - U.S. v. Jannotti, 673 F.2d 578, 614 (3d Cir. 1982)