I’ve posted before about the Calumet County District Attorney, Ken Kratz, who sent a series of vulgar, propositioning text messages to a domestic abuse victim while he was prosecuting her ex-boyfriend on a felony charge. Kratz should never have sent the messages, and should have resigned immediately after sending the first one. There are some updates about his conduct.
Kratz’s Misconduct is as a Prosecutor. There’s a fine story in the Wisconsin State Journal that summarizes nicely that Kratz’s text messages were ethically wrong: “As soon as he hit the “send” button on sexually charged text messages, Calumet County District Attorney Kenneth Kratz should have known he was creating an ethical minefield, legal experts said.”
His misconduct should be evident to anyone:
Prosecutors have additional requirements beyond what private lawyers must follow. Among them is to be “ministers of justice” who treat all parties fairly.
[Richard] Supple, a former prosecutor for New York state’s lawyer-regulation system, said the temptation in Kratz’s situation might be to come down unreasonably hard on a defendant to curry favor with the victim.Or, if he and the victim had a falling out, to go easy on the defendant.
“A DA’s obligation is to do justice, and that includes justice to everybody, including the defendant,” said Supple, a partner at Hinshaw & Culbertson, which has offices in Wisconsin.
It’s unavailing to contend that Kratz broke no criminal laws; his actions violated his professional obligations as a prosecutor.
Where was Wisconsin’s attorney regulatory agency, the Office of Lawyer Regulation? It was someplace, anyplace, where it was convenient to do nothing. (Kratz contends that the OLR found no violations in his conduct; the OLR contends that it is not allowed to release any information about Kratz’s conduct.)
Kratz Gets a Lawyer, Goes on Medical Leave. See, Calumet County DA Ken Kratz Goes on Medical Leave. I don’t know all the reasons that Kratz has a lawyer, but one is sure to be the possibility of legal action from the recipient of Kratz’s messages. He’s also announced that he’s going on medical leave, although his ailment is undisclosed.
For prior posts, see, Official’s Misconduct: Calumet County District Attorney Ken Kratz’s Treatment of a Crime Victim, Official’s Misconduct: Calumet County District Attorney Ken Kratz’s Treatment of a Crime Victim (Update), and Official’s Misconduct: Calumet County District Attorney Ken Kratz’s Treatment of a Crime Victim (Update 2).