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Elkhorn, Law, Walworth County

Walworth County District Attorney Koss’s Foolish, Ignorant Price Tag on Justice

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Readers will recall a story from 2009 about Walworth County’s lawsuit against a crime victim to collect part of the cost of an expert the county hired to aid in the prosecution of those who victimized her. I wrote at the time that the county’s lawsuit was “an astonishing and disgraceful departure from legal custom in Wisconsin.” Fox 6 Milwaukee covered the story.

(For my earlier post, see Walworth County’s Justice Can’t Be Blind – She’s Looking for a Victim’s Wallet. )

When Walworth County resident Linda Goes, and other families, went to Walworth County D.A. Koss about the theft they suffered from a contractor, he agreed to prosecute the contractor and his wife. Later, when the case drew closer to trial, Koss went to the crime victims and asked them to pay for the prosecution’s expert witness (whose testimony concerned the alleged swindle against Goes and others.)

Goes rightly refused to pay for a prosecution witness, and so Walworth County sued her for thousands in fees.

The builder (Art Reeves) admitted guilt, but his wife and business partner (Beth Reeves) went to trial, and was convicted (several felony convictions).

Beth Reeves appealed her conviction, and predictably — as anyone of even average judgment would know — the demand of a crime victim’s payment for a prosecution witness has jeopardized the conviction.

The Wisconsin Attorney General’s Office has now issued an eight-page memorandum to an appeals court in support of the position that Koss’s demand or payment of the expert’s fee was an error, and that the defendant’s conviction should therefore be overturned.

That’s the right result — no victim should have to pay for her own expert, and that payment taints the prosecution of the criminal defendant. It makes criminal justice a matter of wealth.

One should note that it was Koss who demanded this money; this idea began with his office, not the crime victims.

Koss and Assistant D.A. Steve Madsen may find themselves having lost a conviction, through a disgraceful demand.

Note, also, that in 2009, Koss contended that he had support from the Wisconsin Attorney General’s Office to ask crime victim Linda Goes for part of the expert’s fee, but he never produced any letter or other document showing that he had that office’s support.

Considering that the Attorney General’s office expressly repudiates Koss’s odd approach, one wonders if Koss could ever have produced anything regarding his unsubstantiated claim of support from Madison.

For more examples of the mistakes, errors, and questionable decisions of Koss’s office, consider —

Clear Information on the Lawsuit Against Larry Meyer.

The Disappearing A.D.A.

Questions for a Reporter, and the Community.

Answers for a Reporter, and the Community, on the Larry Meyer Case.

The Secret Warrants of Walworth County.

Update: The Secret Warrants of Walworth County

Finally, an entire section of a larger work about prosecutorial error concerns the Walworth County District Attorney’s Office under Koss – see, A Poisoned Prosecution. more >>

Daily Bread

Daily Bread for 1-11-11

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Good morning,

It’s a snowy day for Whitewater, with a high of twenty-seven, and one to two inches of accumulation predicted.

The New York Times recalls that on this day in 1935, Amelia Earhart became the first woman to fly solo across the Pacific, from Honolulu to Oakland:

She entered her plane with a wave of her hand and a smile to the mechanics as she ordered the blocks pulled from in front of the wheels. Taxiing to her starting point, she gave the heavily loaded Lockheed Vega the full gun and after a run of 3,000 feet rose into the air.

Freedom of Speech, Laws/Regulations

Update: U.S. Supreme Court Considers Whether to Hear Institute for Justice’s Challenge to Arizona’s “Clean Elections”

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Great news — The U.S. Supreme Court had decided to hear a challenge to Arizona’s supposedly “clean,” but actually speech-inhibiting, elections law. See, Supreme Court to Review Arizona Campaign Finance Law.

Here’s a FW post from November on the challenge —

Think that “clean” elections laws keep elections, well, fair and clean? You might be surprised. The U.S. Supreme Court is considering an Institute for Justice challenge to the fairness of Arizona’s supposedly clean election laws.

Here’s a video from the IJ entitled, “The Dirty Game of AZ’s “Clean Elections.” Below the video, I have placed the part of the text of a web release about what’s a stake: privately-funded candidates lose out as taxpayer money drowns out the message of candidates who rely on their own supporters’ voluntary contributions rather than government money.

Arlington, Va. – On, Tuesday, Nov. 23, 2010, the U.S. Supreme Court is scheduled to decide whether to hear a challenge by the Institute for Justice to Arizona’s “Clean Elections” Act in the case of Arizona Free Enterprise Club’s Freedom Club PAC v. Bennett. Actions taken by the High Court earlier this year lead many to believe there is a better-than-average chance the Court will accept this case for review.

For a brief, funny video explaining how the “Clean Election” system rigs political races in favor of government-funded candidates, visit: www.ij.org/AZCleanElectionsVideo.

Arizona’s “Clean Elections” Act gives public money to politicians to run for office and squelches the free speech of independent groups, as well as candidates who choose to forgo taxpayer dollars and instead raise their own funds for their campaigns. For every dollar an independent group opposing a publicly financed candidate or a traditionally funded candidate spends above a certain amount, the government hands taxpayer dollars over to the publicly financed candidates in the race. This allows the government-subsidized candidate to “match” the spending – and thus the speech – of the independent group or privately funded candidate opposing him. The harder an independent group or traditionally financed candidate works, the more the government-subsidized candidate benefits. The Act curbs speech, discourages participation and limits what voters will hear about politics.

more >>

Freedom of Speech

Shafer — In Defense of Inflamed Rhetoric

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Indeed —

Only the tiniest handful of people—most of whom are already behind bars, in psychiatric institutions, or on psycho-meds—can be driven to kill by political whispers or shouts. Asking us to forever hold our tongues lest we awake their deeper demons infantilizes and neuters us and makes politicians no safer.

See, The awesome stupidity of the calls to tamp down political speech in the wake of the Giffords shooting. – By Jack Shafer – Slate Magazine.

Daily Bread

Daily Bread for 1-10-11

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Good morning,

Today’s forecast calls for a mostly cloudy day with a high temperature of twenty-nine (with small accumulations of snow likely tonight and tomorrow).

In Whitewater today, there’s a schedule meeting of the Park and Rec Board at 10 a.m. The agenda is available online. Later, at 6:30 p.m., there’s a meeting of the Library Board. That agenda is also online.

In our schools, there will be a special meeting of the WUSD board at 6 p.m., at Central Office. The meeting agenda concerns a possible (and likely) charter school for Whitewater.:

Call to Order and Roll Call

Charter School Authorizer Training – Mr. John Gee, Executive Director, Wisconsin Charter Schools Association

Charter School Contract Review

Research Request Approval (Action Item)

Adjourn

Quick note: items on the district’s website are virtually unlinkable, leaving that website far less useful than it might otherwise be.

On this day in 1776, Thomas Paine first published anonymously the pamphlet Common Sense. The full text is available at Google Books.



University

Whitewater’s Levell Coppage featured in Sports Illustrated

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So very well deserved —

The UW-Whitewater junior running back was featured in Sports Illustrated’s Faces in the Crowd section celebrating his 299-yard, three touchdown effort Dec. 18 that helped the top-ranked Warhawks beat Mount Union Ohio 31-21 to win their second consecutive NCAA Division III national championship and third in four years.

Via WIAC football: Whitewater’s Coppage featured in Sports Illustrated.

Here’s the Sports Illustrated link — 1/10/11.