I wrote in January about Walworth County District Attorney Koss’s Foolish, Ignorant Price Tag on Justice, where D.A. Koss expected a crime victim to pay for the cost of an expert witness against the woman alleged to have defrauded her. Needless to say, this expectation called the prosecution of the criminal defendant, Beth Reeves, into question.
It seemed likely, at the time, that the conviction would be reversed. Sure enough, it has been. It was the State of Wisconsin that requested the reversal, asking the conviction be overturned because a conviction under those circumstances — expecting a secret payment for an expert’s fees from an alleged victim — is wrong and ludicrous under our law.
The Walworth County District Attorney’s office will have to try the case a second time, unless the defendant accepts a plea deal. See, Prosecutor plans to continue case against former Fontana contractor.
It’s hard to overstate how substandard, and simply unthinking, this effort has been.