I posted earlier this week on a news report that Columbia County D.A. Jane Kohlwey signed a secret deal with a criminal defendant (a deputy) so that the defendant could avoid a felony conviction. The Wisconsin State Journal carried the story, originally from the Baraboo News Republic.
Here are remarks from today’s State Journal editorial:
The state Office of Lawyer Regulation should investigate the galling actions of a Columbia County prosecutor.
District Attorney Jane Kohlwey signed a secret deal last year allowing a former Sauk County sheriff’s deputy to escape a felony conviction for hit and run, the Baraboo News Republic reported this week. Kohlwey also agreed to destroy the deputy’s deferred-prosecution agreement if he abided by its conditions.The Office of Lawyer Regulation needs to get to the bottom of this troubling episode and make sure other prosecutors across the state aren’t pulling similar stunts behind closed doors.
Trust in Wisconsin’s court system is at stake.
The editorial notes that “Kohlwey is admitting the obvious — she screwed up big time. She also says she didn’t destroyed the document, though an original can’t be found.” Perhaps Kohlwey thinks that losing a document is better than destroying it, but it’s implausible that copies are not available somewhere, as there were at least two parties to the deal.
Predictably, D.A. Kohlwey whines that she’s a victim: “The latest twist is Kohlwey complaining that it was unfair for her reprimand to become public. Clearly Kohlwey needs a refresher course in open government — and quite possibly stiff punishment from the Office of Lawyer Regulation.”
How many secret deals are there like this in Wisconsin, where elected prosecutors hide pacts from the public, to avoid their own embarrassment?
The editorial is available at
http://www.madison.com/
wsj/home/opinion/302700