Ethics Complaints Filed Against 29 Judges

Yep.

The Landmark Legal Foundation filed a complaint Tuesday based on a Gannett Wisconsin Media Investigative Team analysis that confirmed at least 29 judges signed the recall, about 12 percent of Wisconsin’s county-level judiciary.

The judges who signed the petition defend their action as constitutionally protected and not explicitly banned by the Wisconsin Code of Judicial Conduct, which prohibits judges from supporting political parties or candidates but does not specifically mention recall petitions.

But the Landmark complaint notes the judicial code requires that judges “avoid impropriety and the appearance of impropriety in all the judge’s activities.” The code says, “The test for appearance of impropriety is whether the conduct would create in reasonable minds a perception that the judge’s ability to carry out judicial responsibilities with integrity, impartiality and competence is impaired.”

“This inherently political activity implies that these judges are endorsing, if not promoting, Governor Walker’s recall and calls into question the impartiality and judicial ethics of each signing circuit judge under the Code of Judicial Conduct,” says the complaint, which is signed by Landmark President Mark Levin, a nationally syndicated radio talk show host.

If any lawyer has a case involving Walker or his administration in front of any of these judges, they have an automatic appeal.

Political Judges

Yes, it’s their right as citizens, but impartial justice may be hard to find if it involves Governor Walker and his policies.

A Dane County judge who issued a temporary injunction against Wisconsin’s photo ID voting law last week, David Flanagan, drew a barrage of criticism for not disclosing he had signed a petition for a recall election of Gov. Scott Walker. The state Republican party filed a judicial ethics complaint against him over the controversy.

One other Dane County judge had signed a recall petition.

In Milwaukee County, it appears at least nine of 47 circuit judges signed: Bonnie Gordon, Charles Kahn, Mary Kuhnmuench, Dennis Cimpl, Jane Carroll, Jean DiMotto, Karen Christenson, Marshall Murray, and Michael Dwyer.

The names came back on a search of a database set up by Verify the Recall. There might be others who signed who are not part of the database.

Defending the castle

My column for the Daily News is online. It’s called, “Defending the castle.” Here’re the guts of it:

What we do know is that Mr. Morrison was trespassing at 2 a.m. and is no longer alive because of that bad decision.

  Some are seizing on the fate of Mr. Morrison as a test case for Wisconsin’s new Castle Doctrine that was passed late last year. Under that law, homeowners are given the benefit of the doubt when a shooting like this occurs under the presumption that a homeowner is entitled to protect their family and home against an intruder. The burden of guilt is on an intruder who is illegally trespassing in someone else’s home. Indeed, the circumstances regarding Mr. Morrison’s demise shows that Wisconsin’s Castle Doctrine is working perfectly as designed.

Activists Want Permit List

The NRA is right on this one.

Advocacy group Wisconsin Anti-Violence Effort says making available concealed carry permit information would allow groups to ensure people who carry concealed handguns, knives or electric weapons are “as law abiding as the lawmakers promised,” said Jeri Bonavia, the organization’s executive director.

“Since we don’t know who concealed carry weapon holders are, we don’t know what they’re doing” or if they’re the ones committing violent crimes, she said. “That’s really frustrating. … Are these people as law abiding as the senators promised us, or have we been kind of duped?”

But the National Rifle Association says making sure concealed carry permit holders are abiding the law isn’t a job for the public.

“That’s the function of law enforcement,” said Andrew Arulanandam, director of public affairs for the NRA. “There’s no need for these people to have their privacy compromised. Anyone who makes any other argument is not being honest.”

Yes, it is a matter for law enforcement. And if a concealed carry permit holder is conviced of a crime that makes them no longer eligible to have that license, I’d expect a judge to order the surrender of the license upon conviction.

Committed Union Activist Caught Committing Fraud

Heh.

As a committed activist, Spiegelhoff knew that he was not Galloway’s constituent. Merrill and all of Lincoln County are the district of Sen. Jim Holperin, a Democrat from Conover who voted against the state’s changes to collective bargaining for public employees.

But Spiegelhoff’s signature appears on the recall petitions that were made public by the Government Accountability Board, alongside those of Marathon County Democratic Party Chairman Jeff Johnson and recall organizer Nancy Tabaka-Stencil.

When a letter to the editor from Republican Party of Marathon County Chairman Bruce Trueblood pointed this out, the Wausau Daily Herald sought a response from Spiegelhoff. His response: He had “screwed up,” but it was an accident. He told the Daily Herald last month that he got mixed up while signing petitions to recall Gov. Walker and Lt. Gov. Rebecca Kleefisch and accidentally signed Galloway’s petition, too.

“Clearly I wasn’t paying attention,” he said on Feb. 22. “I should have checked it more carefully.”

This explanation is implausible on its face, although implausible things do happen. But an email obtained by the Daily Herald from the Committee to Elect a Republican Senate tells a different story about Spiegelhoff.

“I signed a petition to recall you two minutes after 12 midnight last night,” Spiegelhoff wrote on Nov. 15 to Galloway’s office. “Just thought you would like to know this.”

Return the Gun

Yeah… this is crap.

A gun rights advocacy group has taken Milwaukee police to task for refusing to give back a gun used in an Aldi grocery store shooting that was ruled justifiable and legal.

Police say the gun is still evidence in the case.

Nazir Al-Mujaahid shot and injured a suspected robber who was threatening a cashier and waving a sawed-off rifle at other patrons on Jan. 30. Al-Mujaahid had gotten a concealed-carry permit a couple of weeks earlier. The suspect fled, was later arrested and charged in the Aldi robbery and two other armed holdups.

Milwaukee County District Attorney John Chisholm cleared Al-Mujaahid, 35, of any criminal wrongdoing, but police still have his gun and holster, according to Nik Clark, president of Wisconsin Carry Inc., a gun rights advocacy group.

“WCI believes that these acts by the Milwaukee Police Department represent violations to law-abiding citizens’ constitutionally guaranteed right to be free from illegal seizures of their private property and their constitutionally recognized right to keep and bear arms,” Clark said in a news release Tuesday.

He was cleared. There is absolutely no legal or rational justification for the governemt to continue to hold a gun that was lawfully used. Al-Mujaahid’s 4th Amendment rights are being violated.

Liberal Dane County Judge Issues Bad Ruling

Bear in mind, the judge in this case actually signed a recall petition against Governor Scott Walker. This is a truly a partisan liberal activist judge ruling on a case that he should have recused himself from.

A Dane County judge on Tuesday barred the enforcement of the state photo ID law at polling places during the general election on April 3, calling it an “extremely broad and largely needless” impairment of the right to vote.

Circuit Judge David Flanagan said the Milwaukee Branch of the NAACP and Voces de la Frontera had demonstrated that their lawsuit against Gov. Scott Walker and the state Government Accountability Board would probably succeed on its merits and had demonstrated the likelihood of irreparable harm if the photo ID law is allowed to stand.

Flanagan granted a temporary injunction (read the injunction here) ordering Walker and the GAB to “cease immediately any effort to enforce or implement the photo identification requirements” of the law, pending a trial on a permanent injunction scheduled before him on April 16.

“If no injunction is issued, a clearly improper impairment of a most vital element of our society will occur,” Flanagan wrote. “The duty of the court is clear. The case has been made. Irreparable harm is likely to occur in the absence of an injunction.”

This is a travesty of “justice.” Flanagan is a disgrace to the law.

Man Shot In Slinger

This is unfortunate.

By SARAH MANN Daily News Staff

SLINGER — A 20-year-old West Bend man was shot and killed after a party went wrong early Saturday.

Bo A. Morrison, a 2010 graduate of West Bend East High School, was killed a little before 2 a.m. on Saturday by a homeowner who reportedly believed that Morrison was an intruder.

  According to the Slinger Police Department, police received reports of loud noise and a possible underaged-drinking party at about 12:50 a.m. in the 100 block of North Kettle Moraine Drive. When officers were sent to investigate, they were unable to make contact with anyone at the house. They were able to speak with one of the homeowners, who was at work, by phone.

  Officers were called to the same area again at 2 a.m. by a homeowner who reported that he had shot an alleged intruder in his house after youths had fled the party to hide from police. About 15 to 20 young people were at the party.

  According to a release from the Slinger Police Department, “Responding officers located a 20-year-old male in the porch area of the house with a single gunshot wound to his chest. Officers as well as LifeStar Rescue attempted life-saving measures; however, the male was deceased.”

Here’s the thing… the result was clearly tragic. A young man who was apparently just drunk and stupid is now dead. However, the result does not change the realities of the situation. From the homeowner’s perspective, he had a grown man on his porch at 2 AM with an unknown intent. We do not know what happened between these two. We don’t know if the trespasser was belligerant, threatening, or appeared to possess a weapon. We also don’t know if the homeowner questioned the intruder or just acted immediately. Certainly there is a tactical advantage in acting without warning an intruder of your presence. We may see the statements later, but we don’t have them now.

With what we know, I see no fault in the homeowner. If I find a man on my porch at 2 AM, what would I do? If he is truly a threat, why would I turn on a light and ask him his intentions? Isn’t my first priority my family’s safety? I admit that personally I would not pull a trigger unless he was actually in my home, but the story is vague and I don’t know the circumstances. Was it an enclosed porch where the intruder had already forcibly entered the home? I don’t know. We also don’t know the actual intent of the intruder. Perhaps he was a hapless drunk looking for refuge, but perhaps he had more devious intentions. We don’t know and neither did the homeowner. 

As it is, this is a perfect case for the Castle Doctrine. The presumption should be that the homeowner isn’t required to devine the intruder’s intentions before taking action. The fault lies with the intruder. He should not have trespassed in the wee hours of the morning for any purpose and now he is dead. If it ends up that the homeowner acted recklessly and knew that the intruder was harmless, then he should, and will, be fully prosecuted. But at 2 AM in the dark in a person’s home, the law should presume that the homeowner has a right and duty to protect himself and his family. And now it does in Wisconsin.

Teacher OK to View Porn In Middleton Schools

Lovely. I’m so glad that his union was there to stick up for his right to view porn at work.

The Middleton-Cross Plains School District shouldn’t have fired a teacher who viewed pornographic images at work and must reinstate him with back pay and benefits — estimated at about $200,000 — an arbitrator has ruled.

Superintendent Don Johnson and the School Board said in a joint statement Wednesday they were disappointed in the decision by a private arbitrator. They plan to discuss whether to appeal the decision at a meeting scheduled for Monday at 6:30 p.m.

“This ruling completely minimizes conduct that cannot be tolerated,” the statement said. “It sends the message that it is acceptable for employees to view pornography at school, during the student-school day, on school equipment. It also flies in the face of the need to provide a professional work environment and a safe place to educate our children.”

The teacher, Andrew Harris, said in an interview he was grateful for the ruling.

“I look forward to teaching in the fall,” he said.

The case was used to support enactment of a new state law last year requiring the state Department of Public Instruction to revoke the licenses of teachers who view porn at school. That law was not in effect when Harris was disciplined.

Instead, the arbitrator, Karen Mawhinney, considered whether Harris engaged in “immoral conduct,” the revocation standard that applied to Harris. She said Harris’ conduct was not immoral because no children were endangered. Harris’ teaching license was not revoked pending the outcome of his disciplinary case and remains under review by the state Department of Public Instruction, spokesman Patrick Gasper said.

Racine Man Charged With Felony Election Fraud

I’d bet my bottom dollar that there are more Demet’s out there.

Mark Demet, 59, of Racine, has been charged by the Racine County District Attorney’s Office with two felony counts of election fraud/nomination certification and seven felony counts of misappropriating identifying information for financial gain. If convicted on all charges, Demet faces up to 42 years in prison and fines up to $90,000.

According to the criminal complaint, Demet admitted that he circulated the petition and signed the names of seven people on the petition. Investigators spoke to six of the people whose names appeared on the list to verify that they had not signed the petition.

Judges Stops Crackdown on Rolling Machines

While I think this crackdown is idiotic, I think the judge overreached. This is a matter for the legislature to clarify.

MADISION — A Dane County judge has issued a temporary injunction blocking a state crackdown on roll-your-own cigarette machines.

Robert Petersen, owner of Rib Mountain Tobacco and Liquor, filed a lawsuit last year after the state Department of Revenue told machine owners they need manufacturing and distribution permits to operate. Petersen argues machine owners sell loose tobacco and leave the manufacturing to customers.

No Issues with Voter ID

Gee, whodathunk that almost everyone has a picture ID and carries it with them?

Local election officials reported no problems enforcing the new law as people in about 520 of Wisconsin’s 1,850 cities, villages and towns voted on local races. In Dane County, they cast ballots in a judicial primary, while some also winnowed the candidates for two County Board seats and weighed in on a school referendum.

Man Charged for Warning Shot

“Live free or die” my ass.

A New Hampshire man who fired his handgun into the ground to scare an alleged burglar he caught crawling out of a neighbor’s window is now facing a felony charge—and the same potential prison sentence as the man he stopped.

Dennis Fleming, 61, of Farmington, was arrested for reckless conduct after the Saturday incident at his 19th century farmhouse. The single grandfather had returned home to find that his home had been burglarized and spotted Joseph Hebert, 27, climbing out of a window at a neighbor’s home. Fleming said he yelled “Freeze!” before firing his gun into the ground, then held Hebert at gunpoint until police arrived.

“I didn’t think I could handle this guy physically, so I fired into the ground,” Fleming told FoxNews.com. “He stopped. He knew I was serious. I was angry … and I was worried that this guy was going to come after me.”

No one was injured in the incident, but when the police arrived, they made two arrests. Hebert was charged with two counts of burglary and drug possession. He faces up to seven years in prison if convicted. Fleming, meanwhile, is scheduled to be arraigned March 20 on a charge of reckless conduct, which could potentially land him a sentence similar to the one Hebert faces.

The grandpa shouldn’t have fired his weapon. There’s really no such thing as a “warning shot.” If you shoot, it better be because you are in fear of your (or someone else’s) life and intend to stop the threat. But his actions were certainly not irrational or reckless. They were deliberate and had the positive outcome of capturing a criminal. At the most, the grandpa should get a light slap on the wrist. Ideally, he should get a stear lecture from the cops and a “thank you” for looking out for his neighbors.

Supreme Court to take on Stolen Valor

Interesting case.

The Supreme Court will take up Alvarez’s case Wednesday to decide whether the 1st Amendment protects not just the freedom of speech but a right to lie about military honors.

Congress enacted the Stolen Valor Act in 2006 to make it a crime to falsely claim a military honor. And Alvarez, once he was exposed, was convicted and fined $5,000.

But his “everyone lies” defense won at the U.S. 9th Circuit of Appeals, which struck down the law on free-speech grounds on a 2-1 vote. It would be “terrifying,” said Chief Judge Alex Kozinski, if the government’s “truth police” could go after people for the “white lies, exaggerations and deceptions that are an integral part of human intercourse.”

While lying about military honors is a reprehensible act, I think the SCOTUS should uphold the 9th Circuit. Unless someone lies about military honors in order to gain some benefit through fraud, lying is protected speech.

Tubbs Allegedly Colludes With Protesters

Wow. If Chief Tubbs has been colluding with protesters to circumvent the law, he needs to go.