Wisconsin
Former state Supreme Court justice wants to jail mayors again in elections probe
MADISON, Wis. (AP) — The former state Supreme Court justice leading a review of Wisconsin’s 2020 elections is changing course, saying he now wants to jail Madison and Green Bay’s mayors and other officials if they don’t comply with his subpoenas.
Assembly Speaker Robin Vos hired Michael Gableman last summer to investigate the elections. Gableman issued subpoenas in October seeking election records from Wisconsin’s five largest cities and demanding their mayors submit to questioning, even though mayors don’t have a role in election administration.
In December he filed petitions in Waukesha County asking the sheriff there to force Madison Mayor Satya Rhodes-Conway and Green Bay Mayor Eric Genrich to submit to depositions and throw them in jail if they refused. Gableman softened his stance in January, saying through his attorney that his intent was to force them to testify, not jail them.
The Wisconsin State Journal reported that Gableman filed a new petition in Waukesha County on Friday renewing his demand that the two mayors be jailed if they won’t answer his questions. The petition also demands Racine Mayor Cory Mason, the Madison and Green Bay city clerks, Wisconsin Elections Commission Chairwoman Ann Jacobs, city of Milwaukee employees Hannah Bubacz and David Henke, state Division of Enterprise Technology Director Trina Zanow submit to questions and turn over records or be jailed.
Rhodes-Conway said Friday that Gableman’s investigation “has once again gone off the rails.”
South Dakota
Task force would study changes to juvenile justice system
PIERRE, S.D. (AP) — Frustrated teachers in South Dakota say something needs to be done about the growing number of repeat juvenile offenders who are disrupting classrooms.
The state Senate this week is expected to consider a bill that begins the work toward reforming South Dakota’s juvenile justice system.
A Senate committee last week heard heated testimony from educators, public defenders, school board officials and others before passing legislation that would create a 15-member task force to study the current system and make recommendations on reform.
“Students learn quickly that there is very little teeth to the juvenile justice system,” Harrisburg High School Principal Ryan Rollinger said. “I’ve been told directly to my face, ‘I don’t care, they’re just going to give me three more months of probation.’”
The task force would have five House members appointed by the speaker, five senators appointed by the president pro tempore and five people “with knowledge and experience in juvenile justice” appointed by the governor, the Argus Leader reported.
“I don’t think this is going to fix the problem,” said Sen. Michael Rohl, R-Aberdeen, in discussion about the motion to pass. “But it’s certainly going to force all the parties to the table to be able to create something that might be a solution.”
Under the supervision of the Executive Board of the Legislative Research Council, the group will go back to the drawing board to develop alternatives for placement of juvenile offenders, report its findings and recommend legislation by Jan. 1, 2023.
Since South Dakota’s overhaul of the juvenile system in 2015, school district officials say they have seen deteriorating juvenile behavior, including serious felonies ranging from robbery, weapons possession, assault, battery and attempted murder.
Maryland
Baltimore prosecutor calls charges against her ‘malicious’
BALTIMORE (AP) — Baltimore’s top prosecutor has asked a federal judge to dismiss an indictment against her, alleging the prosecution has been driven by “malicious personal, political, and even racial animus.”
State’s Attorney Marilyn Mosby was indicted last month on charges of perjury and making false mortgage applications in the purchase of two Florida vacation homes. She has pleaded not guilty.
In a motion to dismiss filed by her attorneys Friday, Mosby alleges that the prosecution against her “is the culmination of a long-running crusade to ruin the political career of a young, progressive, Black female elected official.”
In particular, she targets the lead prosecutor in the case, Asst. U.S. Attorney Leo Wise, alleging that he led a prosecution team that ignored her requests to testify and offer exculpatory evidence in her defense to the grand jury that indicted her. Mosby also alleges that U.S. Attorney Erek Barron, who is overseeing the prosecution against her, “has expressed his disapproval” for her both personally and professionally.
Marcia Murphy, a spokesperson for the U.S. Attorney’s Office, did not immediately respond to a voicemail message and an email seeking comment on the allegations made by Mosby.
Mosby, 41, was elected as Baltimore’s state’s attorney in 2014 and reelected in 2018. She received national acclaim in 2015 for bringing criminal charges against six police officers in the death of Freddie Gray, a Black man whose neck was broken in police custody. Gray’s death sparked protests and riots. None of the officers was convicted.
The four-count indictment alleges that Mosby lied about meeting qualifications for coronavirus-related distributions from a city retirement plan in 2020. Federal prosecutors also allege that Mosby lied on 2020 application forms for mortgages to purchase a home in Kissimmee, Florida, and a condominium in Long Boat Key, Florida.
Her attorney, A. Scott Bolden, has said that the state of Mosby’s fledgling private businesses — Mahogany Elite Travel, Mahogany Elite Enterprises LLC and Mahogany Elite Consulting — allowed her to make the withdrawals.
In the motion to dismiss the indictment, Mosby alleges that the prosecution is driven by an attempt to hurt her chances of winning reelection. The election is scheduled in June.
Mosby says the animus between the Maryland U.S. Attorney’s Office and her dates back to 2017, when she claims Wise and former acting U.S. Attorney Stephen Schenning “began a smear campaign” to falsely accuse her and her staff of improperly leaking details of a police corruption investigation to the lead suspect. She said Wise donated to two challengers in her 2018 re-election bid.
Mosby accuses Wise of treating her “unfairly, inappropriately and unethically.”
“Taken together, the animus by the prosecution team—and Mr. Wise in particular—is sufficient to warrant dismissal of the indictment,” the motion states.
