A homeless child plays in the park after receiving free food with her mother and sister, in Riverside Park, Thursday, March 21, 2024, in Grants Pass, Ore. (AP Photo/Jenny Kane) “Today, the U.S. Supreme Court is hearing a major homelessness case for the first time in decades, with arguments over whether people can be punished for sleeping outside if there’s no shelter available. The decision could have sweeping implications for the record number of people living in tents and cars, and the cities and states struggling to manage them.”  Supreme Court weighs whether cities can punish unhoused ..read more

The parents, Jennifer and James Crumbley, of a Michigan school shooter have been found guilty of involuntary manslaughter. We know that our state and federal politicians refuse to do anything about guns being used to kill in schools beyond offering useless thoughts and prayers. However, state and federal politicians have insulated the gun industry itself from taking responsibility for this type gun crime. I know from defending many homicide cases, when there is a tragic death, it is natural that people want to blame somebody. In cases where a child shoots another child in school, it now is tim ..read more

Imagine you are going to see an old high school friend you have not seen in ages. You drive across a few states and are in a strange town. Arriving later in the evening, you have to circle back a few times and turn around because you make some wrong turns. You are weaving down the road a little as you try to read google maps on your phone. Suddenly there are squad lights behind you. You pull over. A cop opens her squad door with her gun drawn. The officer tells you to get out of your car slowly. Forgetting what happened in the movie “My cousin Vinny,” you get out and say yeah I was wrong for w ..read more

Today courts are carving away our Fourth Amendment Rights in the name of protecting law enforcement. For instance, many people are stopped by the police in public and immediately patted down by police with the explanation that the pat down was necessary for the officer’s safety. Circuit courts often unthinkingly accept these actions by police with little analysis despite “The police officer is not entitled to seize and search every person whom he sees on the street or of whom he makes inquiries. Before he places a hand on the person of a citizen in search of anything, he must have constitution ..read more

I litigated a police shooting case in a northern Wisconsin county. My client was African American, the officer involved was Caucasian. I believed there was a strong racial quality involved in the case. I was also aware that most of the potential jurors were going to be Caucasian with little experience or contact with African Americans. So I requested the court to give an implicit bias jury instruction. Jury instructions are the law to decide a case read by a judge to the jury after they have heard the evidence presented by the attorneys. Implicit bias is “an automatic and unconscious process ..read more

“A six-pack of beer and boating go together like a peanut butter and jelly.” John Fetterman, law enforcement director with the National Association of State Boating Law Administrators explained. “There are still a lot of people that think that’s just the way it is.” Since 2003, an average of 124 deaths occurs annually in the U.S. as a result of alcohol-related boating accidents. The Coast Guard has instituted a plan to reduce the overall death toll by five percent by 2016, taking careful measures in how it enforces boating laws. In 2019, 132 boaters were cited for boating under the influence o ..read more

A few years back, Sen. John Kennedy, (R-La.), had announced plans to introduce legislation that would ban anonymous internet posts. Specifically, he said social media companies should have to verify the legal identities of every user because this would “cause a lot of people” to “think about their words.” Such a statement, while a great sound byte for a politician, is wrong both historically and constitutionally. The early history of the United States prominent persons used anonymous pamphlets and the unsigned letter to the editor to express their views on public issues. William Bradford was b ..read more

At times individuals in the criminal system make some unwarranted assumptions about the availability of drug rehabilitation in Wisconsin. HERE ARE THE FACTS. Wisconsin ranks 19th in cheapest to most expensive state for residential drug rehabilitation treatment. Utah and Wisconsin share the same average cost of outpatient drug rehabilitation treatment. Between the mid 2000’s and the late 2010’s, opioid related deaths spread from 36 to 60 counties in Wisconsin. In Wisconsin there are 327 active substance abuse clinics. 25,574 clients in Wisconsin are serviced annually for drug rehab. 23,945 clie ..read more

Robert Hur. Jack Smith. Two prosecutor’s names that two years ago you likely would not have recognized. Today, their names are part of the current public dialogue about President Biden and Donald Trump. They are prosecutors in cases involving politics. Should politics be a consideration when it comes to criminal prosecutions? State prosecutors have a unique position as politicians since they are elected to the job. “District attorneys are lawyers, but, in Wisconsin and most other states, they are also elected officials, which can give a political character to their role.” Prosecutors and Polit ..read more

Like many other Americans, judges believe. based on public statements from certain politicians, that crime is up in their community.  This judges and the public believe violent crime has spiked.  We all saw the campaign rhetoric during midterms, along with often misleading ads to justify harsh sentences or cries for bail reform.  In reality, national crime data is not reliable enough to support justify this belief.  Myths and Realities: Understanding Recent Trends in Violent Crime, https://www.brennancenter.org/our-work/research-reports/myths-and-realities-understanding-rec ..read more