VOTE411 Voter Guide

It has been my honor to serve as DA for Menominee & Shawano Counties for the last 17.5 years. My highest priority as DA is to continue to be a strong advocate and supporter of victim rights. Your safety is my number 1 priority and with that, means I will continue to be TOUGH ON CRIME. As your DA I will continue to hold criminals accountable who victimize anyone from our community - from our children to senior citizens - they will be prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law. For example, in the last 11 years, 62 sexual predators came to Shawano expecting to sexually assault teenage boys and girls. They were all arrested when they arrived thanks to the efforts of the Shawano County Sheriff’s Department. I personally prosecuted all 62 sex predators and every one of them was convicted.

As your DA when I review a case to determine whether criminal charges should be filed I look at the facts of each case. Ethically, charges can only be filed if I reasonably believe that the facts support probable cause to file criminal charges. The facts and the evidence MUST support any charge(s) in proving a case beyond a reasonable doubt. My charging decision must also take into consideration whether filing charges is in the interests of justice.

Determining an appropriate starting point in negotiating a plea offer, I consider the protection of the community - THAT'S NUMBER ONE. Is there a victim and was that victim harmed by the defendant in any manner - physically, financially or otherwise. The severity of the offense & whether there are any aggravating factors with respect to the offense. Age of the defendant. What are the rehabilitative needs. This must be considered for purposes of considering future bad behavior. For example, substance abuse issues of any kind, correcting criminally oriented behavior, especially when considering dangerous persons. A defendant's prior criminal record - usually past bad acts are fairly accurate of future behavior when the person has a long criminal record or is a sex offender. Past criminal convictions. One thing I have learned in the past 17.5 years as DA and in the ten years that I served as a law enforcement officer is that no case is the same & all defendants present unique issues.

The role that prosecutors play in reducing recidivism is marginal in my opinion. Prosecuting adults & juveniles for 17.5 years I see kids that were in the juvenile system who later ripen into adult criminals and continue to commit crimes. In my experience there are many of the same people who continue to commit crimes and no apparent signs of reducing criminal activity. NOT everyone of course but many that return with new charges commit the same or similar crimes repeatedly. For example, domestic violence, drunk driving and drug offenders are more often "frequent flyers". It's concerning when some of them graduate into committing more serious offenses. I had a young kid in court today who I prosecuted many times as a juvenile. Today he appeared in court from a Wisconsin State Prison on an 3rd drunk driving and a violent domestic abuse case. Another older adult male sentenced today, already in prison was sentenced on 6 other cases. Prisons don't have enough treatment programs available

Absolutely. About 6 or 7 years ago I worked directly with our DHS AODA providers and a judge in Shawano County to create the Shawano County Drug Court Program. This program only focuses on "high risk, high risk, high need" substance abuse offenders.. Our drug court is at full capacity now (12). We've had many people graduate the program. Some do very well, while others reoffend and tragically some have died from overdose. That being said, my concern from the beginning was that we are not serving the low risk to medium risk offenders. That has always bothered me but at the time I was not aware of a program for this low/medium risk offenders. Capt. Stange - Shawano PD told me about a Post-Charge Diversion/Deferred Prosecution program in Sauk County that low to medium risk offenders are served. At this time, there only 8 counties that have this program. I sent a person from office to begin training. I contacted Sauk Cty Deputy DA about setting up a DPA/Diversion Program here in Shawano.