Страховка пари до ₽1500 от БК GGBet.ru

Промокод: BR1500

Get a bonus

Users' Choice

Choking complaint filed against Wisconsin justice

AP

Wisconsin Supreme Court Justice David Prosser violated the court’s ethics code when he allegedly choked a rival justice and should be disciplined, according to a complaint the state Judicial Commission filed with the high court on March 16.

The judicial oversight panel accused Prosser of violating rules that require a judge to be dignified and cooperate with colleagues when he allegedly wrapped his hands around Justice Ann Walsh Bradley’s neck during an argument in her chambers last summer.

The commission must now prove its case. A panel of three appeals court judges will hear the matter and file its conclusions with the state Supreme Court, which could choose from a host of sanctions ranging from reprimand to removal.

It is unlikely Prosser will face any discipline, however. Prosser is part of a four-justice conservative majority on the seven-member court. His three allies – Michael Gableman, Patience Roggensack and Annette Ziegler – have enough votes to block any punishment.

Prosser remained defiant and promised to fight the allegations. He accused the commission of trying to smear him.

“The commission has been patently unfair in its handling of this matter,” he said in a statement. “It has not been interested in discerning the truth. It has been committed to making a political statement.”

Prosser and the three other conservative justices have been feuding openly with the liberal-leaning Walsh Bradley and Chief Justice Shirley Abrahamson for years.

Tensions between the factions reached a head last June as the court dealt with a legal challenge to Republican Gov. Scott Walker’s law that took away union powers from most public workers.

Dane County Dist. Atty. Ismael Ozanne accused Republican legislators of violating the state’s open meetings law during the run-up to passing the bill. The challenge kept the law from taking effect.

The case wound its way to the state Supreme Court. The conservative judges were under intense pressure to release a decision that upheld the measure to save GOP lawmakers from passing the law again as part of the state budget and reigniting opposition.

According to sheriff’s reports, the conservatives entered Walsh Bradley’s chambers on June 13 and demanded Abrahamson release a statement saying the court would issue a decision the next day.

Walsh Bradley, 61, told investigators Prosser accused her and Abrahamson of holding up the decision and told Abrahamson he had no confidence in her leadership. She said she got in Prosser’s face and told him to get out. Prosser then grabbed her neck in what she described as a chokehold. Roggensack had to separate them.

Prosser, now 69, countered that Walsh Bradley charged him with a raised fist and he put his hands around her neck to defend himself. He said he never applied any pressure.

Sauk County Dist. Atty. Patricia Barrett, acting as a special prosecutor in the case, announced in August she wouldn’t file criminal charges against either justice. Barrett said the accounts varied too greatly.

The judicial commission, meanwhile, launched an internal investigation.

Franklyn Gimbel, a special prosecutor the commission appointed to the case, wrote in the complaint that probable cause exists to believe that Prosser willfully violated rules that require a judge to be patient, dignified and courteous, cooperate with other judges and adhere to high standards of conduct.

Gimbel noted Prosser’s explanation of the incident, but went on to say Prosser has shown a tendency toward lacking proper decorum and civility by calling Abrahamson “a total (expletive).”

Walsh Bradley released a statement to The Associated Press on Friday saying she is saddened by the incident “but I have a great deal of respect for the process and it will now continue.”

Prosser reiterated in his statement Friday that he never intentionally touched Walsh Bradley’s neck. He said commission members are angry he was re-elected to another 10-year term last year and are determined to see him removed from his post.

“The charges filed by the Judicial Commission are partisan, unreasonable, and largely untrue,” he said. “They will be vigorously contested because I am innocent.”

Gimbel didn’t immediately return messages.

The charges against Prosser mark the third time in the last four years the commission has accused a Supreme Court justice of ethics violations.

In 2008, the commission accused Ziegler of failing to recuse herself or disclosing a potential conflict of interest when she handled cases involving a bank where her husband was a paid director while she was a Washington County judge. The Supreme Court eventually reprimanded her.

That same year, the commission filed a complaint against Gableman, accusing him of running a campaign ad that falsely suggested then-Justice Louis Butler helped free a sex offender. The commission ultimately dropped the complaint after the justices deadlocked 3-3 on whether the ad was protected speech.

Download a PDF of the current issue of Wisconsin Gazette and join our Facebook community.

The website you are trying to access is not one of our trusted partners.
You will be forwarded to the website
Visit site