Date: 3/27/2009
TODD RICHMOND
Associated Press Writer
BEAVER DAM, Wis. (AP) — Lane McIntyre’s world stopped in March 1980.
McIntyre, then 23, came home from his third-shift job to the one-bedroom apartment in Columbus he shared with his 18-year-old wife, Marilyn. He’d saved her from an abusive foster father and married her when she was 17.
“I’ve never felt that strong of love since. It was pure,” he said Thursday. “Marilyn was a living angel.”
But his angel was dead. A knife stuck out of her chest. Her skull had been fractured. Her neck was bruised from being strangled. A coroner later reported “evidence of traumatic sexual contact.”
Their 3-month-old son, Christopher, lay sleeping, untouched, in his crib. Lane McIntyre managed to call his mother, who called police. As five officers pushed past him into the apartment, he remembered, “my brain didn’t want to believe what I was seeing.”
Since that day, McIntyre watched his life crumble. Two more marriages dissolved. His son, now 29, doesn’t speak to him. Through it all, the murder hung over him like a shadow.
“You’re darn right I’m angry,” he said.
On Tuesday, detectives acting on new DNA evidence arrested McIntyre’s longtime friend Curtis Forbes in connection with Marilyn McIntyre’s death.
Forbes, 51, of Randolph, remains in the Columbia County Jail. District Attorney Jane Kohlwey said charges could come on Monday but that she hasn’t decided what specific counts to file.
Authorities typically can hold a person for only 48 hours without an initial court appearance, but Kohlwey said a judge has granted the jail permission to hold Forbes beyond that.
Kohlwey said Thursday that Forbes hadn’t retained a lawyer yet. The Baraboo public defender’s office, which handles Columbia County cases, said Forbes hadn’t asked for representation. Public defender Mark Gumz said he hasn’t been allowed to see Forbes.
For Lane McIntyre, now 52, the arrest has generated a mix of vindication and anger. He now lives in Beaver Dam, a city of 15,000 about 40 miles northeast of Madison and a dozen miles from Columbus, where Marilyn McIntyre was killed.
Sitting on the porch of his apartment Thursday, he recounted meeting Marilyn when she was 16.
He said she had bounced from foster home to foster home, but she still cared about other people. He remembered collecting donations for UNICEF with her one Halloween and how she wouldn’t let him stop, even when he grew tired.
He said he helped her flee from an abusive foster father, and that was when she decided to marry him.
He’s known Forbes since grade school. They were mortal enemies, he said, always getting into fights until they finally became friends in high school.
But Forbes abused his girlfriend, McIntyre said, and the girlfriend turned to Marilyn McIntyre for help.
The girlfriend left Forbes a week before the killing, he said. He theorized that Forbes stopped at the McIntyre apartment looking for the girlfriend. According to court documents, Lane McIntyre told investigators the day after the murder that Forbes should be their prime suspect.
But the investigation went nowhere. Meanwhile, Lane McIntyre said, people talked about him, wondered if he did it.
His son told the Wisconsin State Journal in 2008 that stories about his father being involved in his mother’s death were a big factor in their estrangement. No phone listing for Christopher McIntyre could be found Thursday.
In 2007, the state crime lab matched DNA from the McIntyre apartment to hair samples Forbes gave police in 1980. The body was exhumed in March 2008 for collection of more evidence.
This past February detectives interviewed an informant, unnamed so far in court documents, who said he witnessed a conversation between Forbes and Forbes’ son around 2002. Forbes began talking about how he took a wife’s friend home from a bar and she didn’t breathe anymore that night.
Now Lane McIntyre, bitter and angry, is looking for payback from those who thought he killed his wife. He wants to write a book about the murder and “the way people are in a small town.”
He chose to stay in Wisconsin because an innocent man doesn’t run, he said. If the book sells, though, he hopes to retire someplace far away.
“I want to go where nobody knows me, where I don’t have to defend myself, and live the rest of my days in peace,” he said. “I have a right to be happy. I didn’t do anything wrong.”
Copyright 2009 The Associated Press.
Wisconsin-Michigan Shooter Describes Killing as Easy
Date: 3/17/2009
By DINESH RAMDE
Associated Press Writer
MILWAUKEE (AP) — The unemployed Army veteran who shot and killed three teenage swimmers last summer is so indifferent to his killing spree that he compares it to spilling a glass of milk.
“Do you get all upset about it? No, you just clean it up and get another glass of milk,” Scott J. Johnson, 38, told The Associated Press recently by phone from the Marinette County Jail. “It might sound sick or sadistic to come off that way but that’s pretty much it.”
The killings on the Wisconsin-Michigan line were “very easy to do,” he said, adding that he wouldn’t mind if Wisconsin had the death penalty. It doesn’t, but if it did, Johnson said, he “would go quietly.”
He was convicted of three counts of first-degree intentional homicide, six counts of attempted first-degree intentional homicide and one count of second-degree sexual assault. He pleaded no contest.
He sits in solitary confinement awaiting his mandatory life sentence on May 21. He doesn’t expect the judge to give him a chance for parole.
Johnson won’t apologize to the victims’ families. “I don’t care what they think,” he said. “Anyway, considering the act I did, an apology would come off as pretty weak, you know?”
According to a psychologist’s report released Tuesday by the state Department of Justice, Johnson felt empty and numb the day of the shootings and told the doctor his “purpose was to kill. Jesus could have been walking with Moses that day and I would have killed them.”
Johnson added, “You don’t have to be crazy to do what I did, just angry,” said the report by psychologist Deborah Collins.
None of the victims’ families responded to requests for reaction.
Wisconsin Attorney General J.B. Van Hollen said Johnson’s comments only open old wounds. “His comments serve only to re-victimize the survivors and the families of those whom he has confessed to killing,” Van Hollen said.
Johnson freely admits his criminal actions, which began with a sexual assault July 30, the day before the shootings. Johnson had coaxed a 24-year-old acquaintance to join him on a bike ride. He took her to a remote area by the Menominee River and assaulted her.
Unlike his indifference toward killing, Johnson said the sexual assault made him feel guilty: “I think what it is is, I betrayed her trust. I’ve been betrayed in the past and that hurts a lot.”
The next day, prosecutors said, Johnson fired on a group of youths at a popular swimming spot along the Menominee River, killing Tiffany Pohlson, 17; Anthony Spigarelli, 18; and Bryan Mort, 19, all of Michigan.
Johnson had joined the Army 10 days after graduating from high school in Kingsford, serving nearly 5 years in Shreveport, La. He married and had two kids, but the marriage ended in 2001.
His ex-wife, Theresa Johnson, described him as “controlling, a “neat freak” and a “loner with few friends,” according to the psychologist’s report on her interview of him in 2008.
He once threatened his ex-wife with a gun. “He said ‘I could of killed her. … She was scared, I was scared,'” Collins wrote in the report.
He said he turned to alcohol and marijuana. Eventually he quit his job to spite his ex-wife by taking away child-support payments. That and writing bad checks led to a number of arrest warrants.
He couldn’t apply for a job without an employer discovering his warrants. So he “leeched” off his mother.
The day after the sexual assault, his mother told him police were looking for him. If job prospects were bleak before the sexual assault, he thought, being labeled a sex offender would make employment impossible.
“I started weighing stuff and said ‘I’m screwed,'” he said. “I was really bitter, full of hate.”
His hazy plan on July 31 was to kill the teens as “bait” to attract police, then take out officers one by one.
“I was either going to be shot and killed by police or be in prison for the rest of my life,” he said.
Johnson fired about 17 shots at the group of about eight teens swimming in the Menominee River below a railroad bridge. He would have fired more but his rifle repeatedly jammed, so he fled.
He eluded police all night but his resolve eventually wavered. He saw suicide as “a coward’s way out” so he dismantled his weapon and surrendered.
Johnson said his initial plea of not guilty by reason of insanity was forced on him by his lawyer. He dumped the lawyer and pleaded no contest.
He has never been mentally ill, he said. Instead he just “snapped,” driven to kill in part by the trauma of being separated from his kids.
Reminded that other men lose custody of children but don’t go on killing sprees, Johnson still didn’t apologize.
“That’s true, that’s their choice,” he said. “I guess I’m lashing back. I’m taking a punch at the system.”
These days, Johnson reads mystery books and does puzzles. He still replays the shootings in his mind — but never feels a pang of remorse.
“It was very easy to kill,” he said matter-of-factly. “Very easy.”
Copyright 2009 The Associated Press.
By DINESH RAMDE
Associated Press Writer
MILWAUKEE (AP) — The unemployed Army veteran who shot and killed three teenage swimmers last summer is so indifferent to his killing spree that he compares it to spilling a glass of milk.
“Do you get all upset about it? No, you just clean it up and get another glass of milk,” Scott J. Johnson, 38, told The Associated Press recently by phone from the Marinette County Jail. “It might sound sick or sadistic to come off that way but that’s pretty much it.”
The killings on the Wisconsin-Michigan line were “very easy to do,” he said, adding that he wouldn’t mind if Wisconsin had the death penalty. It doesn’t, but if it did, Johnson said, he “would go quietly.”
He was convicted of three counts of first-degree intentional homicide, six counts of attempted first-degree intentional homicide and one count of second-degree sexual assault. He pleaded no contest.
He sits in solitary confinement awaiting his mandatory life sentence on May 21. He doesn’t expect the judge to give him a chance for parole.
Johnson won’t apologize to the victims’ families. “I don’t care what they think,” he said. “Anyway, considering the act I did, an apology would come off as pretty weak, you know?”
According to a psychologist’s report released Tuesday by the state Department of Justice, Johnson felt empty and numb the day of the shootings and told the doctor his “purpose was to kill. Jesus could have been walking with Moses that day and I would have killed them.”
Johnson added, “You don’t have to be crazy to do what I did, just angry,” said the report by psychologist Deborah Collins.
None of the victims’ families responded to requests for reaction.
Wisconsin Attorney General J.B. Van Hollen said Johnson’s comments only open old wounds. “His comments serve only to re-victimize the survivors and the families of those whom he has confessed to killing,” Van Hollen said.
Johnson freely admits his criminal actions, which began with a sexual assault July 30, the day before the shootings. Johnson had coaxed a 24-year-old acquaintance to join him on a bike ride. He took her to a remote area by the Menominee River and assaulted her.
Unlike his indifference toward killing, Johnson said the sexual assault made him feel guilty: “I think what it is is, I betrayed her trust. I’ve been betrayed in the past and that hurts a lot.”
The next day, prosecutors said, Johnson fired on a group of youths at a popular swimming spot along the Menominee River, killing Tiffany Pohlson, 17; Anthony Spigarelli, 18; and Bryan Mort, 19, all of Michigan.
Johnson had joined the Army 10 days after graduating from high school in Kingsford, serving nearly 5 years in Shreveport, La. He married and had two kids, but the marriage ended in 2001.
His ex-wife, Theresa Johnson, described him as “controlling, a “neat freak” and a “loner with few friends,” according to the psychologist’s report on her interview of him in 2008.
He once threatened his ex-wife with a gun. “He said ‘I could of killed her. … She was scared, I was scared,'” Collins wrote in the report.
He said he turned to alcohol and marijuana. Eventually he quit his job to spite his ex-wife by taking away child-support payments. That and writing bad checks led to a number of arrest warrants.
He couldn’t apply for a job without an employer discovering his warrants. So he “leeched” off his mother.
The day after the sexual assault, his mother told him police were looking for him. If job prospects were bleak before the sexual assault, he thought, being labeled a sex offender would make employment impossible.
“I started weighing stuff and said ‘I’m screwed,'” he said. “I was really bitter, full of hate.”
His hazy plan on July 31 was to kill the teens as “bait” to attract police, then take out officers one by one.
“I was either going to be shot and killed by police or be in prison for the rest of my life,” he said.
Johnson fired about 17 shots at the group of about eight teens swimming in the Menominee River below a railroad bridge. He would have fired more but his rifle repeatedly jammed, so he fled.
He eluded police all night but his resolve eventually wavered. He saw suicide as “a coward’s way out” so he dismantled his weapon and surrendered.
Johnson said his initial plea of not guilty by reason of insanity was forced on him by his lawyer. He dumped the lawyer and pleaded no contest.
He has never been mentally ill, he said. Instead he just “snapped,” driven to kill in part by the trauma of being separated from his kids.
Reminded that other men lose custody of children but don’t go on killing sprees, Johnson still didn’t apologize.
“That’s true, that’s their choice,” he said. “I guess I’m lashing back. I’m taking a punch at the system.”
These days, Johnson reads mystery books and does puzzles. He still replays the shootings in his mind — but never feels a pang of remorse.
“It was very easy to kill,” he said matter-of-factly. “Very easy.”
Copyright 2009 The Associated Press.
Michigan man pleads no contest to killing 3 teens
Date: 3/6/2009
By ROBERT IMRIE
Associated Press Writer
MARINETTE, Wis. (AP) — A man faces life in prison after he pleaded no contest Thursday to gunning down three youths and trying to kill six others in a river ambush near the Wisconsin-Michigan state line last summer.
Scott J. Johnson, 38, of Kingsford, Mich., withdrew his not guilty pleas earlier Thursday and pleaded no contest to 10 felonies. Marinette County Circuit Judge Tim Duket convicted him of three counts of first-degree intentional homicide, six counts of attempted first-degree intentional homicide and one count of second-degree sexual assault.
Johnson’s plea spares him a jury trial that was set to start March 16. Duket told Johnson that he could face a maximum of three life terms plus 445 years. The judge will decide at a May 21 hearing whether Johnson will be eligible for parole.
Prosecutor Gary Freyberg said he had no doubt Johnson would have been found guilty at a trial.
“We are delighted that the victims don’t have to go through the trauma of a trial,” Freyberg said. “They have suffered tremendously.”
Johnson’s lawyer, public defender Shannon Viel, said it was Johnson’s decision to change his plea and that there were no plea negotiations Thursday.
“He understands his situation,” Viel said. “He is not hiding anything. He is not in any denial.”
Johnson dropped an insanity plea in January, and reports filed by court-appointed psychologists who examined him in the fall have not been released.
Prosecutors said Johnson, an unemployed Army veteran and divorced father of two, fired at a group of youths at a popular swimming spot along the Menominee River in July, killing Tiffany Pohlson, 17, of Vulcan, Mich.; Anthony Spigarelli, 18, and Bryan Mort, 19, both of Iron Mountain, Mich.
Daniel Louis Gordon, 21, of Kingsford, Mich., also suffered a superficial back wound from shrapnel.
Johnson, wearing camouflage, hid in the woods overnight and turned himself in the next day.
The criminal complaint said Johnson thought about committing a random shooting for four or five years. He told investigators he stashed weapons in the woods for at least a year in preparation.
Johnson also was convicted of sexually assaulting a 24-year-old woman near the river the day before the shooting. He told investigators he knew police would be looking for him after the assault and that he plotted to kill as many officers as he could, then wound up shooting the youths when four of them started climbing toward where he was hiding, the complaint said.
His mother, Judy Johnson, has described her son as despondent since his wife left him in 2001 and took their children to Ohio. Johnson served five years in the Army and was honorably discharged in 1994, she said.
David Mort, the father of a victim, said he was relieved there would be no trial. His son was killed near a train bridge between state lines, and he has pushed for Johnson to be tried in federal court in Michigan, where a death penalty would be possible.
Viel and prosecutors declined to comment on the possibility of federal charges, referring questions to Michigan prosecutors. After-hours messages left at U.S. attorney’s offices in Lansing, Mich., and Marquette, Mich, were not immediately returned Thursday.
Copyright 2009 The Associated Press.
By ROBERT IMRIE
Associated Press Writer
MARINETTE, Wis. (AP) — A man faces life in prison after he pleaded no contest Thursday to gunning down three youths and trying to kill six others in a river ambush near the Wisconsin-Michigan state line last summer.
Scott J. Johnson, 38, of Kingsford, Mich., withdrew his not guilty pleas earlier Thursday and pleaded no contest to 10 felonies. Marinette County Circuit Judge Tim Duket convicted him of three counts of first-degree intentional homicide, six counts of attempted first-degree intentional homicide and one count of second-degree sexual assault.
Johnson’s plea spares him a jury trial that was set to start March 16. Duket told Johnson that he could face a maximum of three life terms plus 445 years. The judge will decide at a May 21 hearing whether Johnson will be eligible for parole.
Prosecutor Gary Freyberg said he had no doubt Johnson would have been found guilty at a trial.
“We are delighted that the victims don’t have to go through the trauma of a trial,” Freyberg said. “They have suffered tremendously.”
Johnson’s lawyer, public defender Shannon Viel, said it was Johnson’s decision to change his plea and that there were no plea negotiations Thursday.
“He understands his situation,” Viel said. “He is not hiding anything. He is not in any denial.”
Johnson dropped an insanity plea in January, and reports filed by court-appointed psychologists who examined him in the fall have not been released.
Prosecutors said Johnson, an unemployed Army veteran and divorced father of two, fired at a group of youths at a popular swimming spot along the Menominee River in July, killing Tiffany Pohlson, 17, of Vulcan, Mich.; Anthony Spigarelli, 18, and Bryan Mort, 19, both of Iron Mountain, Mich.
Daniel Louis Gordon, 21, of Kingsford, Mich., also suffered a superficial back wound from shrapnel.
Johnson, wearing camouflage, hid in the woods overnight and turned himself in the next day.
The criminal complaint said Johnson thought about committing a random shooting for four or five years. He told investigators he stashed weapons in the woods for at least a year in preparation.
Johnson also was convicted of sexually assaulting a 24-year-old woman near the river the day before the shooting. He told investigators he knew police would be looking for him after the assault and that he plotted to kill as many officers as he could, then wound up shooting the youths when four of them started climbing toward where he was hiding, the complaint said.
His mother, Judy Johnson, has described her son as despondent since his wife left him in 2001 and took their children to Ohio. Johnson served five years in the Army and was honorably discharged in 1994, she said.
David Mort, the father of a victim, said he was relieved there would be no trial. His son was killed near a train bridge between state lines, and he has pushed for Johnson to be tried in federal court in Michigan, where a death penalty would be possible.
Viel and prosecutors declined to comment on the possibility of federal charges, referring questions to Michigan prosecutors. After-hours messages left at U.S. attorney’s offices in Lansing, Mich., and Marquette, Mich, were not immediately returned Thursday.
Copyright 2009 The Associated Press.
Convicted killer backs judge for Wis. high court
Date: 2/14/2009
By RYAN J. FOLEY
Associated Press Writer
MADISON, Wis. (AP) — Unsolicited praise from a convicted cop killer isn’t the kind of endorsement that a judge with a tough law enforcement stance wants.
But that’s what Jefferson County Judge Randy Koschnick got from former client Ted Oswald, a man convicted of killing a police captain in 1994. The judge is now seeking a position on the Wisconsin Supreme Court.
In a letter sent from prison to The Associated Press, Oswald said Koschnick, his former public defender, did “exceedingly productive and good work” on his case in 1994 and 1995.
“If Judge Koschnick is selected for the Wisconsin Supreme Court, his voluminous first-hand knowledge of defense cases and the personalities of accused criminals would bestow to that court a fairer, more effective and more trustworthy perspective … .” Oswald wrote. “I only observed his practice on one case, but I would be inclined to see it his way.”
Oswald is serving a life prison term for killing a Waukesha police captain after robbing a bank with his father. Oswald, then 18, and his father were pulled over after the robbery and opened fire on police with semiautomatic rifles. They also took a woman hostage and injured two other officers before they were arrested.
Koschnick was assigned to represent Oswald along with colleague Samuel Benedict. They argued that Oswald’s abusive father brainwashed him into participating in the crime spree.
Koschnick’s defense of Oswald and his 14 years as a public defender before serving as a judge since 1999 have become an issue in his race against Chief Justice Shirley Abrahamson in the April 7 election.
Although Koschnick’s campaign has been endorsed by police chiefs, sheriffs and district attorneys, critics, in the past, have successfully argued that the work of public defenders undermines that of law enforcement. Another public defender-turned-judge, former Justice Louis Butler, was defeated in his re-election bid last year by critics who said his background indicated he was soft on crime.
Koschnick predicted his critics would exploit Oswald’s case but said he was proud of his work as a defense attorney. Still, he didn’t return the convicted killer’s praise.
“He is free to say whatever he wants, but his endorsement is no honor to me,” the judge said in a statement.
Copyright 2009 The Associated Press.
By RYAN J. FOLEY
Associated Press Writer
MADISON, Wis. (AP) — Unsolicited praise from a convicted cop killer isn’t the kind of endorsement that a judge with a tough law enforcement stance wants.
But that’s what Jefferson County Judge Randy Koschnick got from former client Ted Oswald, a man convicted of killing a police captain in 1994. The judge is now seeking a position on the Wisconsin Supreme Court.
In a letter sent from prison to The Associated Press, Oswald said Koschnick, his former public defender, did “exceedingly productive and good work” on his case in 1994 and 1995.
“If Judge Koschnick is selected for the Wisconsin Supreme Court, his voluminous first-hand knowledge of defense cases and the personalities of accused criminals would bestow to that court a fairer, more effective and more trustworthy perspective … .” Oswald wrote. “I only observed his practice on one case, but I would be inclined to see it his way.”
Oswald is serving a life prison term for killing a Waukesha police captain after robbing a bank with his father. Oswald, then 18, and his father were pulled over after the robbery and opened fire on police with semiautomatic rifles. They also took a woman hostage and injured two other officers before they were arrested.
Koschnick was assigned to represent Oswald along with colleague Samuel Benedict. They argued that Oswald’s abusive father brainwashed him into participating in the crime spree.
Koschnick’s defense of Oswald and his 14 years as a public defender before serving as a judge since 1999 have become an issue in his race against Chief Justice Shirley Abrahamson in the April 7 election.
Although Koschnick’s campaign has been endorsed by police chiefs, sheriffs and district attorneys, critics, in the past, have successfully argued that the work of public defenders undermines that of law enforcement. Another public defender-turned-judge, former Justice Louis Butler, was defeated in his re-election bid last year by critics who said his background indicated he was soft on crime.
Koschnick predicted his critics would exploit Oswald’s case but said he was proud of his work as a defense attorney. Still, he didn’t return the convicted killer’s praise.
“He is free to say whatever he wants, but his endorsement is no honor to me,” the judge said in a statement.
Copyright 2009 The Associated Press.
Ex-Wis. alderman gets 1 year for bribery, contempt
Date: 2/13/2009
By DINESH RAMDE
Associated Press Writer
MILWAUKEE (AP) — A former Milwaukee alderman who pleaded no contest to charges of trying to buy votes and contempt of court has been sentenced to a year in jail.
Milwaukee County Circuit Judge Richard Sankovitz on Friday ordered Michael McGee Jr. to serve the state sentence after he finishes a 6½-year term in federal prison.
The 39-year-old McGee was convicted last year on federal charges of extortion and taking bribes from business owners. Prosecutors had asked for 18 months in prison and up to one year in jail.
McGee maintained his innocence before the sentencing. He says he’s sure a jury would have acquitted him if he went to trial.
He didn’t say why he pleaded no contest in November.
Copyright 2009 The Associated Press.
By DINESH RAMDE
Associated Press Writer
MILWAUKEE (AP) — A former Milwaukee alderman who pleaded no contest to charges of trying to buy votes and contempt of court has been sentenced to a year in jail.
Milwaukee County Circuit Judge Richard Sankovitz on Friday ordered Michael McGee Jr. to serve the state sentence after he finishes a 6½-year term in federal prison.
The 39-year-old McGee was convicted last year on federal charges of extortion and taking bribes from business owners. Prosecutors had asked for 18 months in prison and up to one year in jail.
McGee maintained his innocence before the sentencing. He says he’s sure a jury would have acquitted him if he went to trial.
He didn’t say why he pleaded no contest in November.
Copyright 2009 The Associated Press.
Federal judge strikes down Wis. markup gas law
Date: 2/13/2009
By TODD RICHMOND
Associated Press Writer
MADISON, Wis. (AP) — A federal judge has declared Wisconsin’s 70-year-old minimum markup on gas unconstitutional, saying it illegally restricts trade.
Rudolph T. Randa, chief judge of the Eastern District of Wisconsin, made the decision Wednesday in a lawsuit filed in 2008 by Flying J, a Utah company that runs pit stops in Black River Falls and Oak Creek.
A state law passed in 1939 prohibited retailers from selling products for less than they paid. Part of that law required gas stations to mark up gas either 6 percent over what they paid or 9 percent over the average wholesale price, whichever is higher.
The measure was meant to keep larger companies from selling gas for less than smaller competitors’ prices and driving them out of business. Violators faced stiff fines and lawsuits from competitors.
At least 10 states have laws that prevent gas stations from selling below cost, according to the National Conference of State Legislatures. At least two states, Wisconsin and Minnesota, require a certain percentage increase.
Lotus Business Group, based in Kenosha, sued Flying J in 2007, saying the company did not mark up gas as required. A federal magistrate judge ruled the markup unconstitutional in October 2007, but state regulators continued to enforce it.
Flying J then filed a lawsuit against the state Justice and Agriculture, Trade and Consumer Protection departments in January 2008 to stop enforcement.
Randa on Wednesday found the Wisconsin law violated the Sherman Act, a federal statute that limits cartels and monopolies. The restrictions on monopolies wouldn’t apply to the state if it had a clear policy and a program to monitor gas prices, but it doesn’t, the judge said.
Spokesmen for the state departments said their attorneys were reviewing the decision.
State Justice Department spokesman Bill Cosh said the agency wouldn’t bring any enforcement actions while Randa’s order stands.
Matt Hauser, president of the Wisconsin Petroleum Marketers and Convenience Store Association, said he was disappointed with the ruling because it threatened more than 1,400 gas stations with independent owners in the state.
If those businesses go under, competition will be reduced and prices could climb, he said.
“We’re hoping for an immediate appeal … to make sure consumers are protected from a less competitive marketplace,” Hauser said.
But Flying J company attorney Jonathan Dibble said the ruling should increase competition and drive down gas prices.
“The citizens of Wisconsin have paid hundreds of millions of dollars more than they should have over the years,” he said. Randa had estimated the state’s markup law cost drivers about 30 cents on every gallon during the past two years, when gas prices rose to nearly $4 per gallon.
Gov. Jim Doyle also said the ruling would benefit customers.
Linda Casey, a spokeswoman for Speedway SuperAmerica that has 75 stores in Wisconsin, said other factors affect gas prices and that Randa’s decision wouldn’t necessarily mean lower prices at the pump.
But she said the ruling “encourages competition.”
“That’s a good thing,” she said.
Copyright 2009 The Associated Press.
By TODD RICHMOND
Associated Press Writer
MADISON, Wis. (AP) — A federal judge has declared Wisconsin’s 70-year-old minimum markup on gas unconstitutional, saying it illegally restricts trade.
Rudolph T. Randa, chief judge of the Eastern District of Wisconsin, made the decision Wednesday in a lawsuit filed in 2008 by Flying J, a Utah company that runs pit stops in Black River Falls and Oak Creek.
A state law passed in 1939 prohibited retailers from selling products for less than they paid. Part of that law required gas stations to mark up gas either 6 percent over what they paid or 9 percent over the average wholesale price, whichever is higher.
The measure was meant to keep larger companies from selling gas for less than smaller competitors’ prices and driving them out of business. Violators faced stiff fines and lawsuits from competitors.
At least 10 states have laws that prevent gas stations from selling below cost, according to the National Conference of State Legislatures. At least two states, Wisconsin and Minnesota, require a certain percentage increase.
Lotus Business Group, based in Kenosha, sued Flying J in 2007, saying the company did not mark up gas as required. A federal magistrate judge ruled the markup unconstitutional in October 2007, but state regulators continued to enforce it.
Flying J then filed a lawsuit against the state Justice and Agriculture, Trade and Consumer Protection departments in January 2008 to stop enforcement.
Randa on Wednesday found the Wisconsin law violated the Sherman Act, a federal statute that limits cartels and monopolies. The restrictions on monopolies wouldn’t apply to the state if it had a clear policy and a program to monitor gas prices, but it doesn’t, the judge said.
Spokesmen for the state departments said their attorneys were reviewing the decision.
State Justice Department spokesman Bill Cosh said the agency wouldn’t bring any enforcement actions while Randa’s order stands.
Matt Hauser, president of the Wisconsin Petroleum Marketers and Convenience Store Association, said he was disappointed with the ruling because it threatened more than 1,400 gas stations with independent owners in the state.
If those businesses go under, competition will be reduced and prices could climb, he said.
“We’re hoping for an immediate appeal … to make sure consumers are protected from a less competitive marketplace,” Hauser said.
But Flying J company attorney Jonathan Dibble said the ruling should increase competition and drive down gas prices.
“The citizens of Wisconsin have paid hundreds of millions of dollars more than they should have over the years,” he said. Randa had estimated the state’s markup law cost drivers about 30 cents on every gallon during the past two years, when gas prices rose to nearly $4 per gallon.
Gov. Jim Doyle also said the ruling would benefit customers.
Linda Casey, a spokeswoman for Speedway SuperAmerica that has 75 stores in Wisconsin, said other factors affect gas prices and that Randa’s decision wouldn’t necessarily mean lower prices at the pump.
But she said the ruling “encourages competition.”
“That’s a good thing,” she said.
Copyright 2009 The Associated Press.
Litigant rapper gets poetic justice in Wis. court
Date: 1/24/2009
By RYAN J. FOLEY
Associated Press Writer
MADISON, Wis. (AP) — Justice might be blind, but apparently it likes good rhythm.
A Wisconsin appellate court ruled in favor of a trombone player who filed his legal brief partially written in the form of a rap to argue he shouldn’t have to pay $3,750 in fees.
Gregory Royal, 47, is not an attorney but represented himself in a dispute with La Crosse County officials stemming from his divorce. He filed a federal lawsuit against county officials who recommended their two children spend most of their time with his ex-wife, but the case was thrown out because the federal courts do not intervene in such domestic disputes.
A county lawyer then asked a circuit court judge to order Royal to pay fees for bringing the case, which the judge later found frivolous.
But Royal, who lived in Wisconsin and now resides in Washington, said he wanted to convince the appeals court in a creative way that he was being treated unfairly.
“Imagine a real attorney who can actually capitalize and perfect that expression and throw some heavy stuff in there,” he said. “It’s like Einstein’s theory of relativity. It’s so short but so perfect there’s nothing you can say about it.”
Among several lines of lyrics in the six-page brief, Royal wrote: “A domestic relations exception, I was supposed to know. Appellee would know too, so why did he spend so much doe?”
The District 4 Court of Appeals ruled Jan. 13 that the judge did not have the authority to order Royal to pay fees, thereby allowing Royal to now seek costs from the lawyer who brought the lawsuit.
Royal said he has already asked for $800.
The court did not mention Royal’s lyrics in its decision but he said he believed they helped him win.
He said he may repeat the technique in another lawsuit, which claims a Canadian rock band improperly interfered with a contract to air a television show that his employer helped produce on the Oxygen cable network.
“I’m thinking about a rap scenario there,” he said.
Copyright 2009 The Associated Press.
By RYAN J. FOLEY
Associated Press Writer
MADISON, Wis. (AP) — Justice might be blind, but apparently it likes good rhythm.
A Wisconsin appellate court ruled in favor of a trombone player who filed his legal brief partially written in the form of a rap to argue he shouldn’t have to pay $3,750 in fees.
Gregory Royal, 47, is not an attorney but represented himself in a dispute with La Crosse County officials stemming from his divorce. He filed a federal lawsuit against county officials who recommended their two children spend most of their time with his ex-wife, but the case was thrown out because the federal courts do not intervene in such domestic disputes.
A county lawyer then asked a circuit court judge to order Royal to pay fees for bringing the case, which the judge later found frivolous.
But Royal, who lived in Wisconsin and now resides in Washington, said he wanted to convince the appeals court in a creative way that he was being treated unfairly.
“Imagine a real attorney who can actually capitalize and perfect that expression and throw some heavy stuff in there,” he said. “It’s like Einstein’s theory of relativity. It’s so short but so perfect there’s nothing you can say about it.”
Among several lines of lyrics in the six-page brief, Royal wrote: “A domestic relations exception, I was supposed to know. Appellee would know too, so why did he spend so much doe?”
The District 4 Court of Appeals ruled Jan. 13 that the judge did not have the authority to order Royal to pay fees, thereby allowing Royal to now seek costs from the lawyer who brought the lawsuit.
Royal said he has already asked for $800.
The court did not mention Royal’s lyrics in its decision but he said he believed they helped him win.
He said he may repeat the technique in another lawsuit, which claims a Canadian rock band improperly interfered with a contract to air a television show that his employer helped produce on the Oxygen cable network.
“I’m thinking about a rap scenario there,” he said.
Copyright 2009 The Associated Press.