Date: 5/19/2009 11:39 PM
ROBERT IMRIE
Associated Press Writer
WAUSAU, Wis. (AP) — A mother accused of rejecting medical treatment and relying on prayer as her 11-year-old daughter died of untreated diabetes believed people got sick because they sinned, a former friend said Tuesday at the woman’s homicide trial.
Althea Wormgoor and her husband described praying with Leilani Neumann and her family in Madeline Neumann’s last hours, a scene that turned to chaos and tearful pleas to heaven when the girl stopped breathing.
Leilani Neumann also attributed sickness to demons, Wormgoor testified. She said that when one of her sons got sick, Neumann thought his vomiting was to rid his body of demons.
“That was a little much,” Wormgoor testified.
Neumann, 41, has been charged with second-degree reckless homicide in Madeline’s March 23, 2008, death at the family’s rural Weston home.
Prosecutors contend a reasonable parent would have known something was gravely wrong with Madeline, who had become so weak she couldn’t walk or talk. They say Neumann recklessly killed her daughter by praying instead of rushing her to a doctor.
The mother has said the family believes in the Bible, which says healing comes from God. The defense has said Neumann and her husband, who is awaiting trial, didn’t know how sick their daughter was until it was too late.
Wormgoor told the jury that Neumann didn’t believe in doctors or medicine.
“Basically, you pray and do nothing but pray,” she said. Wormgoor added, however, that Neumann once asked her for an aspirin to treat a headache.
Wormgoor, who has four children, testified that her family moved from California to Wisconsin in January 2008 to start a second coffee business with the Neumanns and participate in their weekly Bible studies. The Neumanns also had lived in California, and the families had known each other for years.
But Wormgoor said that by March 2008, she and her husband had realized they disagreed with the Neumanns about the business and faith healing.
Wormgoor said she would not have let one of her daughters get as sick as Madeline without getting medical help.
Wormgoor said she and her family went to the Neumanns’ home the day Madeline died. Leilani Neumann had urged them to come, saying Madeline was on the floor, not talking, eating or drinking, she said.
The Wormgoors prayed with the Neumanns. Leilani Neumann raised her hands in the air, calling her daughter’s illness a test of faith and a chance for God to show his power, Wormgoor said.
“‘Oh Lord, you can heal diabetes. You can heal cancer,'” Wormgoor said Neumann prayed. “‘I am praying that God is going to bring her back from this and make her 10 times better.'”
After about five minutes of prayer, Leilani Neumann indicated her daughter appeared better than the previous night, her breathing stronger, Wormgoor said.
Suddenly, Madeline’s mouth “twitched,” she said.
“To me, it looked like she was gasping for air,” Wormgoor said. “It was a twitch that scared me. You are telling me, is she getting better? But right then I am not seeing it. I panicked.”
Wormgoor rushed to call 911, but her husband got to a phone first and made the call.
Randall Wormgoor testified that he had urged Neumann’s husband, Dale, to take Madeline to a hospital.
“I said, ‘Dale, if that was my daughter, I would be taking her to a doctor,” Randall Wormgoor said. “He said at some point, ‘Don’t you think it has crossed my mind.'”
Randall Wormgoor said he tried to reason with Dale Neumann, saying God worked through doctors just as the Neumanns worked through their coffee business to try to do their ministry. But then chaos broke out as word spread that Madeline was not breathing.
As the girl was being rushed to an ambulance, the mother remarked that all she needed was fluids, attendant Jason Russ testified.
Dr. Ivan Sador, a diabetes expert at Marshfield Clinic who examined medical records and police reports, said Madeline would have had high blood sugar levels for two months and organ damage three or four days before she died.
“Absolutely noticeable” symptoms of serious trouble became evident 24 hours before she died, and the girl became “very, very uncomfortable,” the doctor said.
Still, Madeline’s life could have been saved “very late into the day of her death” with the proper treatment, the doctor said.
If convicted, Leilani Neumann faces up to 25 years in prison. Dale Neumann also has been charged with second-degree reckless homicide. His trial is set for July.
Testimony in Leilani Neumann’s trial was to resume Wednesday.
Copyright 2009 The Associated Press.
Husband of slain Wis. woman vindicated, angry
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.
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.
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.
Wis. religious leader: No contest in corpse case
Date: 2/5/2009
MAUSTON, Wis. (AP) — A religious leader pleaded no contest Thursday to charges that he stashed a rotting corpse for two months in a follower’s bathroom.
Alan Bushey was charged last year with hiding a corpse, causing mental harm to a child and theft. Investigators said the body of a 90-year-old member of his religious group was concealed at another group member’s home in a scheme to collect the dead woman’s Social Security checks.
Juneau County District Attorney Scott Southworth agreed to drop the mental harm and theft counts in exchange for Bushey’s plea, according to online court records.
Bushey, 58, of Necedah, faces up to 10 years in prison and $25,000 in fines. His sentencing is set for May 5.
His attorney, Thomas Steinman, didn’t immediately return a telephone message left at his office Thursday. Southworth’s office declined to comment.
Prosecutors accused Bushey and follower Tammy Lewis of leaving 90-year-old Magdeline Middlesworth’s body on a toilet in Lewis’ home after she died there in March.
A criminal complaint said Bushey led the Order of the Divine Will sect and told Lewis that God would revive Middlesworth. The decaying body was found in May after Middlesworth’s family expressed concern.
Lewis pleaded no contest in November to obstructing a police officer and was fined $350.
Copyright 2009 The Associated Press.
MAUSTON, Wis. (AP) — A religious leader pleaded no contest Thursday to charges that he stashed a rotting corpse for two months in a follower’s bathroom.
Alan Bushey was charged last year with hiding a corpse, causing mental harm to a child and theft. Investigators said the body of a 90-year-old member of his religious group was concealed at another group member’s home in a scheme to collect the dead woman’s Social Security checks.
Juneau County District Attorney Scott Southworth agreed to drop the mental harm and theft counts in exchange for Bushey’s plea, according to online court records.
Bushey, 58, of Necedah, faces up to 10 years in prison and $25,000 in fines. His sentencing is set for May 5.
His attorney, Thomas Steinman, didn’t immediately return a telephone message left at his office Thursday. Southworth’s office declined to comment.
Prosecutors accused Bushey and follower Tammy Lewis of leaving 90-year-old Magdeline Middlesworth’s body on a toilet in Lewis’ home after she died there in March.
A criminal complaint said Bushey led the Order of the Divine Will sect and told Lewis that God would revive Middlesworth. The decaying body was found in May after Middlesworth’s family expressed concern.
Lewis pleaded no contest in November to obstructing a police officer and was fined $350.
Copyright 2009 The Associated Press.
One Proper Precedent Set by George Bush
The below story highlights the one area that George W. Bush actually did show lasting leadership during his tortured 8 years in office: he put African Americans and women in leading roles in his administration. Not only did he make Condoleeza Rice Secretary of State, but also Colin Powell. For all the ridiculous incompetency of these past eight years, Bush was never reluctant to choose a woman or a black for important jobs.
For that commitment to equal opportunity, Bush should be congratulated. Sadly, the tenure of both Rice and Powell is clouded by the war of aggression in Iraq.
Attorney Gordon Johnson
http://wis-injury.com
http://gordonjohnson.com
http://wis-law.com
http://thelegaltimes.net
http://youtube.com/profile?user=braininjuryattorney
1-800-992-9447
©2008 Gordon S. Johnson, Jr.
Date: 12/28/2008 5:02 PM
Rice: Obama election encourages people worldwide
By JESSE J. HOLLAND
Associated Press Writer
WASHINGTON (AP) — Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice says the country is not “race-blind” and “we shouldn’t deceive ourselves that we’re race-blind,” but said the election of Barack Obama as the first African-American president was a key moment in history.
“I think all Americans were quite taken with the fact that we were able, after the long history we’ve been through, that initial birth defect of slavery, that we’ve elected an African-American,” Rice said in an interview taped recently on CBS’ “Sunday Morning.” ”And that’s enormously heartening for people in the country, but also people worldwide who still have trouble with differences.”
Rice, who left segregated Alabama to eventually become the first African-American female to be secretary of state, warned that the United States still has problems with race.
“But I do think we’ve gotten to the place that we don’t see a person and say, ‘That’s a black person, therefore they must be …’ And that’s an enormous step forward.”
Rice, who was Bush’s national security adviser when the U.S. invaded Iraq and then became secretary of state in Bush’s second term, said the opportunities that are available in the United States still draw people from around the world to this country.
“People, even in difficult economic times, still admire, maybe even envy a little bit, the entrepreneurship of this country and its capacity to be productive,” Rice said. “But what really draws people to this country is that anybody can come here and go from modest circumstances to extraordinary achievement.”
Americans aren’t “united by nationality,” she added. “We’re not united by religion. You can be African-American or Mexican-American or Korean-American, and still be American. You can be Jewish or Presbyterian or Muslim or nothing at all, and still be American. But there are very few Americans who don’t really believe that it doesn’t matter where you came from, it matters where you’re going. And that’s what unites us, and that’s also what people worldwide find so remarkable.”
Rice said she plans to write at least two books when she gets back to Stanford, one about foreign policy and one about her parents.
“I’m where I am today because I had great parents who believed that anything was possible and then who gave me every opportunity to prove that anything was possible,” she said. “And I think that’s a story that needs to be told, because it’s in the context of that last group of parents before segregation ended in Alabama.”
Rice said she isn’t ready to think about how history will judge her as secretary of state.
“The legacy will be for historians years down the road. But what I will remember most is that I think we stood for freedom and liberty for everybody, not just for a few,” she said.
But she is confident in her work in Washington, despite critics who have called the Bush administration one of history’s worst.
Rice said the attitude about Bush’s handling of Iraq would change for the better “when the final chapters are written and it’s clear that Saddam Hussein’s Iraq is gone in favor of an Iraq that is favorable to the future of the Middle East.”
Rice, who golfs, enjoys watching football and plays piano, said she is ready to slow down, saying:
“I’m looking forward to getting up and not having so much of a calendar and reading the newspaper and not thinking I have to do something about what’s in it.”
Copyright 2008 The Associated Press.
For that commitment to equal opportunity, Bush should be congratulated. Sadly, the tenure of both Rice and Powell is clouded by the war of aggression in Iraq.
Attorney Gordon Johnson
http://wis-injury.com
http://gordonjohnson.com
http://wis-law.com
http://thelegaltimes.net
http://youtube.com/profile?user=braininjuryattorney
1-800-992-9447
©2008 Gordon S. Johnson, Jr.
Date: 12/28/2008 5:02 PM
Rice: Obama election encourages people worldwide
By JESSE J. HOLLAND
Associated Press Writer
WASHINGTON (AP) — Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice says the country is not “race-blind” and “we shouldn’t deceive ourselves that we’re race-blind,” but said the election of Barack Obama as the first African-American president was a key moment in history.
“I think all Americans were quite taken with the fact that we were able, after the long history we’ve been through, that initial birth defect of slavery, that we’ve elected an African-American,” Rice said in an interview taped recently on CBS’ “Sunday Morning.” ”And that’s enormously heartening for people in the country, but also people worldwide who still have trouble with differences.”
Rice, who left segregated Alabama to eventually become the first African-American female to be secretary of state, warned that the United States still has problems with race.
“But I do think we’ve gotten to the place that we don’t see a person and say, ‘That’s a black person, therefore they must be …’ And that’s an enormous step forward.”
Rice, who was Bush’s national security adviser when the U.S. invaded Iraq and then became secretary of state in Bush’s second term, said the opportunities that are available in the United States still draw people from around the world to this country.
“People, even in difficult economic times, still admire, maybe even envy a little bit, the entrepreneurship of this country and its capacity to be productive,” Rice said. “But what really draws people to this country is that anybody can come here and go from modest circumstances to extraordinary achievement.”
Americans aren’t “united by nationality,” she added. “We’re not united by religion. You can be African-American or Mexican-American or Korean-American, and still be American. You can be Jewish or Presbyterian or Muslim or nothing at all, and still be American. But there are very few Americans who don’t really believe that it doesn’t matter where you came from, it matters where you’re going. And that’s what unites us, and that’s also what people worldwide find so remarkable.”
Rice said she plans to write at least two books when she gets back to Stanford, one about foreign policy and one about her parents.
“I’m where I am today because I had great parents who believed that anything was possible and then who gave me every opportunity to prove that anything was possible,” she said. “And I think that’s a story that needs to be told, because it’s in the context of that last group of parents before segregation ended in Alabama.”
Rice said she isn’t ready to think about how history will judge her as secretary of state.
“The legacy will be for historians years down the road. But what I will remember most is that I think we stood for freedom and liberty for everybody, not just for a few,” she said.
But she is confident in her work in Washington, despite critics who have called the Bush administration one of history’s worst.
Rice said the attitude about Bush’s handling of Iraq would change for the better “when the final chapters are written and it’s clear that Saddam Hussein’s Iraq is gone in favor of an Iraq that is favorable to the future of the Middle East.”
Rice, who golfs, enjoys watching football and plays piano, said she is ready to slow down, saying:
“I’m looking forward to getting up and not having so much of a calendar and reading the newspaper and not thinking I have to do something about what’s in it.”
Copyright 2008 The Associated Press.
No Pet Projects in Stimulus Bill
I guess we at the Brain Injury Law Group think animal rights and rescue a little too much, because when I read the above headline, I thought it meant that Biden was saying no new laws with respect to animal rights issues. But after watching Oshkosh pass an anti-Pit Bull ordinance last week and then seeing Biden adopting another shelter dog on the news today, it was a natural mistake.
Maybe we need the new Administration to have some “pet” projects. No breed specific legislation, more money towards spaying and neutering dogs, more strenuous regulation of puppy mills and assuring that people’s pets are seen as truly part of their family. After a pet friendly Christmas Eve, it is hard to imagine life without our furry friends.
Attorney Gordon Johnson
http://wis-law.com
http://tbilaw.com
http://gordonjohnson.com
http://thelegaltimes.net
Date: 12/23/2008 4:35 PM
BC-Biden-Stimulus,3rd Ld-Writethru/648
Eds: ADDS detail on Reid. Moving on general news and financial services.
Biden nixes idea of pet projects in stimulus bill
By JENNIFER LOVEN
AP White House Correspondent
WASHINGTON (AP) — Vice President-elect Joe Biden said Tuesday that people expecting a bounty of pet projects in a new, massive multibillion-dollar economic stimulus plan should think again.
“It’s important for the American taxpayer to know that this is not going to be politics as usual and we will not tolerate business as usual in Washington,” Biden said at the start of a meeting of Obama’s top economic staff at transition headquarters.
“I know it’s Christmas, and I know it’s the Christmas season,” he said, “but President-elect Obama and I are absolutely, absolutely determined that this economic recovery plan will not become a Christmas tree.”
Biden said “there will be no earmarks” in the proposal — referring to the sort of special-interest projects that members of Congress often attach to various pieces of legislation.
The goal had been for the incoming White House and the Democratic-controlled Congress to devise the broad outlines of a plan by Christmas. The negotiators are on a tight schedule, as Obama and congressional leaders want to have lawmakers act on the plan in early January, so that it is ready to be put into place as soon as possible after Obama takes office on Jan. 20.
But when asked whether a broad outline was ready, Biden replied: “We’re not prepared to tell you at this moment that that’s been done.”
Among the details still being polished, he said, are total spending figures — expected to range between at least $650 billion and perhaps as much as $850 billion — as well as where it will go. Biden said the sides are very close.
“There is overall agreement on both right now, that we’re getting down to a specific number and the nature of the investments we’re going to be making,” he said.
The plan is expected to significantly increase federal spending on health care, education, infrastructure like roads and bridges, aid to states, and energy. Ideas include weatherizing 1 million homes, shifting to a paperless health system, investing in disease prevention and modernizing schools.
“As our economy worsens, the need for a bold economic recovery grows every day,” the vice president-elect said.
The recession already is the longest since the 1981-1982 slump, which lasted 16 months. Former Treasury Secretary Larry Summers, who will chair Obama’s National Economic Council, predicted that “without substantial policy action” the nation would almost certainly face the most severe economic downturn since World War II.
The meeting was scheduled to keep Obama’s economic revival efforts on the front burner even while the president-elect and his family are on an extended vacation in Hawaii, and while an announcement on the actual package is some time off. The meeting was chaired by Biden in Obama’s absence, and included Summers as well as Obama domestic policy adviser Melody Barnes, along with Carol Browner, who will head a new White House office on energy, and other incoming aides.
A chief focus was the message that the Obama administration promises to be a careful steward of the money.
Biden and Summers stressed that the money will be spent only on worthwhile efforts: to create jobs in the short-term but also to lay the groundwork for future prosperity.
Biden said that “every dollar will be watched” to see it is spent effectively, that only what is needed to turn the economy around will be spent “and no more” and that “make-work” projects will not be allowed.
Also Tuesday, Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., held a conference call with Democratic governors on the need for the package to include relief for cash-strapped state budgets. Those on the call included the governors of Michigan, New Jersey, Wisconsin and Massachusetts, said Jim Manley, a spokesman for Reid.
Copyright 2008 The Associated Press.
Maybe we need the new Administration to have some “pet” projects. No breed specific legislation, more money towards spaying and neutering dogs, more strenuous regulation of puppy mills and assuring that people’s pets are seen as truly part of their family. After a pet friendly Christmas Eve, it is hard to imagine life without our furry friends.
Attorney Gordon Johnson
http://wis-law.com
http://tbilaw.com
http://gordonjohnson.com
http://thelegaltimes.net
Date: 12/23/2008 4:35 PM
BC-Biden-Stimulus,3rd Ld-Writethru/648
Eds: ADDS detail on Reid. Moving on general news and financial services.
Biden nixes idea of pet projects in stimulus bill
By JENNIFER LOVEN
AP White House Correspondent
WASHINGTON (AP) — Vice President-elect Joe Biden said Tuesday that people expecting a bounty of pet projects in a new, massive multibillion-dollar economic stimulus plan should think again.
“It’s important for the American taxpayer to know that this is not going to be politics as usual and we will not tolerate business as usual in Washington,” Biden said at the start of a meeting of Obama’s top economic staff at transition headquarters.
“I know it’s Christmas, and I know it’s the Christmas season,” he said, “but President-elect Obama and I are absolutely, absolutely determined that this economic recovery plan will not become a Christmas tree.”
Biden said “there will be no earmarks” in the proposal — referring to the sort of special-interest projects that members of Congress often attach to various pieces of legislation.
The goal had been for the incoming White House and the Democratic-controlled Congress to devise the broad outlines of a plan by Christmas. The negotiators are on a tight schedule, as Obama and congressional leaders want to have lawmakers act on the plan in early January, so that it is ready to be put into place as soon as possible after Obama takes office on Jan. 20.
But when asked whether a broad outline was ready, Biden replied: “We’re not prepared to tell you at this moment that that’s been done.”
Among the details still being polished, he said, are total spending figures — expected to range between at least $650 billion and perhaps as much as $850 billion — as well as where it will go. Biden said the sides are very close.
“There is overall agreement on both right now, that we’re getting down to a specific number and the nature of the investments we’re going to be making,” he said.
The plan is expected to significantly increase federal spending on health care, education, infrastructure like roads and bridges, aid to states, and energy. Ideas include weatherizing 1 million homes, shifting to a paperless health system, investing in disease prevention and modernizing schools.
“As our economy worsens, the need for a bold economic recovery grows every day,” the vice president-elect said.
The recession already is the longest since the 1981-1982 slump, which lasted 16 months. Former Treasury Secretary Larry Summers, who will chair Obama’s National Economic Council, predicted that “without substantial policy action” the nation would almost certainly face the most severe economic downturn since World War II.
The meeting was scheduled to keep Obama’s economic revival efforts on the front burner even while the president-elect and his family are on an extended vacation in Hawaii, and while an announcement on the actual package is some time off. The meeting was chaired by Biden in Obama’s absence, and included Summers as well as Obama domestic policy adviser Melody Barnes, along with Carol Browner, who will head a new White House office on energy, and other incoming aides.
A chief focus was the message that the Obama administration promises to be a careful steward of the money.
Biden and Summers stressed that the money will be spent only on worthwhile efforts: to create jobs in the short-term but also to lay the groundwork for future prosperity.
Biden said that “every dollar will be watched” to see it is spent effectively, that only what is needed to turn the economy around will be spent “and no more” and that “make-work” projects will not be allowed.
Also Tuesday, Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., held a conference call with Democratic governors on the need for the package to include relief for cash-strapped state budgets. Those on the call included the governors of Michigan, New Jersey, Wisconsin and Massachusetts, said Jim Manley, a spokesman for Reid.
Copyright 2008 The Associated Press.
Wisconsin court says 1985 killer should be freed
Date: 11/13/2008
By RYAN J. FOLEY
Associated Press Writer
MADISON, Wis. (AP) _ A Wisconsin man who gunned down a Catholic priest and two others in 1985 should be released from a mental hospital, an appeals court ruled Thursday.
The District 4 Court of Appeals directed state health authorities to prepare to release Bryan Stanley from the Mendota Mental Health Institute with conditions.
The court said state lawyers failed to prove that releasing Stanley, 53, would present a danger to himself or the public. The decision overturns a ruling by a La Crosse County judge who had denied Stanley’s request for release.
Stanley was suffering from psychosis when he walked into St. Patrick’s Catholic Church in Onalaska and gunned down the parish priest, a lay minister and a custodian. Angry the priest was allowing girls to give Scripture readings during Mass, the 29-year-old Army washout claimed to be a prophet sent to cleanse the church.
Stanley was found not guilty by reason of mental disease and was committed to Mendota, a state psychiatric hospital in Madison.
In recent years, Stanley has been given greater freedom as his schizophrenia has been managed with medication. He was moved to an unlocked, minimum security unit at Mendota in 2006 and has been allowed to work part-time in the community and take classes at a local technical college.
He also has spent years researching and writing a 280-page book, “The Becoming of Driftless Rivers National Park,” a cultural and natural history of southwestern Wisconsin.
Department of Justice spokesman Bill Cosh said the state was considering whether to appeal to the Wisconsin Supreme Court. If it doesn’t, the state Department of Health Services will be required to present a plan to a judge for the conditions attached to Stanley’s release.
If approved, he would be released under conditions that would likely include an ankle bracelet so the state can track his whereabouts, staff supervision of his medicine intake and meetings with a case manager and probation agent. That protocol would protect the community, and Stanley would be taken back into custody if he posed a risk, state officials say.
Attorney Tom Hayes, who represented Stanley during his appeal, called on authorities to quickly approve that plan and release his client. Stanley is ready to follow any conditions imposed by the court, said Hayes, who wasn’t sure where Stanley would want to live.
“He’s exhibited an ability to be a pro-social member of any community over the last 15 years,” Hayes said.
Referring to Stanley’s writing, Hayes said, “He’s a very talented person. And now with the proper medication that stabilized his condition, he was able to develop that talent.”
Two doctors — one who treated Stanley at Mendota and another appointed by the court to examine him — both supported his petition for conditional release. They testified that he has a good chance of succeeding in the community as long as he continues taking his medicine.
La Crosse County Judge Ramona Gonzalez had denied Stanley’s petition for release last year, citing instances of him refusing or getting off his medications. She said that created a risk for dangerous behavior that “I am not willing to take … based upon what this crime was all about.”
But appeals court Judge Burnie Bridge, writing for a unanimous three-judge panel, said Gonzalez was mistaken. Testimony showed Stanley had refused to take his medicine for one day in 1993 and that was because it created harsh side effects; since he switched medications 15 years ago, he has never refused.
The evidence was not “clear and convincing” that Stanley would present a danger as required under state law to keep him committed, she wrote.
Copyright 2008 The Associated Press.
By RYAN J. FOLEY
Associated Press Writer
MADISON, Wis. (AP) _ A Wisconsin man who gunned down a Catholic priest and two others in 1985 should be released from a mental hospital, an appeals court ruled Thursday.
The District 4 Court of Appeals directed state health authorities to prepare to release Bryan Stanley from the Mendota Mental Health Institute with conditions.
The court said state lawyers failed to prove that releasing Stanley, 53, would present a danger to himself or the public. The decision overturns a ruling by a La Crosse County judge who had denied Stanley’s request for release.
Stanley was suffering from psychosis when he walked into St. Patrick’s Catholic Church in Onalaska and gunned down the parish priest, a lay minister and a custodian. Angry the priest was allowing girls to give Scripture readings during Mass, the 29-year-old Army washout claimed to be a prophet sent to cleanse the church.
Stanley was found not guilty by reason of mental disease and was committed to Mendota, a state psychiatric hospital in Madison.
In recent years, Stanley has been given greater freedom as his schizophrenia has been managed with medication. He was moved to an unlocked, minimum security unit at Mendota in 2006 and has been allowed to work part-time in the community and take classes at a local technical college.
He also has spent years researching and writing a 280-page book, “The Becoming of Driftless Rivers National Park,” a cultural and natural history of southwestern Wisconsin.
Department of Justice spokesman Bill Cosh said the state was considering whether to appeal to the Wisconsin Supreme Court. If it doesn’t, the state Department of Health Services will be required to present a plan to a judge for the conditions attached to Stanley’s release.
If approved, he would be released under conditions that would likely include an ankle bracelet so the state can track his whereabouts, staff supervision of his medicine intake and meetings with a case manager and probation agent. That protocol would protect the community, and Stanley would be taken back into custody if he posed a risk, state officials say.
Attorney Tom Hayes, who represented Stanley during his appeal, called on authorities to quickly approve that plan and release his client. Stanley is ready to follow any conditions imposed by the court, said Hayes, who wasn’t sure where Stanley would want to live.
“He’s exhibited an ability to be a pro-social member of any community over the last 15 years,” Hayes said.
Referring to Stanley’s writing, Hayes said, “He’s a very talented person. And now with the proper medication that stabilized his condition, he was able to develop that talent.”
Two doctors — one who treated Stanley at Mendota and another appointed by the court to examine him — both supported his petition for conditional release. They testified that he has a good chance of succeeding in the community as long as he continues taking his medicine.
La Crosse County Judge Ramona Gonzalez had denied Stanley’s petition for release last year, citing instances of him refusing or getting off his medications. She said that created a risk for dangerous behavior that “I am not willing to take … based upon what this crime was all about.”
But appeals court Judge Burnie Bridge, writing for a unanimous three-judge panel, said Gonzalez was mistaken. Testimony showed Stanley had refused to take his medicine for one day in 1993 and that was because it created harsh side effects; since he switched medications 15 years ago, he has never refused.
The evidence was not “clear and convincing” that Stanley would present a danger as required under state law to keep him committed, she wrote.
Copyright 2008 The Associated Press.