DOE HORROR STORIES: Deborah Jordahl was among dozens of conservatives targeted in the John Doe probe. The political strategist’s home was one of several raided in October 2013.
Posted on 08/06/2015 4:03:59 PM PDT by afraidfortherepublic
MADISON, Wis. – Beaten in just about every state courtroom they’ve entered, rogue prosecutors this week opened a new front in their war on Wisconsin’s conservatives and Gov. Scott Walker.
This assault comes as Walker the Republican presidential candidate prepares for his first debate of the 2016 campaign season.
Former John Doe Judge Neal Nettesheim agreed to a request this week by two prosecutors to unseal audio and documents seized from conservative activists during a nearly three-year John Doe investigation.
The document dump came in response to a lawsuit filed by Cindy Archer, a former Walker aide and a target of the John Doe probe. Archer’s suit names Milwaukee County District Attorney investigators David Budde and Robert Stelter, along with their boss, Democrat DA John Chisholm and some of his assistants.
The Milwaukee Journal Sentinel asserts the defendants “convinced” Nettesheim to release the sealed material. But the judge has a history of unsealing personal documents obtained during the political investigation, a law-enforcement action the state Supreme Court last month called unconstitutional.
Legal experts say it’s unclear whether Nettesheim acted legally.
“I am surprised that – on what I assume but I don’t know for sure is an ex parte basis (without a hearing involving both sides) – that a judge on an investigation that was closed almost 18 months ago would make available selective materials for use by agents of that John Doe in civil litigation,” said Dean Strang, an attorney for one of the conservative targets of the probe.
Attorneys for Archer did not receive a copy of the released materials until after the story ran in the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel.
“I think there are those who might make the argument that materials seized or obtained from others shouldn’t be in the hands of investigators 18 months after that investigation is closed and those investigators shouldn’t certainly be going back secretly to the John Doe judge on a closed investigation for help in making a public relations case on their own behalf.”
So Nettesheim illegally allowed the release?
“Possibly, but the (John Doe) law is pretty bad,” Strang said.
Under Wisconsin’s unique John Doe law, which dates back to Wisconsin’s territory days, a judge is vested with extraordinary authority to compel witnesses to testify. And, unlike the similar grand jury investigation, the John Doe procedure can be conducted in complete secrecy.
In the case of the probe Nettesheim presided over for nearly three years, targets were threatened with jail time if they told anybody but their attorneys about the investigation.
There are few checks on that power.
“The John Doe judge has the authority to enter a secrecy order or to modify it. He has broad discretion,” Strang said. “It’s possible it is lawful. The point is we don’t know, and we don’t know why this would be done on a one-sided basis.”
Other legal experts with knowledge of the case raised the same questions.
Nettesheim could not be reached for comment.
The judge presided over the opening phase of the investigation, often referred to as John Doe I. Chisholm launched that meandering probe in 2010 when Walker was Milwaukee County executive and as he was running for governor. Then as now, the goal was to bring down Walker, his aides and associates.
Walker has never been charged with any wrongdoing. John Doe I ended in early 2013 (at least we have been led to believe) with the convictions of six people. Four of those convictions had nothing to do with the original intent of the secret probe: Walker’s report of a theft from a county veterans fund.
Chisholm and his assistants used the veterans-fund discrepancy to open the door into an expansive political investigation.
In August 2012, Chisholm persuaded Nettesheim to roll over the voluminous documents and materials seized into what has become known as John Doe II.
That investigation focused on 29 conservative organizations. It alleged the conservatives illegally coordinated with Walker’s campaign during Wisconsin’s bitter political recall season.
Nettesheim’s successor in John Doe II, Judge Gregory Peterson, quashed subpoenas in the investigation, concluding prosecutors had failed to show that a crime had been committed.
The Wisconsin Supreme Court last month ruled the probe was unconstitutional. The ruling demands it be shut down and told prosecutors to the illegally seized “evidence” to its owners. Prosecutors also are to destroy any and all copies in their possession.
There apparently has been no move to date to follow the court’s ruling on return of property.
John Doe Special Prosecutor Francis Schmitz is asking the court to stay its decision and may ask the U.S. Supreme Court to review the ruling. Legal experts say Schmitz stands little chance of success.
Nettesheim’s involvement was apparently supposed to have ended in 2013, when he shut down the original investigation.
But Chisholm rolling over all of the records from John Doe I into the next phase of the investigation meant that those records became the domain of the John Doe II. Those documents have been sealed by judicial order.
The argument for the release apparently is that now Archer has filed a lawsuit against the prosecutors and investigators those materials become open for use by the defendants and, by extension, the general public. But that argument could be in peril in the face of John Doe law that demands secrecy. Violators, including judges and prosecutors, can be subject to fines and jail time for disclosing information about the investigations.
Strang said Nettesheim’s latest release drives home the need for clarity in the law. The attorney has testified for reform of Wisconsin’s John Doe law. Lawmakers, including Assembly Speaker Robin Vos, R-Rochester, have pledged to make John Doe reform a priority in the fall.
Eddie Greim, whose Kansas City, Mo., law firm that represents some of the John Doe targets, said he could not comment on Nettesheim’s actions.
Attorneys for Archer also did not comment on the matter. David Rivkin, Archer’s lead attorney, did say this week that an audio tape included in the document dump only confirms that the investigation was a “fishing expedition aimed at ensnaring” the Republican governor and his allies.
The audio doesn’t appear to include the opening moments of the 2011 raid on Archer’s Madison home. Those moments are central to Archer’s complaints of abuse. That fact also was not noted in the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel piece, which insists the recording contradicts Archer’s allegations.
Asked if there is any move to try to restrain Nettesheim from releasing further court documents related to the John Doe, Strang declined to comment.
Part 230 of 230 in the series Wisconsin's Secret War
DOE HORROR STORIES: Deborah Jordahl was among dozens of conservatives targeted in the John Doe probe. The political strategist’s home was one of several raided in October 2013.
More details on John Doe and illegal actions of the prosecutors and judges.
FReep Mail me if you want on, or off,this Wisconsin interest ping list.
Some people just need killing.
And I don’t mean those who were unconstitutionally targeted.
We have one of these pack of rabid attack dogs right here on FreeRepublic. Our very own Freeper conservativejoy has been masquerading as a conservative while feeding a steady of stream of the Left media and bloggery support team smelly garbage. Two of these threads about this tapes were posted today by conservativejoy and were subsequently pulled. She has continued to post these links on other threads on this subject.
This article and the one by David French of National Review are providing a good account of the dirty tricks that are ongoing. See here:
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/3321521/posts
Isn’t that the truth!
I wonder what happens when the Wisconsin Supreme Court has put an end to the witch hunt called as John Doe I and John Doe II, ordered that all information gathered by this illegal investigation destroyed, all evidence seized from victims returned to these innocent people, and made clear that the events of this effort was unsupported by any theory or practice of law.
What happens when one of the original judges of the Star Chamber releases a selection of information in apparent contravention of the Court’s orders? Is the judge arrested? Is he held in contempt? What happens?
So far, we see that the usual Left wing media are shouting their assertions that the “evidence” released by this judge vindicates the prosecutor that has just been slapped down by the Supreme Court. These are the same characters who were selectively leaking information from a secret investigation that just happened to help the prosecutors narrative while threatening his victims with arrest and worse if they said a word.
What do we call such a society? We used to call it Nazi Germany or Soviet Russia, but today it’s called the State of Wisconsin.
Why doesn’t the legislature change the law?
Good question, I expect that they will now that the State Supreme Court has issued their opinion
Certainly hope so. Government sponsored judical terrorism is going to end. One way or another.
“What do we call such a society? We used to call it Nazi Germany or Soviet Russia, but today it’s called the State of Wisconsin.”
So for those of us not close to Wisconsin, when in hell is your GOP-controlled government going to $hitcan the John Doe process? It’s like leaving a loaded gun around in a bar with a bunch of drunks!
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