Posted on 05/29/2002 10:12:00 AM PDT by A. Morgan
| Deputy Shoots, Kills Defendant In Milwaukee Courtroom Posted: 11:51 a.m. CDT May 29, 2002 Updated: 12:05 p.m. CDT May 29, 2002 MILWAUKEE -- There has been a shooting on the third floor of the Milwaukee Public Safety building in downtown Milwaukee. WISN 12 News was told that a defendant pulled a gun and shot a sheriff's deputy in the abdomen/groin area. A bailiff in the courtoom shot and killed the defendant. The defendant, a 20-year-old male, was on trial for felony murder and armed robbery. |
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and what's up with the entire downtown being a one way street?...real forward thinking by the city planners eh?
You're right, wardaddy. Defendants are rarely shackled in front of a jury, and until he was convicted, he was still presumed innocent. Nowadays, they use stun belts, although it looks like this guy was supposed to be wearing one and wasn't.
And I don't want to think about the scum that killed Polly Klaas. But I will never forget what he said at sentencing. How Marc Klaas restrained himself is beyond me. I would not have been able to.
The courtroom (and my office) and the main legal office were in different buildings, but I could see the SJA office from my window. While in my office typing up the post-trial paperwork, I was looking out my window when suddenly I saw people una$$ing the building through the windows and the doors.
The accused's wife had returned to the area with her husband's gun, looking for anyone connected with the case, particularly the judge advocate prosecutor. From what I later found out from the MP's, it appears that, unknown to her, her husband had removed the firing pin from the .38 revolver sometime prior to this, but she came in the door screaming and pulling the trigger. Even though the gun never did fire, she just kept pulling the trigger ... click ... click ... click.
Probably not so funny if I had been in the building, but, watching it across the way from the courtroom and looking back at it across time, it sure was funny watching these "portly" JAG officers coming out of the windows.
But here's the corker: The debate is now being centered on whether the bailliffs should be armed while in the court! I kid you not. This is, after all, Milwaukee.
I saw the story & a our local sheriff (Brown County/Green Bay) interviewed last night.
I believe he wanted to exchange his jail ID with someone else prior to the verdict and, in other statements, was quite clear about his intentions--he was going to escape one way or another.
But not having heavy security at the verdict? That's unimaginable. That's when things are most tense, and the time most likely that the defendant, his family and/or the victim's family are going to erupt. There should have been a dozen court security officers (sheriff's deputies) in that courtroom. He wasn't wearing a stun belt? I started swearing a LOT, including the ever popular WTF, especially after finding out he wore one during the trial. He may have been able to jump into the jury box in an attempt to get to the window, but with a stun belt, he would have been a twitching mass on the floor. Someone screwed up badly--and it wasn't the cops in the courtroom. It was the person in charge of court security. And having been in the Brown County Courthouse for what seems like a zillion hearings & trials (I'm a paralegal), not having that courtroom bristling with deputies is beyond belief.
And I saw the series of articles in the Milwaukee Journal today--and yes, the chief judge is debating whether the bailiffs and court security officers should carry guns in the courtroom. They have an online poll. I voted to keep the guns there (DUH)--and the poll needs a damn good freeping.
White guys aren't named 'Laron.' Draw your own conclusions.
Tuor
Wonder if their papers will complain in this case?
Wonder if they'll try to make the argument that, if our society were truly civilized (i.e., totally disarmed and prostrate before the bureaucrats), there'd have been no guns in the courtroom, everything could have been settled nicey-nicey, and we could have gone on to support this clown at state expense for the next 15-20 years.
Except for the sheriff's man being wounded, this came out pretty okay, it seems to me.
Don't forget- #7 was on the way. This slime isn't even getting any sympathy on Black talk radio today and he really deserves none. The only thing the community can do is get to others like him and help them do something better with their lives.
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