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.