Free Republic

The family of a Milwaukee man who was fatally shot by a city police officer say they aren't giving up hope that the officer will be charged. Milwaukee County District Attorney John Chisholm announced Monday that former Officer Christopher Manney, who is white, acted in self-defense when he killed Donte Hamilton, who was black. But later in the day, U.S. Attorney James Santelle announced that the Department of Justice, his office and the FBI will review whether Manney violated federal civil rights laws....

MADISON, Wis. – Frustrated by one federal court, conservative activists in the crosshairs of a partisan Wisconsin prosecutor say they’ll take their First Amendment case to the Supreme Court. Andrew Grossman, an attorney for veteran political activist Eric O’Keefe and the Wisconsin Club for Growth, said he hopes the high court will settle questions tied to political speech and Wisconsin’s politically charged John Doe investigation. The petition of certiorari, as it’s called, is due by Jan. 21. It’s been a long and winding road to the high court. U.S. District Court Judge Rudolph Randa had argued the conservatives showed that...

MADISON, Wis. — One year ago, about an hour before dawn, police surrounded the homes of several Wisconsin conservatives and then hit them with floodlights. Police didn’t draw their guns. They didn’t have to. Garish light blinded the groggy targets of the secret probe, startling neighbors. The uniforms, the lights, the early hour got everybody’s attention. One of the targets says police threatened to use battering rams to break down the front door, but the targets let them in. Armed with warrants approved at the request of prosecutors, investigators searched the homes for evidence of a political crime. The fact...

A Democratic district attorney who has pursued Wisconsin Republican Gov. Scott Walker over alleged campaign finance violations told a fellow prosecutor that his crying wife, a union official, drove him to hunt the governor and his conservative allies because of his anti-union laws feared by organized labor. The explosive revelation came Tuesday as lawyers for Milwaukee DA John Chisholm began two days of oral arguments in a Chicago courtroom over earlier rulings that effectively ended his wide-ranging investigation. The investigation aimed to show that conservative groups were illegally working hand-in-hand with Walker's office when they ran 'issue ads' pressing the...

MILWAUKEE -- There was a profanity-laced outburst in court Thursday from a teenager accused of shooting 10-year-old Sierra Guyton. Sylvester Lewis faced a judge for the first time today. The outburst came after Lewis refused to sign a "no contact" order, which ordered him to stay away from Sierra Guyton's family and eyewitnesses.

Madison — A federal judge kept alive a lawsuit Tuesday attempting to throw out a long-running secret investigation of fundraising and spending by conservative groups during Wisconsin's recent recall elections. Milwaukee County District Attorney John Chisholm and others have been looking into whether the Wisconsin Club for Growth or others illegally coordinated with any candidates during the recalls. In the most prominent race, Gov. Scott Walker in June 2012 became the first governor in the country's history to survive a recall election. The Club for Growth and one of its directors, Eric O'Keefe, in February sued prosecutors, investigators and the...

Milwaukee County District Attorney John Chisholm announced Wednesday that Jeremy Rossetto will not be charged in connection with the March 12 shooting death of two teens who were hitting him with a souvenir baseball bat. The district attorney's office reviewed the police investigation, interviewed witnesses and viewed witness cellphone video before concluding that Rossetto shot the teens in self defense.

Many times we have focused on liberal hypocrites or establishment politicians as our Jerk of the Week recipients. However, there is one category of scum that truly deserves our scorn and disgust. I'm speaking of those who use the power of government to harass their political foes and attempt to stifle their God-given rights as enumerated in our Constitution. That's why our Jerk of the Week is John Chisholm, the Milwaukee County District Attorney. A federal civil rights lawsuit was filed early this week against the special prosecutor, the presiding judge, and top prosecutors in the Milwaukee County District Attorney's...

Conservative political entities who supported Wisconsin Governor Scott Walker are being subjected to a secret investigation. Special Prosecutor Francis Schmitz has issued a series of subpoenas to 29 conservative groups, demanding that they submit all documentation related to the recall campaigns mounted by unions and their supporters against Walker in 2011 and 2012. The investigation is being conducted under the auspices of the state’s John Doe law, which forbids the targets of subpoenas from revealing the contents of those subpoenas to anyone other than their lawyers. The effort reeks of political intimidation. According to the Wall Street Journal, the two...

MADISON, Wis. – Political activist Eric O’Keefe told the Wall Street Journal he’d been subpoenaed in a Democrat-led John Doe investigation of Wisconsin conservatives. That simple act of speech could land O’Keefe, director of conservative advocacy group Wisconsin Club for Growth, in jail. Under Wisconsin law, individuals who violate the state’s John Doe secrecy oath may be held in contempt of court. A legal expert familiar with the investigation says chances are good Bruce Landgraf, the Milwaukee County assistant district attorney who launched the investigation, will go after O’Keefe. “(The prosecutor) wants to conduct his program without any interference. I...

Supporters of Wisconsin Governor Scott Walker are being targeted by a state's special prosecutor with subpoenas, demanding they turn over documents dealing with the 2011 and 2012 recall campaigns that were designed to unseat Walker. The Wall Street Journal reports that there are two subpoenas from special prosecutor Francis Schmitz requiring the release of "all memoranda, email . . . correspondence, and communications" both inside the subpoena targets and also between the subpoena targets and roughly 30 conservative groups. Some of the groups involved are the Friends of Scott Walker and the Republican Party of Wisconsin, the League of American...