MADISON, Wis. (Legal Newsline) - The sentencing pattern of Milwaukee judge Janet Protasiewicz, a candidate for Wisconsin Supreme Court who would create a liberal majority with a victory, reflects a light touch that creates problems in her community, the executive director of a conservative organization says.
As the two candidates for the Wisconsin Supreme Court appear in their only scheduled debate Tuesday afternoon, supporters of conservative Dan Kelly are hoping voters will focus on what they describe as the soft-on-crime policies of the liberal Protasiewicz.
Democratic Party contributors have poured millions of dollars into the officially nonpartisan Supreme Court contest, motivated primarily by the chance to flip the court majority to liberal and preserve the right to abortion in Wisconsin. Conservatives have concentrated on the judge’s long career as a prosecutor and then Milwaukee County judge, where she sometimes handed down light sentences to violent criminals who went on to commit even more serious crimes.
The out-of-state contributions to Judge Protasiewicz’s campaign and political committees running ads against her opponent could backfire if Wisconsin voters decide crime is a more important issue than abortion, said Matt Batzel, Wisconsin-based national executive director of American Majority, which trains conservative leaders for state and local offices.
“There is an alarming concern across the state of Wisconsin on the issue of law and order and questioning `are judges and prosecutors being too lenient with violent criminals?’” Batzel said. “Her record fits the mold of lighter sentences, which means offenders are released and that creates problems in the community.”
Judge Protasiewicz herself expressed some regret in a recent interview, saying she wished she had known some of the criminals in her court would re-offend.
“I'd say this: hindsight's 20/20," Judge Protasiewicz said in an interview with WISN Channel 12 in Milwaukee. “Of course, looking back on it, I say I wish I would have known that you were going to re-offend, right? Of course I do.”
Some of the most-publicized sentencing decisions Judge Protasiewicz made involved men who sexually abused underage girls. In July 2021, she sentenced Anton Veasley to four years probation for kidnapping a 15-year-old girl off the street and raping her, even though the prosecutor originally charged Veasley with kidnapping, child trafficking and second-degree sexual assault of a child, all of which carried 25-year prison terms.
Protasiewicz allowed him to plead guilty to a single felony and sentenced him to five years in prison, then stayed the sentence and placed him on probation for four years. Veasley later was charged with illegal possession of a firearm.
In another case, she sentenced Nathaniel Molinar to 30 months of probation for luring a 14-year-old girl with the mental abilities of a first-grader and raping her in her home. The initial charge of second-degree sexual assault of a child carried a maximum of 25 years in prison, but Protasiewicz ordered a six-year sentence which she immediately stayed for 2.5 years of probation, half of what the prosecutor requested.
She also gave Elijah Combs a suspended sentence and ordered him to attend anger management classes after Combs strangled and beat his live-in girlfriend. Earlier this year, Combs murdered his ex-girlfriend Aliyah Perez, niece of Common Council President Jose Perez, and killed himself after a police chase.
Judge Protasiewicz has garnered support from coastal Democrats and liberals including billionaire George Soros, who has a history of supporting progressive prosecutors who have worked to reduce criminal sentences or eliminate them entirely for “minor” crimes like shoplifting. Milwaukee District Attorney John Chisholm endorsed Judge Protasiewicz in her unsuccessful 2013 campaign for Milwaukee County judge, when she was defeated by Judge Rebecca Bradley, now on the state Supreme Court. Protasiewicz won her seat in 2014.
Chisholm has been criticized by conservatives for his progressive approach to the job, including recommending $1,000 bail for Darrell Brooks Jr. on a criminal charge days before he plowed his car into a Christmas parade in Waukesha in 2021, killing six.
Batzel of American Majority said the record spending on the Wisconsin Supreme Court election could be “a reflection of nothing interesting going on outside of Wisconsin in an off year.”
“This is a proxy fight on abortion and the coastal elites have realized they have an opportunity to impose their values on another state,” he said.