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Judge rules Schimel videos should be released

By: Eric Heisig//October 30, 2014//

Judge rules Schimel videos should be released

By: Eric Heisig//October 30, 2014//

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A Dane County judge has ruled that videos of attorney general candidate Brad Schimel speaking at prosecutor’s conferences are public records and should be released.

Circuit Judge Richard Niess on Thursday ordered the release of the videos, which came as a result of a lawsuit by the Democratic Party of Wisconsin. However, he gave the Department of Justice, which has the videos in its possession, a chance to appeal by noon Thursday. If the department appeals, the judge will hold a hearing Monday morning on whether to put his order on hold. That could delay a potential release for some time, long after Tuesday’s election.

The lawsuit was filed by the Democrats last week after DOJ legal services administrator Kevin Potter declined a public records request for five training videos that featured Schimel, the Republican Waukesha County district attorney, as a speaker. Schimel spoke at the training conferences about prosecutorial and investigative tactics dealing with sex crimes, including those involving minors.

According to the Democrats’ lawsuit, some of the videos “may include offensive racial remarks and ethnic slurs, including but not limited to stereotyped accents, as well as sexist remarks, made by Schimel.”

But Niess, when ruling Thursday afternoon, noted that he saw “no misconduct” on Schimel’s part in the videos he watched.

However, Niess rebuffed arguments made by the DOJ that publicly releasing the videos would give defense attorneys and criminals a window into privileged information on prosecuting certain crimes. He said that the information could help prevent more people from being victimized, and that the tactics Schimel talked about are widely discussed among the public at large.

“The public needs to know how to protect their children from these types of individuals,” Niess said.

And while the ruling was a victory, of sorts, for the Democratic Party, the time that it could potentially use the video is winding down. Following the hearing, the party’s attorney, Michael Bauer, of Bauer & Bach LLC, Madison, accused the DOJ of trying to stall until the election is over.

“It makes you wonder, as much as the sort of process they have gone through here, what is Mr. Schimel and his protectors at DOJ trying to hide?” Bauer said, adding that he has heard from sources of Schimel’s comments on the videos.

Following Niess’ ruling, Schimel’s campaign released a statement saying that “while it would be better for me personally to see the training tapes released – because I am confident they show no misconduct on my part – I believe giving defense attorneys and predators our playbook would put public safety at risk.”

The original request asked for five videos, but only two were produced and viewed by Niess. The others, according to the DOJ, could not be found. Bauer said he is working with a former DOJ staffer and she may be able to point current employees on where to look. If they still are not produced, Bauer said they may have to hire experts to comb through the DOJ files or retrieve a file if it was deleted.

DOJ spokeswoman Dana Brueck, in an emailed statement attributed to her, noted that the agency has until noon Friday to decide whether to appeal.

One of the cases Schimel discusses on video is that of Anthony Stancl, a then-teenager in New Berlin who posed as a girl on Facebook to entice teenage boys to send him naked photos. It was a case that Schimel prosecuted.

Stancl, now 24, is serving a 15-year prison sentence after being convicted of sex crimes in 2010.

Schimel, in a video from a 2013 conference, talks about how to handle victims of these types of crimes, and how he learned from the mistakes he made, Niess said.

The ruling is just the latest in what is, as Election Day nears, becoming a more heated campaign between Schimel and Democratic DA Susan Happ. Both sides continue to take jabs at the other, including during Wednesday night’s debate at the State Bar of Wisconsin.

A Marquette University Law School poll released Wednesday shows Schimel has the support of 43 percent of likely voters, while Happ has the support of 39 percent.

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