Finn never forgets the victims

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Early in her law career, Laura Przybylinski Finn was involved in prosecuting Steven Oliver for kidnapping and transporting a 13-year-old girl over state lines for illegal sexual purposes.

The case was the first real test of Finn’s mettle to handle high-profile prosecutions involving emotionally difficult subject matter.

“I remember waiting for the jury to come back,” she said, “and really feeling as sick as I’ve ever felt, thinking, ‘I cannot let this girl down. She cannot feel like I don’t believe her or I’ve abandoned her.’

“It was one of those moments where I decided, ‘OK, I can do this.’”

She did it. The jury convicted on both counts.

That same year, Finn prosecuted four men for transporting minors over state lines for sexual purposes, convicting all of them in four separate trials.

Finn quickly established herself as the go-to person in the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Western District of Wisconsin in prosecuting child-exploitation cases.

That expertise was formally recognized in 2006, when the U.S. Department of Justice named her the office’s Project Safe Child coordinator. In that capacity, Finn conducts training sessions for law enforcement, teachers and counselors about child exploitation. She also teaches other prosecutors at the National Advocacy Center in Columbia, S.C.

Barb Williams, the U.S. Attorney’s Office’s victim/witness coordinator, has seen Finn at work throughout her tenure.

“The bottom line for most prosecutors is to convict,” Williams said. “But along that path are so many victims. She truly is an advocate for them, making sure everyone’s rights are upheld, and everyone’s doing all they can to make their lives complete again.”

Beyond her child-related cases, Finn has handled prosecutions involving fraud, bank robberies and homicides, among others. That list of work includes one of the first prosecutions in the country under the Violence Against Women Act, which prohibits firearm possession by people convicted of misdemeanor domestic violence. She obtained a conviction that was affirmed on appeal.

Finn in 2010 became the first woman to hold the position of chief of her office’s criminal division. The role requires her to review all cases to determine if they should be prosecuted.

With all of those responsibilities, she said, it helps that she learned early on in her career to compartmentalize her work, giving it 100 percent while on the job and then letting go.

“I really do think that balance is really important,” Finn said, “and as cliché as this might sound, I work at work, and I don’t work at home.

“It goes a long way toward keeping me sane.”