Couple files suit against Milwaukee County DA (UPDATE)

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An Orthodox Jewish couple from Milwaukee who has been investigated multiple times on allegations of child abuse is suing local prosecutors and child-welfare investigators for what they see as wrongdoing in court and investigation proceedings.

The 36-page lawsuit suit was filed Tuesday in the Eastern District of Wisconsin on behalf of Rabbi Alexander Milchtein – who is the executive director of Milwaukee Synagogue for Russian Jews: Congregation Moshiach Now – and his wife, Ester.

Milwaukee County District Attorney John Chisholm and Assistant District Attorney Lori Kornblum, who is assigned to the county’s children’s court division, are named as defendants. Also named are Bureau of Milwaukee Child Welfare Director Arlene Happach and Wisconsin Department of Children and Families Secretary Eloise Anderson.

According to the lawsuit, in December 2011 the child welfare bureau labeled Milchtein and his wife “maltreaters,” which happens after the agency determines through investigation that a person abused or neglected a child. The suit states the couple’s appeals of that label “are still pending nearly two years later, notwithstanding the dismissal of charges and not guilty verdict.”

A child-abuse charge was brought against Milchtein last year, according to court records, and a jury in June found him not guilty.

The Milchteins’ suit claims that Chisholm’s office failed to remove Kornblum from cases involving their daughters, even though the couple raised concern of a religious conflict. The suit claims Kornblum is an Orthodox Jew who now belongs to a community “that is extremely hostile to [the plaintiffs] because of a significant theological dispute.”

The suit alleges the DA’s office kept Kornblum on the case because her “knowledge about the religious practices that this child wanted to practice and had the right to practice were helpful in the litigation of the case.”

The suit, which was filed by Justin McAdam of The Bopp Law Firm in Terre Haute, Ind., calls into question Chisholm’s alleged policy of not allowing assistant district attorney substitutions once cases are assigned.

“The District Attorney’s office selected … Kornblum … because of her Jewish background,” the suit reads. “Its refusal to make an exception to the [substitution policy] … unconstitutionally interfered with plaintiffs’ right to raise their children in a manner consistent with their religious beliefs.”

The suit further alleges that the defendants did not allow the couple to have input in medical procedures for their children or the way their children were being raised. According to the suit, the couple asks the court to order the state to stop disregarding the religious beliefs of a child’s parents.

Chisholm had not yet seen the lawsuit Tuesday evening, according to his secretary, and refused to comment. A spokesperson for DCF, which runs the Bureau of Milwaukee Child Welfare – sent an email that stated “it is the department’s practice not to comment on pending lawsuits.”

The Milchteins are requesting, in part, that U.S. District Judge Charles Clevert Jr. order Chisholm to stop enforcing his alleged substitution policy “in religious conflicts of interest contexts,” as well as to force the DA to recuse the office from any future prosecution against the family. The family also is requesting the cost of attorneys’ fees.

The Milchteins also want “a written, public apology” from all defendants named in the case, according to the suit.

The couple’s attorney filed a request for a preliminary injunction that would essentially temporarily stop all the legal actions against the Milchteins outlined in the lawsuit.

When reached Tuesday night for comment, the couple referred questions to McAdam. He did not return a phone call left Wednesday morning.

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