Co-sleeping proposal fails in Milwaukee County

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It took about 15 minutes Monday for Milwaukee County supervisors to listen to, discuss and then unanimously reject a proposal that District Attorney John Chisholm’s office put more time into investigating infant deaths following co-sleeping.

The proposal, put forward by Supervisor Mark Borkowski, was dependent on supervisors approving Milwaukee County Executive Chris Abele’s budget measure that would have transferred $551,000 from the sheriff’s office to the district attorney’s office. That money would have paid for five investigators to, among other things, catch absconders from the House of Corrections.

Borkowski wanted them to also investigate infant deaths.

But shortly after rejecting Borkowski’s proposal, the county’s Finance, Personnel and Audit Committee voted to return the money to the sheriff’s office.

Borkowski had said he knew his budget amendment had little chance of passing, but that he wanted it to force a discussion with Chisholm. He also has disagreed with claims made by Chisholm and Milwaukee County Medical Examiner Brian Peterson that there rarely has been enough evidence to prosecute a case or even prove if an infant died from sleeping with an adult. That lack of evidence, they have said, applies to the 13 cases this year.

Chisholm and Peterson were not present at Monday’s budget hearing, but committee members echoed the sentiments. Supervisors Theo Lipscomb and Russell Stamper said they believe Chisholm’s office already has enough resources to investigate and prosecute those deaths, and committing more money would not be worthwhile.

“I have some regret with the way this issue seems to be getting batted about politically,” Lipscomb said. “I think that the district attorney has the latitude already to prosecute those cases, and if they have not, I believe that they’ve made that judgment based on not being able to bring a case that they believe they can get a conviction on.”

Borkowski said during the hearing that the real problem is that Milwaukee residents have not yet reached a point at which they are outraged. He said he refuses to believe that criminal activity had nothing to do with the 13 infant deaths following co-sleeping in 2013.

“It’s clear that there’s not a will in this community,” he said, “and it’s disappointing that I’ve got some colleagues that in my mind don’t take this as seriously as they should.”

Chisholm has said his office is capable of handling the investigations and reviews every case for any possible criminal wrongdoing. That includes working with Peterson’s office and local law enforcement officials who interview witnesses, look for evidence of intoxication and re-enact the circumstances surrounding each death.

Peterson has said it often is difficult to tell whether a child died from natural causes or from asphyxiation. Because of that, he said, he does not believe a parent should be charged if the evidence is not conclusive.

Borkowski conceded, in response to questioning by Supervisor Pat Jursik, that he had not spoken to Chisholm about deaths following co-sleeping. He said he notified Chisholm’s office only that he would be proposing the amendment.

Borkowski also has said in interviews that he has not been involved in efforts made by the city of Milwaukee Health Department, which stands by Peterson’s opinion, to raise awareness of the dangers of co-sleeping.

Borkowski said he has, however, spoke to state Rep. Samantha Kerkman, R-Powers Lake, and Kenosha County District Attorney Bob Zapf, both of whom are pushing legislation to allow for criminal charges connected to co-sleeping.

“The bottom line is that we as a community shouldn’t accept these deaths, OK?” Borkowski said during the hearing. “And I was hopeful that if there was going to be an opportunity to work with the district attorney’s office with these positions, that we could add this responsibility to that department.”

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