MADISON — On Friday, the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel reported that “a judge has drastically reduced bail for the defendant in a Milwaukee double homicide and blasted the State Crime Lab for the delay he says forced the move.”
According to the Journal Sentinel article, Milwaukee County Circuit Court Judge David Borowski said, “For it to take more than three months, almost four months to have a DNA result on a homicide case, is completely unacceptable.” The article also quoted Judge Borowski’s statement that, “[i]f there’s any form of triage in the crime lab, it was done backward or not at all in this case.”
Judge Borowski’s account is in direct contrast with claims made by the Attorney General’s office when previously faced with questions about delays at the crime labs. Keegan Kyle of the USA TODAY NETWORK-Wisconsin reported that a spokesman for the AG’s office “said high-priority cases, such as those involving sexual assault evidence, are being tested ‘forthwith’ and only low-priority cases are waiting longer. ‘None of those are cases to which law enforcement or prosecutors have placed any urgency,’ he said. ‘Any time an officer or prosecutor seeks an expedited examination of evidence, we endeavor to make that happen.’”
Former federal prosecutor and candidate for Wisconsin Attorney General Josh Kaul said, “Brad Schimel has mismanaged the state crime labs. As Attorney General, I’ll fight to get the Department of Justice the resources needed to reduce testing delays.”
This is not the first example of the impact that delays at the crime labs can have. The media has reported on increases in average testing times at the state crime labs and AG Schimel’s ignoring or outright denying testing delays, despite clear evidence that the delays have increased during Schimel’s tenure as Attorney General.
Josh Kaul served as a federal prosecutor in Baltimore, one of America’s most violent cities. There, Kaul prosecuted murderers, gang members, and drug traffickers, taking dangerous criminals off the street and making communities more secure. He grew up in Oshkosh and Fond du Lac in a family of law enforcement professionals and teachers. He is running for Attorney General in 2018.
For more information, please visit: www.joshkaul.org
