[Madison, WI] – In case you missed it, liberal Dane County Judge and Supreme Court candidate Jill Karofsky sentenced a man convicted of abusing and causing great bodily harm to nine babies—including fractured skulls and multiple broken bones— to just 13 years in prison despite facing 140 years behind bars. Karofsky’s latest light sentence represents another example where Karofsky was unwilling to give a dangerous criminal a sentence that matched their crime and keep our communities safe.
This isn’t the first time Judge Karofsky has been called out for her dangerously lenient sentences. Karofsky once gave the lightest sentence possible to a murderer convicted of brutally killing and hiding the remains of a 21-year-old-man. She also let a hardened criminal off easy which allowed him to lead a group of criminals that invaded and robbed homes across Wisconsin. Karofsky sentenced a serial child sex offender to more probation after assaulting a third child while on probation. Karofsky also failed to sentence several criminals convicted of attacking or threatening police to a single day in jail.
Karofsky’s record as a Dane County Judge proves that she is unwilling to hold dangerous criminals accountable for several serious crimes. Wisconsinites have had enough of liberal Dane County Judges like Jill Karofsky endangering their communities in order to prioritize their social justice warrior agenda and some higher “progressive” cause. If Jill Karofsky consistently refuses to protect Wisconsin families as a judge, Wisconsinites can expect that she would continue to endanger Wisconsin families as a Supreme Court justice.
Read the full write-up here, or find excerpts below.
Light Sentence Karofsky orders 13 years in prison for baby abusing nurse
Empower Wisconsin
M.D. Kittle
February 24, 2020
Light Sentence Jill Karofsky strikes again.
Last week, the liberal Dane County Circuit Court Judge and state Supreme Court candidate handed down her sentence against former nurse Christopher M. Kaphaem. He faced a maximum of 140 years in prison on 19 felony charges of abusing and causing great bodily harm to nine infants at a Madison hospital’s neonatal intensive care unit.
Karofsky sentenced Kaphaem, 44, to 13 years in prison followed by seven years of extended supervision. He could have received even more time behind bars, but Karofsky ordered three years of the prison sentence to be served concurrently.
Kaphaem also was credited for 143 days time served.
Karofsky finished second in last week’s primary election and will face conservative Supreme Court Justice Daniel Kelly in the April general election.
The criminal complaint describes a horrifying list of injuries to the infants in UnityPoint Health-Meriter’s NICU between March 2017 and February of last year. A baby described only as “Infant 1” sustained a “Fracture to his skull, a wrist fracture, and left humerus fracture,” according to the criminal complaint.
Child abuse expert, Dr. Barbara Knox previously testified that doctors were concerned about “soft tissue swelling” on the back of the baby’s head.
One infant suffered 17 fractures, including one to the skull and eight to the ribs.
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Kaphaem abused the most vulnerable.
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“My son was injured when I wasn’t there,” one mother said at the sentencing hearing, according to the Wisconsin Stater Journal. “I struggle with this guilt daily. I should have stayed. I could have protected my son. This could-have, should-have, would-have battle plays itself over and over in my mind even to this day 2½ years later.”
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The lighter sentencing decision is ultimately the responsibility of the judge, however.
Republican Party of Wisconsin spokeswoman Alesha Guenther said “extremists” like Karofsky are eroding the judicial system “by watering down sentences and jeopardizing the safety of our communities.”
“Wisconsinites have had enough of judges like Jill Karofsky handing down soft sentences and putting their families in danger all in the name of some higher ‘progressive cause,’” Guenther said.
Karofsky has earned a reputation of going easy on violent criminals.
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The Supreme Court candidate has said she will be a social justice advocate who, if elected, would use her seat on the court as a bully pulpit for criminal justice reform.
The concern from Karofsky’s critics is that she will try to reform the criminal justice system from the bench. They accuse her of being soft on crime during the former prosecutor’s three year’s on the bench.
The Republican Party of Wisconsin has pointed to Karofsky’s ruling in the case of Cleaster Moon, a 24-year-old felon charged last year as the “kingpin” of a string of burglaries and robberies in Dane and Waukesha counties.
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Her critics also have chided her for giving a serial child sex offender a lenient sentence after he groped a third child while she was on her way to school.
Karofsky’s campaign has not returned calls seeking comment.
Read the full write-up here.
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