Steve Biskupic, one of Milwaukee County Judge Hannah Dugan’s top defense attorneys and the former U.S. attorney, says her legal team is preparing to ask U.S. District Judge Lynn Adleman to set aside her guilty verdict.
The jury convicted Dugan of a felony obstruction charge and not guilty of a misdemeanor.
Jurors asked Adelman two similar questions related to whether she needed to know the identity of Eduardo Flores-Ruiz, the undocumented immigrant federal agents were preparing to arrest. Adleman said yes to the misdemeanor and offered a more complicated answer to the felony.
“Obviously, the constitutional system that she’s devoted her life to is that we rely upon the jury system,” Biskupic said on WISN 12’s “UpFront,” which is produced in partnership with WisPolitics. “Now you make arguments that the jury was improperly instructed, especially on those questions, that’s all fair game for anybody in a case, and so whether you say I accept the verdict or not, of course it’s the verdict, and that is where the case is going to be going forward. And that’s where some of the challenge will be.”
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Adelman did not set a sentencing hearing; rather, a briefing schedule was established based on the defense’s motion.
“The question is whether the jurors were presented with the proper answer to the questions that were given,” Biskupic added. “We certainly argued at the time that, especially for count two, that the change from what was answered in count one, in the change in the answer in count two, obviously was all the difference in the world.”
GOP state Senate President Mary Felzkowski says the new committee tasked with investigating the Wisconsin Department of Justice will use subpoena powers if necessary.
“That is to be determined,” Felzkowski told “UpFront.” “Hopefully, that won’t come to that. I would hope that the Department of Justice would be very cooperative in this because if they are not doing anything wrong, then they should be very willing to work with us to show that everything they’re doing is well within their scope of practice.”
The committee is investigating the agency’s relationship with a New York University organization funded by Michael Bloomberg.
“Our committee is going to request documentation about this position that is being funded by the Bloomberg group, and just take a look and make sure that they’re not targeting Wisconsin businesses and doing anything they shouldn’t be doing.”
When asked if lawmakers have discovered any wrongdoing, Felzkowski said, “That’s the committee’s focus … so to say right now that we know there’s wrongdoing, we can’t say that.”
Felzkowski says she also anticipates asking Dem Attorney General Josh Kaul to testify: “I would think that’s a definite possibility.”
Meanwhile, Kaul says the agency would review the committee’s request for documentation.
“We are going to review the document request that we received,” Kaul told “UpFront.” “And we are going to make an appropriate response based on what’s in there. Here’s what I can say, though. We are happy to talk about the work that we do at the Wisconsin Department of Justice to protect clean air and clean water. In fact, I look forward to having that discussion with members of the Legislature.
“What’s concerning to me about this committee is that while it purports to be focused on external influences; it’s clearly the committee that’s carrying water for polluters here. What we are doing is ensuring that clean air and clean water are protected, and apparently, this committee thinks that we are doing that too much.”
When asked whether he would willingly testify before the committee, Kaul said, “I’m open to it. We’ll see what the committee suggests and how the details play out.”
Kaul also said he would defend the Wisconsin Elections Commission in the new Trump administration’s lawsuit demanding Wisconsin voter data.
“What the federal government is doing here is preposterous,” Kaul said. “This is again a conspiracy theory that the Trump administration is chasing. We have had reviews of our elections in Wisconsin over and over and over again, and what they consistently show is that our elections are free and fair. The Trump administration can go online and purchase information about voters in Wisconsin just like anybody else can, but what they’re asking for is personally identifying information.”
“The Elections Commission made clear that what the Trump administration has requested would violate Wisconsin law,” Kaul added. “So this appears like it’s going to have to be resolved in court because the Trump administration has decided to bring the suit.”
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