MADISON, Wis. — Extreme right-wing politician Brad Schimel is desperately trying to rebrand his soft on crime record, glossing over his abysmal history prosecuting sex crimes against children—including how he repeatedly handed out plea deals to child predators.
“For Brad Schimel to claim that justice is his ‘mission’ is insulting to the survivors that he failed in Waukesha County,” said Democratic Party of Wisconsin Deputy Communications Director Haley McCoy. “Brad Schimel passed out plea deals like party favors, sidelining victims as he went easy on sexual predators—and no desperate distraction can erase his soft-on-crime past.”
Here’s a reminder of how Brad Schimel repeatedly let sexual predators and child abusers off the hook:
- Brad Schimel gave a plea deal to a man caught with thousands of files of child pornography—but only after the man’s lawyer donated thousands of dollars to Schimel’s campaign.
- And as Waukesha County District Attorney, Brad Schimel repeatedly cut plea deals with child molesters:
- In 2003, Brad Schimel handed out a plea deal to a man convicted of sexually assaulting two 15-year-old girls, dismissing several charges and suggesting the teenage victims had used “bad judgment” in allowing themselves to be alone with their abuser.
- In 2007, a survivor said she was “disappointed” that Brad Schimel cut a plea deal with her rapist to reduce his prison time from a potential 60 years to just four. Schimel claimed the survivor would not have been “able to withstand the rigors” of a criminal trial.
- In 2004, Brad Schimel showed more concern for the perpetrator of an assault than the victim, recommending no prison time in a sexual assault case because it was “a first time” and he wanted to give the man convicted of sexual assault against a 15-year-old “an opportunity to succeed.”
- In 2009, Brad Schimel recommended probation for a man who assaulted a 13-year-old, agreeing to a plea deal with the abuser which reduced his charges from second-degree assault—which carried up to 40 years in prison—to probation and 180 days in prison for causing mental harm to a child.
- In 2003, Brad Schimel handed out a plea deal to a man convicted of sexually assaulting two 15-year-old girls, dismissing several charges and suggesting the teenage victims had used “bad judgment” in allowing themselves to be alone with their abuser.