KENOSHA, Wis. — The Kenosha County District Attorney’s Office has declined to file any criminal charges against Kenosha County Eye investigative journalist Kevin Mathewson following a law-enforcement referral stemming from allegations made by Kenosha County Circuit Court Judge Chad Kerkman. Wisconsin State Capitol Police referred Mathewson for consideration of felony stalking, harassment, and unlawful use of a computerized communication system. After independently reviewing the allegations and evidence, District Attorney Xavier Solis declined prosecution on every offense.

At the heart of the referral were three activities routinely performed by journalists: Mathewson wrote articles sharply critical of Kerkman, worked inside the Kenosha County Courthouse, and attended and photographed a public governmental meeting where Kerkman was present. Solis rejected the effort to transform those activities into criminal stalking or harassment, writing: “The State cannot transform protected speech, newsgathering, public-records activity, or criticism of a public official into stalking merely because the speech is harsh, persistent, embarrassing, offensive, or unwelcome.”

First, Kerkman complained about Mathewson’s critical reporting. Solis found that criticism of a sitting judge and reporting about the performance of his public duties remain at the core of the First Amendment and that unfavorable or personally offensive reporting does not lose its legitimate journalistic or political purpose. Solis pointed directly to Wisconsin’s judicial ethics rules: “Upon reviewing SCR 60.03(1), this Office recognizes that a judge must expect to be the subject of constant public scrutiny.” He added: “The First Amendment was designed to protect criticism of government, not merely speech approved by government.”

Second, Kerkman complained about Mathewson’s repeated presence in the courthouse — the very place where Mathewson does his work as a journalist. Mathewson attends court proceedings, reviews public court records, photographs matters of public interest, interviews attorneys, and gathers information for publication. Solis found those activities had an “identifiable legitimate purpose,” and noted that Mathewson was never alleged to have entered Kerkman’s courtroom.

Third, Kerkman complained about Mathewson’s presence at an October 27, 2025, Kenosha County Board committee meeting. Mathewson has attended dozens, if not hundreds, of public governmental meetings as a journalist and had never before seen Kerkman attend one. Kerkman alleged Mathewson waited for him and followed him into the public, livestreamed, and video-recorded meeting. Prosecutors independently reviewed the video and found it did not corroborate that allegation. Instead, Mathewson remained at the meeting after Kerkman left, continued photographing other people and did not leave until approximately 20 minutes later. Solis concluded that photographing public officials during an open governmental proceeding had an “evident journalistic and public-accountability purpose.”

Wisconsin’s stalking statute expressly exempts constitutionally protected speech and peaceful assembly. In the end, Solis concluded that prosecutors could not prove that Mathewson’s alleged course of conduct lacked a legitimate purpose or that his constitutionally protected conduct constituted stalking. The Kenosha County District Attorney’s Office therefore declined prosecution on every criminal offense included in the police referral.

Fortunately, the words of the great American journalist Ambrose Bierce, written more than a century ago, still hold true: A judge “needs not the artificial safeguarding which is a heritage of the old days when if dissent found a tongue the public executioner cut it out.”

“I’m glad the District Attorney’s Office listened to reason,” Mathewson said. “The First Amendment is alive and well. Elected officials cannot invoke law enforcement or the criminal justice system to silence their public critics. Reporting on the judiciary is precisely the kind of speech the First Amendment was designed to safeguard.”