Fact-Checking Wisconsin Supreme Court Candidate Protasiewicz’s Record on Criminal Sentencing

On the homepage, I take a look at some of the false claims progressive Wisconsin supreme court candidate Janet Protasiewicz made at a debate this week about her record on sentencing criminals as a Milwaukee judge: 

The heated debate between progressive Janet Protasiewicz and conservative Dan Kelly covered much familiar terrain in an election in which “everything” is on the line. But the debate grew most contentious as Kelly focused on Protasiewicz’s record on criminal sentencing as a Milwaukee judge.

“A man [who] raped a 15-year-old came to you for sentencing. You said no prison time at all because Covid. There is no way that Covid provides a Get Out of Jail Free card for a man who raped a woman,” Kelly said.

“I can tell you that sentences take hours — sometimes half a day, sometimes a day. There was no way I would have said in any case, you’re not going to prison — Covid. That’s an outright lie,” Protasiewicz replied.

But according to a transcript of a case involving the statutory rape of a 15-year-old girl by a 25-year-old man, Protasiewicz had in fact said: “But for Covid, I would be giving you some House of Correction time. These are strange times. . . . I’m not going to do that.”

Kelly later focused on a case in which Protasiewicz gave a lenient sentence to a man who raped his cousin while she was unconscious:

So when the young man raped his cousin and came to you for sentencing, you gave him a paltry one year and two months in prison. And then you looked at him — and this is in the sentencing transcript — after the victim had testified how she couldn’t work anymore, how she sobbed every day, how her boyfriend had abandoned her as, quote, “damaged goods.” You looked at him and said you saw a good man in him. And then you said, you didn’t think he was a danger to society. The woman was his cousin.

Protasiewicz replied: “I certainly would like to see that transcript in total. That certainly doesn’t sound like anything that I would do.”

Protasiewicz had indeed said to a man who raped his unconscious cousin: “Are you a danger to the public? I don’t think so. I mean, I don’t think that you did anything other than engage in a crime of opportunity; and hopefully you’ve learned your lesson. In regard to your character . . . there’s a lot of good things about you.”

The Milwaukee Journal Sentinel reported last month on some other Protasiewicz decisions drawing scrutiny and criticism:

On at least three occasions, Milwaukee County prosecutors asked Milwaukee County Circuit Judge Janet Protasiewicz to sentence a felon to time in prison for harming a child.

Two of the cases involved adults convicted of sexually assaulting a minor, and a third was a mother who pleaded guilty to chronic neglect of her 16-year-old son after he died while weighing just 42 pounds.

In each case, Protasiewicz rejected the prosecutor’s request, choosing instead to sentence the defendant to time served in jail, plus probation.