A Wall of Justice....

Recently the court of appeals basically attacked former Milwaukee County Circuit Judge Joseph Wall in opinion vacating the sentence of Landry Harris on drug charges because, they said, his comments at sentencing were capable of being interpreted as racist. http://www.jsonline.com/news/milwaukee/38004039.html. Aside from the very thin reasoning in the opinion, they really picked on the wrong guy. I have known Joe Wall for many years and can say with great confidence that he is one of the fairest, brightest and most professional attorney I have ever met. He is deeply involved in the rights of the poor and goes out of his way to be fair in all circumstances. Moreover, he is a very decent human being.

While he may have used strong language (referring to the girlfriend supporting him as his "baby mama") it was not out of line in any way (and that's coming from a defense attorney!) . The appellate judges here simply must have more significant cases to work on than this kind of trivial nonsense! Come on, there are real problems with the system that need to be addressed!

---

John A. Birdsall, Birdsall Law Offices, S.C.
135 W. Wells St., Ste 214, Milwaukee, WI 53203
414.831.5465 - www.birdsall-law.com

---

Entrapping "Thug Mike"?

Yesterday, a federal jury took just 6 hours to deliver guilty verdicts on 9 felony counts of bribery, extortion, attempted extortion and failing to file a financial form on a wire transfer of $15,000 against former Milwaukee alderman Michael McGee, Jr. [See McGee Guilty - JS Online] The entire uproar consisted of complaints by local Arab businessmen that McGee was shaking them down for money and gifts in direct connection with their liquor licences. In essence, no money, no license.

At first blush, the evidence seemed overwhelming: hours upon hours of recorded wiretaps where McGee referred to himself as "Thug Mike" and repeatedly appeared to be telling these government witnesses that he was God to them in their ability to stay in business. In his own words, McGee claimed to be the "gatekeeper." A closer examination, however, exposes at least a plausible entrapment defense. That seemed to be where the defense was trying to head but ultimately they portrayed the informants as incredible plotters just looking to remove a sitting alderman. There was plenty of evidence to support that view including the fact that the star witness, Adel “Jack” Kheirieh, actually ran for McGee's seat following his arrest even though Kheireh lived in Franklin.

Personally, I think that 2 things are going on: First, McGee had a huge target on his back from day 1 - just being the son of former alderman Mike McGee was enough to draw fire. The FBI and the US Attorney's office have spent a great deal of time and resources focusing on City Hall in the past few years (and state officials, too). They have racked up some convictions (Pawlinski, Cameron, Henningson) but have had some colossal embarrassments (Thompson, Donovan). Given that very mixed record, one has to question the tactics and judgement of law enforcement in gathering evidence and bringing cases that are highly questionable.

Second, and related, the fact that no other business owners than this tight group of Arab businessmen (who cling together under pretty much any environment as they all deal with each other just to survive) testified about McGee's conduct seems instructive. Were they the only businesses in the district with liquor licences? Hardly. However, if McGee was as thoroughly corrupt as he was represented, wouldn't all the black, white and Asian license holders be lining up to testify? The 6th district has 86 licences listed here and the government included testimony from a very small group of closely aligned business owners that went to great lengths to enhance the target on McGee's back. Where were the rest? Undisturbed by McGee, apparently.

I saw only a small portion of the trial but it seems that the verdict is at least questionable given the intense focus by law enforcement and the context of the 6th district business environment. As to propriety of the Aldermadic Privelege, that will have to wait for another blog post, such as the one about overzealous prosecutors and TJ Perlick-Molinari, the hero of that day.

White Collar Crimes

---

John A. Birdsall, Birdsall Law Offices, S.C.

135 W. Wells St., Ste 214, Milwaukee, WI 53203

414.831.5465 - www.birdsall-law.com

Prison: A Black and White Proposition

Well, it's official....blacks are incarcerated at a higher rate than whites throughout the United States with Wisconsin landing the, ahem, coveted #1 spot. Two recent studies (one by Human Rights Watch and the other by the Washington based Sentencing Project) conclude:

• Blacks in Wisconsin are 42 times more likely than whites to receive prison terms for drug convictions. Wisconsin has the highest racial disparity in drug sentencing in the nation.


• Blacks in Milwaukee are seven times more likely to be arrested for a drug offense than whites. Milwaukee has the second-highest racial disparity for drug arrests among all major U.S. cities.


• Nationally, the rate of drug arrests of African-Americans in more than 40 large cities increased 225% since 1980, compared with 70% among whites.

According to national surveys, about the same percentage of blacks and whites use illegal drugs, meaning that because the white population is much larger, many more whites than blacks actually use illegal drugs.

"The alarming increase in drug arrests since 1980, concentrated among African Americans, raises fundamental questions about fairness and justice," writes Ryan S. King, policy analyst for The Sentencing Project and author of its report, "Disparity by Geography: The War on Drugs in America's Cities."

The report examines data from 43 of the nation's largest cities between 1980 and 2003.

"But even more troubling," King writes, "is the fact that these trends come not as the result of higher rates of drug use among African Americans, but, instead, the decision by local law officials about where to pursue drug enforcement."

My opening line is tongue-in-cheek because to anyone who works in the criminal justice system (or even casually pays attention to these matters) has known this for decades. What is remarkable is the expanding disparity here in Wisconsin. While it is no mystery why this occurs blacks live disproportionally in high crime areas that receive greater police scrutiny - no one seems to have any serious solutions. The legislature is nearly worthless - they won't take the courageous step of stepping down the penalties for non-violent drug offenders because they lack the polictical courage. It will have to fall to local officials, most notably and commendably Milwauke DA John Chisholm, to really attack this problem as a treatment issue rather than the ever-easy criminal route. This can be facilitated through the institution of drug courts that will allow judges the option of diverting cases that involve obvious treatment issues into community solutions which cost about 80% less per year than the cost of incarceration. It seems to me that the only people that could be against this are those with a huge vested interest: prison unions, and construction
companies.

You can view the breakdown at: http://graphics.jsonline.com/graphics/news/img/may08/prisons_050608_big.gif and the studies at http://www.sentencingproject.org/PublicationDetails.aspx?PublicationID=614 and http://hrw.org/reports/2008/us0508/.

---

John A. Birdsall, Birdsall Law Offices, S.C.
135 W. Wells St., Ste 214, Milwaukee, WI 53203
414.831.5465 - www.birdsall-law.com

---

Racial Disparity

Yet another report was released that confirmed what we already knew - blacks are incarcerated at a dizzying rate compared with their proportion of the population in Wisconsin. http://www.jsonline.com/story/index.aspx?id=715572 The governor appointed yet another commission to study this well documented problem - you may remember that Gov. Thompson did this in 2000 (investigating racial profiling - gee, ya think?) and that the recommendations (including treatment for addicts and diversion of nonviolent drug offenders) were promptly put on a shelf and everyone felt much better because it made great headlines. Well, it’s deja vu all over again with the new report from the Governor’s Commission on Reducing Racial Disparities in Wisconsin’s Justice System. http://www.equaljustice.wi.gov/ The report tells us what the numbers are: blacks are 6% of the population but 45% of the prison population. We also know that about 30% - 40% of the prison population consists of nonviolent drug offenders (most of which are black). The solution? Treatment and diversion. Hmmmm, that’s just crazy enough to work!

In fairness, the recommendations that would give crack addicts the same treatment response as afforded to meth users, getting DA’s to commit to guidelines to train staffers to recognize discrimination and reverse laws that bar drug offenders from financial aid and public housing are wise. However, despite Co-Chair Sen. Spencer Coggs optimism, the legislature is unlikely to make this a priority. The problem? They ultimately really don’t care about felons because they have no money, no power and are easy to pick on. Also, by introducing tough-on-crime bills they get some nice headlines for the folks back home.


After lobbying the legislature for years on a variety of bills - good and bad - I can tell you that the only arguments that really carry the day in Madison is: this will save you money or this will make you look good. While these recommendations are sound and make sense, the only way that any of them will see the governors desk is to package them are money saving vehicles (which they are) and make sense in a rehabilitative sense (streets are safer). With the current crop of republicans, I have my doubts.

---

John A. Birdsall, Birdsall Law Offices, S.C.
135 W. Wells St., Ste 214, Milwaukee, WI 53203
414.831.5465 - www.birdsall-law.com

---