To study bail jumping in Wisconsin, WJI and the Mastantuono Coffee & Thomas law firm are looking county by county at 2021 bail-jumping charges. Which counties are charging bail jumping the most? Who are some of the defendants? What happens to those cases? We'll report the statistics from individual counties and tell you the stories from randomly chosen cases. Burnett County Total number of cases with bail-jumping charges: 131* Total number of misdemeanor and felony cases: 598 Percent of misdemeanor and felony cases that include bail-jumping charges: 22% Total number of felony cases with bail-jumping charges: 105** Total number of all felony cases: 321 Percent of felony cases that include bail-jumping charges: 33% Total number of misdemeanor cases with bail-jumping charges: 26 Total number of all misdemeanor cases: 277 Percent of misdemeanor cases that include bail-jumping charges: 9% Largest number of bail-jumping charges issued in a single case: 8 Number of felony bail-jumping charges issued: 217 Number of misdemeanor bail-jumping charges issued: 77 * Excludes one criminal traffic misdemeanor case that included bail-jumping charges. Criminal traffic charges are not included in this analysis. **Felony cases can include felony or misdemeanor bail-jumping charges or both; misdemeanor cases can include only misdemeanor bail-jumping charges. Case counts reported as of January 2022. Case file
Reggie called the Veterans Administration to report that his grandfather was in a great deal of pain and could not get around, prompting the doctor to send the grandfather's hydrocodone prescription in the mail. Reggie (not his real name), then 20, promptly stole the prescription from the mailbox. He took some prednisone from the house, too. The grandfather learned about the hydrocodone scam the next time he visited his doctor. Reggie purportedly returned some of the drug, but what he returned turned out to be the prednisone, which exposed that theft as well. "As (Reggie) was mostly honest with me I advised him that I would not be arresting him today but the case would be going to the District Attorney for charging," Burnett County Chief Deputy Josh Henry wrote, adding "(Reggie) was advised to seek some AODA counseling." Reggie was charged in November, 2019, with identity theft for financial gain, a felony punishable by up to six years in prison and a $10,000 fine; and two counts of misdemeanor theft, each punishable by up to nine months in jail and a $10,000 fine. Burnett County Judge Melissa R. Mogen set a $500 signature bond. Reggie was released. More than a year later, in January, 2021, Reggie was caught driving with 0.11 ounces of cannabis and a pipe in his car. Reggie told the arresting deputy he had taken medication used to treat seizures, panic disorder, and anxiety, according to the criminal complaint. Reggie also said he "gets nervous" and has "panic attacks" when he is pulled over. He was charged with two misdemeanors: possession of marijuana and possession of drug paraphernalia. They carried a combined maximum penalty of 7 months in jail and $1,500 in fines. The prosecutor also threw in two counts of felony bail jumping. Although Reggie violated the bond conditions in just one case, the DA's office charged him with two counts of felony bail jumping because he allegedly violated his bond by having the cannabis and by having the pipe. He faced an additional 12 years in prison and $20,000 in fines. Reggie was represented by the State Public Defender's office, an indication of poverty. Mogen continued Reggie's bond. In April, 2021, Reggie settled both cases by pleading guilty to two counts of misdemeanor theft and one count of misdemeanor bail jumping. Mogen sentenced him to two years of probation and made his record eligible for expunction. Our methodology: WJI and Mastantuono Coffee & Thomas determined the number of felony and misdemeanor bail-jumping cases and charges in each county through court data. The total number of felony and misdemeanor cases filed in a county was obtained through the state's online court system. Cases selected for the "case file" section are chosen randomly through a random number-generator web site. The intent of the project is to show a variety of bail-jumping cases.
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In Buffalo County, bail jumping turns potential six months for pot into possible six years6/15/2022 To study bail jumping in Wisconsin, WJI and the Mastantuono Coffee & Thomas law firm are looking county by county at 2021 bail-jumping charges. Which counties are charging bail jumping the most? Who are some of the defendants? What happens to those cases? We'll report the statistics from individual counties and tell you the stories from randomly chosen cases. Buffalo County Total number of cases with bail-jumping charges: 25 Total number of misdemeanor and felony cases: 290 Percent of misdemeanor and felony cases that include bail-jumping charges: 12% Total number of felony cases with bail-jumping charges: 17* Total number of all felony cases: 153 Percent of felony cases that include bail-jumping charges: 11% Total number of misdemeanor cases with bail-jumping charges: 8 Total number of all misdemeanor cases: 137 Percent of misdemeanor cases that include bail-jumping charges: 6% Largest number of bail-jumping charges issued in a single case: 5 Number of felony bail-jumping charges issued: 26 Number of misdemeanor bail-jumping charges issued: 14 *Felony cases can include felony or misdemeanor bail-jumping charges or both; misdemeanor cases can include only misdemeanor bail-jumping charges. Case counts reported as of January 2022. Case file
Scott's first arrest for having methamphetamine residue in his bedroom meant he faced an additional six years in prison when he was picked up less than two months later with .12 ounce of marijuana and two pipes. As a bonus, prosecutors issued separate complaints for each charge in the two arrests. Most prosecutors in similar circumstances file a single complaint that includes all the relevant charges. In Scott's case, though, there was one criminal complaint alleging felony possession of methamphetamine related to the March 12, 2021 search of Scott's home and a separate complaint alleging misdemeanor possession of drug paraphernalia stemming from the same search, which turned up a bong and scale. Both those items field-tested positive for meth. The complaints were filed on the same day. The facts cited in the complaints are identical. Scott faced 3½ years in prison and a $10,000 fine on the meth charge and a month in jail and a $500 fine on the paraphernalia charge. Buffalo County Circuit Judge Thomas Clark set a $1,000 signature bond. Scott was busted again on May 1, 2021. Police stopped the car he was in because it had a cracked windshield and faulty light. The officer eventually had a K-9 sniff around, and the dog alerted, according to the criminal complaint. The officer searched the car and found the cannabis and pipes wrapped in a sweatshirt. Scott was charged in one complaint with misdemeanor possession of marijuana, in a second complaint with misdemeanor possession of drug paraphernalia, and in a third complaint with felony bail jumping. Clark set a $200 cash bond, according to online court records. The misdemeanor cases carried a total potential maximum penalty of seven months in jail and $1,500 in fines. The felony bail-jumping charge carried a maximum penalty of six years in prison and a $10,000 fine. In October, the two charges in the meth cases were dismissed on the prosecutor's motion. That same day, Scott pleaded guilty to possession of marijuana and was ordered to pay $430. The related paraphernalia charge was dismissed, again on the prosecutor's motion. That left the felony bail-jumping charge. Scott entered into a deferred prosecution agreement. The charge will be dismissed if Scott stays out of trouble for two years. If he messes up though, he faces up to six years in prison for bail jumping — more than the time he faced on the four drug-related charges combined. Brown County bail-jumping charges left nonviolent drug offender facing more than a century in prison6/7/2022 To study bail jumping in Wisconsin, WJI and the Mastantuono Coffee & Thomas law firm are looking county by county at 2021 bail-jumping charges. Which counties are charging bail jumping the most? Who are some of the defendants? What happens to those cases? We'll report the statistics from individual counties and tell you the stories from randomly chosen cases. Brown County Total number of cases with bail-jumping charges: 1,233* Total number of misdemeanor and felony cases: 3,346 Percent of misdemeanor and felony cases that include bail-jumping charges: 37% Total number of felony cases with bail-jumping charges: 959** Total number of all felony cases: 2,178 Percent of felony cases that include bail-jumping charges: 44% Total number of misdemeanor cases with bail-jumping charges: 274 Total number of all misdemeanor cases: 1,168 Percent of misdemeanor cases that include bail-jumping charges: 23% Largest number of bail-jumping charges issued in a single case: 12 Number of felony bail-jumping charges issued: 1,465 Number of misdemeanor bail-jumping charges issued: 845 * Excludes three criminal traffic misdemeanor cases that include bail-jumping charges. Criminal traffic charges are not included in this analysis. **Felony cases can include felony or misdemeanor bail-jumping charges or both; misdemeanor cases can include only misdemeanor bail-jumping charges. Case counts reported as of January 2022. Case file
This is how piled-on bail-jumping charges meant a nonviolent, sometimes homeless serial drug offender named Adren ended up facing a possible century or more in prison. Bail-jumping charges long have been criticized by defense attorneys as a hammer used by prosecutors to coerce defendants into plea agreements they might otherwise reject. Other critics argue that the charges are filed to puff up caseload numbers, putting local prosecutors' offices in a better position to ask for more money and staff. Prosecutors reject those arguments. Before looking at decades in prison (spoiler alert: he didn't get them), Adren, now 31, had a drug problem and a history. The 2021 part of that history started when Adren was the passenger in a car pulled over in February by an Ashwaubenon police officer because its license plates didn't match those of any car on the road. Adren had been convicted of felony possession of methamphetamine the year before in a case that involved .02 grams of the drug, according to the criminal complaint. Brown County Circuit Judge Donald R. Zuidmulder sentenced him in November 2020 to 30 months' probation. He also was convicted, in a separate case, of misdemeanor obstructing an officer and misdemeanor bail jumping. He was homeless at the time he was charged, according to the criminal complaint. Zuidmulder sentenced Adren to two years' probation in that case. Adren was charged again in December 2020 with felony meth possession and misdemeanor paraphernalia possession. He was out on a $5,000 signature bond when stopped by the Ashwaubenon officer. The driver of the car Adren was in did not stop for almost a quarter of a mile after police tried to pull it over, according to the criminal complaint. That led an officer to request a canine sniff of the car (another problematic police practice). The dog indicated the presence of drugs and a search ensued, turning up some meth in Adren's sock and a meth pipe. The complaint does not list the amount of meth involved. Adren was charged with meth possession as a repeater, a designation that could add up to four years to the 3½-year sentence maximum. He also was charged with felony bail jumping as a repeater, which could add four years to the six-year maximum sentence. Felony bail jumping occurs when a person out on bond on a felony charge violates the conditions of that bond. Misdemeanor bail jumping occurs when a person out on bond on a misdemeanor charge violates the conditions of that bond. A bail-jumping offense may not by itself be a crime. Missing a court date, violating a local ordinance, or having a drink could all be bail-jumping offenses if bond conditions prohibit those things. Misdemeanor bail jumping carries a maximum penalty of nine months in jail and a $10,000 fine; felony bail jumping carries a maximum penalty of six years in prison and a $10,000 fine. Under Wisconsin law, a person charged with a crime can be considered a repeater if the person was convicted of a felony during the five-year period immediately preceding the commission of the new alleged crime or if the person was convicted of a misdemeanor on three separate occasions during that same period. Adren qualified as a repeater because he had been convicted of felony meth possession. He qualified for the felony bail jumping because he was out on bond in the December 2020 meth case. In all, he faced 17½ years in prison on the new charges, according to the complaint. Brown County Court Commissioner Cynthia Vopal set a $5,000 signature bond. Adren at first refused to sign the bond, but did so three days later, according to online court records. In April, 2021, Adren caught another case that exposed him to an additional 22 years and nine months behind bars. Bail-jumping charges were again involved. The underlying crime? For a brief time, he misidentified himself to a Green Bay police officer. Police were dispatched to a Shell gas station to check out a suspicious vehicle that had been parked for 30 minutes. Adren, along with at least two other people, was ordered out of the car. "I asked the male was his name was (sic) and he informed me it was Michal...Smith" and that he was born in 1990," the criminal complaint said. "The male was seated in the back seat of my patrol vehicle on the passenger's side. The male informed me that his his names (sic) actually was Adren --." Adren was charged with misdemeanor obstructing an officer and two counts of felony bail jumping, all as repeaters. He was accused again of violating the bond conditions of the December meth / paraphernalia case. He also was charged with violating the bond conditions of the February meth / bail-jumping case. The maximum prison terms were two years and nine months for the obstructing charge and 10 years each on the bail-jumping charges. Brown County Court Commissioner Chad Resar set a $1,000 cash bail on April 13. Circuit Judge John P. Zakowski reduced the bond to $250 on July 23 and reduced it again, to $100, on Sept. 24. The $100 was posted on Oct. 7. Meanwhile, in May, Judge Zuidmulder revoked Adren's probation in his first methamphetamine case and the misdemeanor bail-jumping and obstructing case and sentenced him to 6 months in jail with work release privileges. In November, Adren was busted with a whopping 1.65 grams of marijuana in the car he was driving. Police also found a pipe and a grinder, a tool used to break cannabis into smaller and consistently sized pieces. He was charged with possession of marijuana as a repeater, possession of paraphernalia as a repeater, and three counts of felony bail jumping – for violating his bond in each of his 2021 cases – all as a repeater. He faced a maximum of 34 years and seven months in prison and fines totaling more than $30,000. He was represented in his cases by the State Public Defender's office, an indication of poverty. Brown County Court Commissioner Paul E. Burke set a $1,500 cash bond. Adren did not post it. Prosecutors in November charged Adren again, this time for selling four grams of meth to a confidential informant in two separate deals that occurred the previous March and April. This time, charged with two counts of meth delivery as a repeater, and four counts of felony bail jumping, he faced up to 75½ years in prison. Burke set a $5,000 cash bond. Adren remained in jail. He faced more than a century in prison on the two November cases alone. In May and June of this year, Adren moved forward with his outstanding cases in a way that could resolve them without any prison time at all. He was accepted into drug treatment court. Under that program, non-violent drug offenders are placed on three years of probation with 90 days of conditional jail time either imposed or stayed. Their cases remain in court for at least a year before the participants graduate. He also entered into a deferred prosecution agreement in the almost-35-year marijuana case. Under the agreement, he pleaded guilty to one count of felony bail jumping with sentencing deferred for three years. If he successfully completes drug court and probation, the case will be dismissed. To study bail jumping in Wisconsin, WJI and the Mastantuono Coffee & Thomas law firm are looking county by county at 2021 bail-jumping charges. Which counties are charging bail jumping the most? Who are some of the defendants? What happens to those cases? We'll report the statistics from individual counties and tell you the stories from randomly chosen cases. Bayfield County Total number of cases with bail-jumping charges: 41 Total number of misdemeanor and felony cases: 178 Percent of misdemeanor and felony cases that include bail-jumping charges: 23% Total number of felony cases with bail-jumping charges: 35* Total number of all felony cases: 115 Percent of felony cases that include bail-jumping charges: 30% Total number of misdemeanor cases with bail-jumping charges: 6 Total number of all misdemeanor cases: 63 Percent of misdemeanor cases that include bail-jumping charges: 10% Largest number of bail-jumping charges issued in a single case: 6 Number of felony bail-jumping charges issued: 57 Number of misdemeanor bail-jumping charges issued: 20 *Felony cases can include felony or misdemeanor bail-jumping charges or both; misdemeanor cases can include only misdemeanor bail-jumping charges. Case counts reported as of January 2022. Case file
Ashley last year racked up 14 counts of felony bail jumping, exposing her to a potential 84 years in prison on those charges alone. Add in four counts of misdemeanor bail jumping, and she was looking at a possible 87 years – a life sentence for the 35-year-old woman – on bail-jumping charges alone. Then there were the other felony and misdemeanor charges she faced: 20 all together, ranging from disorderly conduct to battery to a law enforcement officer. In each of her cases, she posted bond. In the end, she pleaded to a variety of charges, including bail jumping. Most charges were dismissed in plea bargaining, however, and her penalty was far, far below the maximum she originally faced. As in many bail-jumping cases, alcohol and drug abuse played a big part in Ashley's legal problems. And in her case, so did her obsession with a man, whom she simply would not leave alone, according to criminal complaints. She broke into his home and harassed him with hundreds of unwanted texts. She was arrested several times on charges related to her obsession. Her 2021 bail-jumping history actually began in 2019, when she was arrested in Bayfield County for drunk driving. She pleaded guilty to first-offense OWI with a child in her car and was sentenced in January, 2020, to 30 days in jail. Her license was revoked for 14 months, and Ashley was ordered to install an ignition interlock device on her car. In February, 2020, Ashley was arrested again and charged with second-offense drunk driving, with second-offense operating with a prohibited blood-alcohol content, failure to install the ignition interlock device required after her first OWI case, and driving while her license was revoked. Her blood alcohol content was .136, according to the criminal complaint, well above the legal limit of .02 that applied to her because of the interlock requirement. In March, 2020, Ashley was busted for taking her car to the Bayfield County Courthouse at about 8:30 a.m. and to the Sheriff's Department at 12:15 p.m., according to the criminal complaint. Her occupational license, a result of her first drunk-driving case, allowed her to drive from 4:45 a.m. to 8 a.m. and from 1:30 p.m. to 5:30 p.m. Her trips to the courthouse and Sheriff's Department occurred outside those hours. She was charged in May with two counts of driving on a revoked license, a misdemeanor. Circuit Judge John P. Anderson set a $500 signature bond to cover both 2020 cases. Ashley faced her first three bail-jumping charges in July, 2021, when she was allegedly dumping clothes and other personal items belonging to her boyfriend's roommate in a burn pit and a water-filled hot tub. "Victim said that items were ruined including her leather boots ($400), leather jacket ($200), Samsung Galaxy S7 phone ($700) and other personal belongings," the complaint said. A witness told police that Ashley called him the night of the incident. Ashley told him that "she found out her boyfriend was cheating on her with his ex-girlfriend/roommate so she through (sic) some of her belongings into the hot tub and took some others," the complaint said. Ashley was charged with criminal damage to property and entry to a locked room. Because she was still on bond for the 2020 cases, she also was charged with two counts of misdemeanor bail jumping. It's unclear from online court records whether Anderson required a bond from Ashley. Things spun downward for Ashley. She was charged in August, 2021, with 15 new criminal counts. They included her first felonies and her first two felony bail-jumping charges. Police got a call on Aug. 1 from a man – apparently the same man – who was staying at his father's house. Ashley, he said, broke into his dad's and would not leave. She finally left in a car shortly before a deputy arrived. "Victim reported (Ashley) was texting him nonstop obscenities and very long messages," the criminal complaint said. Earlier that very day, shortly before 4 a.m., Ashely texted "I swear to God, if you cheated and I find out – I will cover your cock in lye" and "If you fucking cheated on me, you don't tell me the truth, and I have an STD or find out you cheated it will be very unfavorable for you and your whore." The man told a deputy that Ashley would not stop texting him despite his requests. The deputy took pictures of Ashley's texts – more than 300 in all, according to the complaint. The man told the deputy that he was worried about what Ashley might do. To study bail jumping in Wisconsin, WJI and the Mastantuono Coffee & Thomas law firm are looking county by county at 2021 bail-jumping charges. Which counties are charging bail jumping the most? Who are some of the defendants? What happens to those cases? We'll report the statistics from individual counties and tell you the stories from randomly chosen cases. Barron County
Total number of cases with bail-jumping charges: 199 Total number of misdemeanor and felony cases: 649 Percent of misdemeanor and felony cases that include bail-jumping charges: 31% Total number of felony cases with bail-jumping charges: 138* Total number of all felony cases: 412 Percent of felony cases that include bail-jumping charges: 33% Total number of misdemeanor cases with bail-jumping charges: 61 Total number of all misdemeanor cases: 237 Percent of misdemeanor cases that include bail-jumping charges: 26% Largest number of bail-jumping charges issued in a single case: 7 Number of felony bail-jumping charges issued: 189 Number of misdemeanor bail-jumping charges issued: 147 *Felony cases can include felony or misdemeanor bail-jumping charges or both; misdemeanor cases can include only misdemeanor bail-jumping charges. Case counts reported as of January 2022. Case file Sam's first felony bail-jumping charge had roots in his June 2019 arrest and April 2020 charges for felony second-offense possession with intent to deliver methamphetamine, misdemeanor obstructing an officer, and two counts of misdemeanor possession of drug paraphernalia. Sam, now 56, was busted on a warrant. When police tried to take him into custody at a gas station, he resisted, though he eventually was cuffed, according to the criminal complaint. Sam told the officer "he believed the warrant for him was unjustified, as he only missed one appointment with his (supervision) agent." Police searched Sam's car and found 25 unused gem bags in the glove compartment. Later, at the jail, Sam told one of the officers, "I should have beat your ass," according to the complaint. Police also searched Sam's house, where they found a lone Superman sock, one that matched another found in the squad used to transport Sam earlier. Police found meth and a meth pipe in the sock at Sam's house and five bullets. All together, police found 3.56 grams of meth. Barron County Circuit Judge J.M. Bitney set a $5,000 signature bond and Sam was released. All was well until about 18 months later when Sam was arrested again and charged with another second-offense possession with intent to deliver methamphetamine. He also was charged with felony second-offense delivery of methamphetamine and felony bail jumping. The bail-jumping charge was a felony because the underlying charge, the April 2020 methamphetamine charge, was a felony. Police caught on to Sam again when they questioned a different dealer who said he "got high" in exchange for helping people out "here and there" in obtaining drugs, according to the criminal complaint. He also told them Sam was his source of drugs. The dealer cooperated with police in setting Sam up. Sam arrived at the dealer's house with 6.7 grams of meth in his car. Police were waiting. Barron County Circuit Judge James C. Babler on Jan. 26 set a $200 cash bond for Sam but Sam did not post it. On Feb. 17, Babler modified the bond to allow Sam out of jail to receive treatment, according to online court records. Sam completed treatment and the judge – this time Bitney – allowed Sam to be released on a $1,000 signature bond. He ordered Sam to maintain absolute sobriety and not to possess alcohol. The prosecution did not object, according to court records. In December, Sam was arrested again, this time on a misdemeanor charge of obstructing an officer, which carries a maximum sentence of nine months in jail and a $10,000 fine; and felony bail jumping, which carries a maximum penalty of six years in prison and a $10,000 fine. In this case, police trying to track Sam down in connection with a potential domestic violence incident learned that he had a felony warrant issued by the Department of Corrections "in connection with his probationary status," the complaint said. They found him at a hotel, but he refused to unlock his door. Sam "stated that he had done nothing wrong and was going to contact his probation officer," the complaint said. Officers turned to hotel staff for help getting into Sam's room, but the staff couldn't find a master key. "The officers ultimately had to utilize a forced entry into the motel room to take [Sam] into custody," the complaint said. Sam was not charged in the alleged domestic abuse incident. Bitney this time set a $2,500 signature bond. Sam eventually reached a plea agreement in the two 2021 cases. He pleaded guilty in March of this year to one count of possession with intent to deliver methamphetamines. The remaining charges, including the bail-jumping charges, were dismissed but read into the record. Babler sentenced him in April to nine years in prison and three years of extended supervision. Sam went to trial in February of this year on the 2020 charges and was convicted by a jury on all counts. He was sentenced by Barron County Circuit Judge Maureen D. Boyle to five years of probation to be served after he finishes his sentence for the 2021 cases. Boyle stayed a sentence of three years in prison and three years of extended supervision. Sam was represented by the State Public Defender's Office in all his cases, indicating poverty. Our methodology: WJI and Mastantuono Coffee & Thomas determined the number of felony and misdemeanor bail-jumping cases and charges in each county through court data. The total number of felony and misdemeanor cases filed in a county was obtained through the state's online court system. Cases selected for the "case file" section are chosen randomly through a random number-generator web site. The intent of the project is to show a variety of bail-jumping cases. To study bail jumping in Wisconsin, WJI and the Mastantuono Coffee & Thomas law firm will look county by county at 2021 bail-jumping charges. Which counties are charging bail jumping the most? Who are some of the defendants? What happens to those cases? We'll report the statistics from individual counties and tell you the stories from randomly chosen cases. Ashland County
Total number of cases with bail-jumping charges: 148 Total number of misdemeanor and felony cases: 439 Percent of misdemeanor and felony cases that include bail-jumping charges: 34% Total number of felony cases with bail-jumping charges: 110* Total number of all felony cases: 262 Percent of felony cases that include bail-jumping charges: 42% Total number of misdemeanor cases with bail-jumping charges: 38 Total number of all misdemeanor cases: 177 Percent of misdemeanor cases that include bail-jumping charges: 21% Largest number of bail-jumping charges issued in a single case: 10 Number of felony bail-jumping charges issued: 198 Number of misdemeanor bail-jumping charges issued: 149 *Felony cases can include felony or misdemeanor bail-jumping charges or both; misdemeanor cases can include only misdemeanor bail-jumping charges. Case file Joe's legal troubles began in November 2020, when he allegedly kicked and dented his girlfriend's car, then went to their apartment where he broke a door and damaged a shower and kitchen wall, according to a criminal complaint. Joe was charged with misdemeanor disorderly conduct/domestic abuse and misdemeanor criminal damage to property. Circuit Judge Kelly J. McKnight set a $2,000 signature bond and $200 cash bond. He also ordered Joe to have no contact with his girlfriend, BJ, and to stay away from the apartment where they both had been living. McKnight later, with BJ's consent, limited the no-contact order to a no-abusive-contact order. In February 2021, Joe pleaded no contest to both counts and entered a deferred prosecution agreement, according to online court records. He also agreed to pay $3,100 in restitution. He was represented by the State Public Defender's Office in his cases, indicating poverty. In August, Joe faced new domestic-abuse related charges. He was hit on Aug. 12 with four counts related to a May 15 incident involving BJ. He also was charged the same day with three domestic abuse counts for an Aug. 5 incident, again involving BJ. In the May case, which BJ told police about on the day it happened, Joe allegedly smashed her phone, pulled her hair, and head-butted her, according to the complaint. He also called her derogatory names and said she was "fat" and "psychotic," BJ told police. BJ told officers that Joe "was a meth user and he had not used for a couple of days." He got upset, she said, when she tossed him her phone and it went over his shoulder. Joe was charged with misdemeanor battery/domestic abuse, disorderly conduct/domestic abuse, criminal damage to property, and bail jumping. Regarding the August instance, according to the complaint, BJ told police she went out with her girlfriends the night before, leaving her children in Joe's care. When she returned, Joe was upset, grabbed her hair, and punched her twice. She left with the children and learned later in the day that Joe had skipped work and was still at the residence. BJ said Joe also had pulled her hair shortly before police arrived and that he had damaged the bathroom door. BJ "stated that she believed (Joe) may seriously injure or kill her," the complaint said. She also said that Joe "consumed meth a day ago, and that he usually gets crabby if he does not have it for a day." Joe was charged with more misdemeanors – battery/domestic abuse, disorderly conduct/domestic abuse, criminal damage to property, and misdemeanor bail jumping. This time, McKnight set a $750 cash bond and a $2,000 signature bond to cover both cases. McKnight ordered Joe to stay away from the woman and the apartment, and he extended Joe's deferred prosecution agreement, according to online records. Joe posted bond and was released but was back in court in October, this time facing a felony charge – at least at first. Police responded Oct. 3 to a man with a gun at BJ's residence, according to the criminal complaint. When police arrived, Joe ran out the back door right at them. He complied with orders to get on the ground. He told police that he had stopped by to give BJ some cash and see his daughter "but when he got there he found that his daughter was not there. (Joe) stated that he (then) grabbed a gun in the apartment." BJ said she thought Joe might have wanted to kill her, but Joe said "he wasn't hurting anyone but was thinking about killing himself," according to the complaint. BJ "yelled at (Joe), asking him if he was going to kill himself with an eight-year-old there," the complaint said. Police saw that one of the locks on a case where BJ kept guns had been opened. Joe was charged with felony burglary while armed with a dangerous weapon, misdemeanor criminal trespass, and misdemeanor bail jumping. McKnight ordered a $750 cash bond and a $2,000 signature bond, according to court records. He again ordered Joe not to have contact with BJ and to stay away from her residence, though that again was modified later to a no-abusive-contact order. The judge also ordered Joe to maintain absolute sobriety and prohibited him from possessing weapons, according to court records. At the preliminary hearing, McKnight found that there was not enough probable cause to merit the felony charge and it was amended to misdemeanor disorderly conduct. In November, McKnight issued a bench warrant for Joe and ordered his bail amounts forfeited, but he vacated the order after Joe was charged in two new domestic violence and bail-jumping cases in January 2022. McKnight has vacated the deferred prosecution agreement in the 2020 case and sentencing is set for June 7. Our methodology: WJI and Mastantuono Coffee & Thomas determined the number of felony and misdemeanor bail-jumping cases and charges in each county through court data. The total number of felony and misdemeanor cases filed in a county was obtained through the state's online court system. Cases selected for the "case file" section are chosen randomly through a random number-generator web site. The intent of the project is to show a variety of bail-jumping cases. To study bail jumping in Wisconsin, WJI and the Mastantuono Coffee & Thomas law firm will look county by county at 2021 bail-jumping charges. Which counties are charging bail jumping the most? Who are some of the defendants? What happens to those cases? We'll report the statistics from individual counties and tell you the stories from randomly chosen cases. Adams County Total number of cases with bail-jumping charges: 103
Total number of misdemeanor and felony cases: 390 Percent of misdemeanor and felony cases that include bail-jumping charges: 26% Total number of felony cases with bail-jumping charges: 65* Total number of all felony cases: 179 Percent of felony cases that include bail-jumping charges: 36 Total number of misdemeanor cases with bail-jumping charges: 38 Total number of all misdemeanor cases: 211 Percent of misdemeanor cases that include bail-jumping charges: 18 Largest number of bail-jumping charges issued in a single case: 12 Number of felony bail-jumping charges issued: 119 Number of misdemeanor bail-jumping charges issued: 118 *Felony cases can include felony or misdemeanor bail-jumping charges or both; misdemeanor cases can include only misdemeanor bail-jumping charges. Case file The 30-year-old Wisconsin Dells woman was out on bond for a Sauk County hit and run. She allegedly ran a red light and crashed into a Honda Civic, leaving a man shaken and slightly injured. He was bleeding from the mouth and his back was sore, according to the criminal complaint. A trip to the emergency room showed that he was bruised, but nothing was broken and he did not need stitches. After the accident, the woman allegedly left her car and ran away on foot. When police got there, the abandoned car smelled like booze and there was an open can of Budweiser, about a third full, on the front passenger floor. There also were two other unopened containers of alcohol – a 16-ounce can of Steel Reserve and a one-shot bottle of Smirnoff vodka. There was a debit card with the woman's name on it. The woman eventually was arrested. She was charged with felony hit and run and was released in May 2001 on a $1,000 signature bond. In August, while that charge was pending, she got in trouble again, this time in Adams County. First she argued with her boyfriend, then later with her mother at her mother's house. She was intoxicated and angry that her mother would not let her leave, drunk, with her children. At some point, the woman punched her hand through a screen door. Deputies from the Adams County Sheriff's Department arrived. The woman told a sergeant that "she just wanted to go home and became increasingly argumentative with deputies....She made comments that she wanted deputies to shoot her and she would rather die in front of her child...." the complaint said. When deputies tried to handcuff her, she tried to pull her arm away and refused to cooperate. They took her to the ground and cuffed her. She later resisted getting into a squad, kicked at the door and slammed her head into the side of the car. A deputy eventually was able to calm her down and get her to cooperate. She was charged with felony bail jumping, misdemeanor criminal damage to property with a domestic abuse assessment, misdemeanor resisting an officer, and misdemeanor disorderly conduct with a domestic abuse assessment. The misdemeanors each carried maximums of 9 months or less in jail. The bail-jumping charge carried a maximum term of six years in prison. She was booked and released on signature bond. The woman pleaded no contest in Sauk County Circuit Court to misdemeanor hit and run. She was sentenced to one year's probation and ordered to serve 30 days in jail with work-release privileges. Circuit Judge Patricia A. Barrett also ordered her to participate in alcohol and other drug abuse treatment and to participate in any ordered follow-up counseling/treatment. Barrett also ordered her to pay $27,552 in restitution. The Adams County felony bail-jumping charge was dropped as part of a plea agreement, as was the misdemeanor criminal damage to property charge. The woman pleaded guilty to the resisting and disorderly conduct charges and was sentenced to a year of probation. Circuit Judge Daniel Wood, like his Sauk County counterpart, ordered her to participate in AODA treatment and follow-up. Our methodology: WJI and Mastantuano Coffee & Thomas determined the number of felony and misdemeanor bail-jumping cases and charges in each county through court data. The total number of felony and misdemeanor cases filed in a county was obtained through the state's online court system. Cases selected for the "case file" section are chosen randomly through a random number-generator web site. The intent of the project is to show a variety of bail-jumping cases. LBy Gretchen Schuldt Defendants facing bail-jumping charges are among the favorite targets of those pushing for tougher bail standards in the wake of the Waukesha parade tragedy. "If someone has proven through past behavior that they...cannot abide by the conditions of a bond imposed by the court, it only makes sense that they should be required to have a minimum vested interest in attending court dates and integrating into society," said Ryan Windorff, president of the Wisconsin State Lodge of the Fraternal Order of Police. Windorff was testifying in support of a bill that would establish a $5,000 minimum bail for criminal defendants previously convicted of bail jumping. Another proposal under consideration would amend the state constitution to allow judges setting bails to take into consideration factors including criminal histories and amorphous physical or non-physical "serious harm" to the public that would be defined by the Legislature and could be changed by legislative whim. Backers of both those proposals and others cite the case of Darrell Brooks, the man allegedly responsible for killing six and injuring others when he ran a vehicle into a crowd at the Waukesha parade. Brooks was out on bond at the time and faced domestic violence and bail-jumping charges. Milwaukee County District Attorney John Chisholm has acknowledged that Brooks should not have been released from the Milwaukee County Jail and that his office erred in seeking a bail of just $1,000. The stakes behind these bail-tightening proposals are huge, and not just for defendants. Any bill that would make it harder for people to win pretrial release will hit counties hard because counties, not the state, pay for the local jails where those awaiting trial are held. There were 45,454 felony cases and 56,870 misdemeanor cases opened in the state last year. The median number of days it took to close out a case was 161 for misdemeanors and 241 for felonies. None of the bills proposing tougher bail rules would provide assistance to counties to pay for the increased cost and there is a lot of room there for lengthy stays and jail overcrowding if onerous bail restrictions are adopted. As for bail jumping, there were a total of 29,791 misdemeanor and felony cases filed in the state last year. Bail jumping is one of the most common charges filed in the state. While the tough-on-crime crowd cites Brooks endlessly in their quest to keep the presumed innocent behind bars, not all people accused of bail jumping are Darrell Brooks – far from it. A bail-jumping charge can be (and is) issued for any violation of a condition of a bond, whether or not that violation is a crime itself. A person doesn't even have to be charged with a crime – a mere arrest is enough – to be guilty of bail jumping for violating a bond related to it. Case in point: Melodie Taylor was arrested by Platteville police for disorderly conduct and released on $150 bond issued with a condition that she not drink alcohol, according to a brief filed in the Court of Appeals. Some time later, she contacted the police about the bond and was told that if she didn't hear anything in a few days, she could assume that she would not be charged with a crime. |
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