Wisconsin Right Now

“I am the daughter of that piece of scum, sitting in the chair. I don’t understand how you can look at someone who murdered someone, stabbed them over 43 times and say that they should be allowed to walk outside of bars" - Nikkole Nelson, the daughter of victim Johanna Rose Balsewicz. An administrative law judge, Brian Hayes , has ruled that wife killer Douglas Balsewicz should not be released early on parole because the state Department of Corrections did not give the victim's daughter Nikkole a chance to voice her objections to the decision to free him, the victim's family told Wisconsin Right Now. The judge's ruling on September 30, 2022, came after an emotional August hearing into Balsewicz's appeal of last spring's Parole Commission decision to revoke his parole just days before he was to walk out of prison. Gov. Tony Evers' appointee John Tate had initially granted Balsewicz discretionary parole, which the victim's family found out about ...

Since 2019, Gov. Tony Evers' Parole Commission has released hundreds of convicted criminals, freeing them early on parole mostly into Wisconsin communities, including more than 270 murderers and attempted murderers, and more than 44 child rapists. Bonita Smith was one of them. Her release was discretionary. 22rd in the series . When Bonita Smith murdered an elderly shopkeeper, Leona Milfred, by stabbing her at least 63 times in Richland, it "shook" the small community, according to a Wisconsin State Journal article when she came up for parole. Smith, then of Baraboo, told police she was a "princess" in an occult group and claimed demonic possession, the newspaper wrote in various articles over the years. "The murder of this woman was the most brutal and horrible I have ever experienced," the judge said at the time. The prosecutor called Smith "a 1980s version of Lizzy Borden," referring to the infamous ax murderer, according t...

The Wisconsin Parole Commission refused to allow public comment in a 13-minute 27-second long meeting that marks the commission's first meeting since concern arose over the paroles of some of the state's most brutal killers and rapists. The new commission chair, Christopher Blythe, a Tony Evers' appointee, also refused to answer a citizen's written question expressing concern about the discretionary parole of child killer Donell McKennie , who brutally beat Kenosha toddler Drake London to death because of his light skin color. Blythe did answer written questions that were submitted within two days of the meeting. However, the person who submitted the McKennie question told Wisconsin Right Now she believed they were only "half-answered," calling the meeting a "joke." [caption id="attachment_90162" align="alignnone" width="208"] Drake London, a Kenosha murder victim. His killer was released early[/caption] "...

Since 2019, Gov. Tony Evers' Parole Commission has released hundreds of convicted criminals, freeing them early on parole mostly into Wisconsin communities, including more than 270 murderers and attempted murderers, and more than 44 child rapists. Scott Howard was one of them. His release was discretionary. 21st in the series . Catherine Christian suffered a horrific death. She was beaten in the head and then left to die in an arson fire in Rosa's Cantina in the town of Dunn by a Ghost Rider motorcycle gang member who thought she was a "snitch." The paroled killer, Scott "Spotlight" Howard, held her down until she lost consciousness, then left her to die in the Dane County fire. Christian also angered the Ghost Riders because she was dating a sheriff’s sergeant who had investigated them and was “their nemesis in law enforcement in Dane County,” according to The Wisconsin State Journal in a 1985 article. A blog on parole issues contains part o...

Gov. Tony Evers pushed expansion of the state's "earned release" program, but it's endangering public safety. Gov. Tony Evers' administration expanded the state's earned release program in multiple ways even though more than 40% of earned release and challenge incarceration inmates are re-arrested within two years, endangering public safety, Wisconsin Right Now has documented. That percentage is from the State Department of Corrections' own dashboard. Although earned release is sold as being for non-assaultive substance abusers seeking treatment, we found criminals who were paroled, court records say through earned release, despite committing offenses the public would consider violent, such as battery and recklessly endangering safety. We also found armed robbers, felons in possession of a firearm, and people with past violent records or violent charges in the same case, even habitual criminals. Multiple criminals were released even though they...

A new deep dive into Wisconsin crime statistics shows a growing problem with crime in Milwaukee as well as a failing criminal justice system in the rest of the state. The Badger Institute released four new reports on Tuesday, each looking at a different facet of the criminal justice system. 1) A Tale of Two States: Wisconsin Crime Trends, 2017-2022 2) Toward Swifter Justice: Overburdened Prosecutors & Public Defenders Linked to WI Court Backlogs 4) The Thinning Blue Line: Milwaukee Police Department’s Attrition Crisis 5) Saving Money, Encouraging Work and Improving Safety Through More Rigorous Electronic Monitoring The headline-grabbing news is what the Badger Institute's Mike Nichols calls a Tale of Two States. “Milwaukee has 10% of the state’s population, but it has an enormous share of the state’s crime,” Nichols said. “In 2021, Milwaukee had 60% of homicides, 53% of aggravated assaults, 68% of auto thefts. It’s so hard to talk about statewide crime with...

Wisconsin lawmakers won’t begin writing the next state budget until next year, but they are already being flooded with requests for billions of dollars more in state money. The Institute for Reforming Government is out with a new analysis that says Gov. Tony Evers' state agencies want $7.5 billion in new dollars for the 2023-2025 state budget. “While most of Wisconsin and Wisconsin’s families are sitting around the kitchen table trying to put together their budgets with the same amount of money coming in the door, even while prices are rising, the folks in Madison don’t seem bothered by inflation at all. In fact, they’re willing to take more money,” IRG’s Director of State Budget and Government Reform Alex Ignatowski told The Center Square Tuesday. IRG found the largest budget increase comes from Wisconsin’s Department of Public Instruction, which is asking for $2.5 billion in new funding. “They are trying to say that this money is going to trickle down to local schools,” ...

Lt. Gov. Mandela Barnes was criticized for his anti-police record by the Milwaukee Police Association, the union that represents rank-and-file Milwaukee police officers. In the press call announcing the endorsements, U.S. Senator Ron Johnson also accused Barnes of not supporting law enforcement and inciting the Kenosha riots. Both also sharply criticized the paroles of hundreds of violent criminals , including killers and rapists, during the Evers/Barnes administration. "There is nothing wrong with pointing out the record of your opponent," Johnson said, noting that Barnes also called reducing the prison population "sexy." "We are telling the truth. Barnes' campaign doesn’t have a record to run on; look at the crime statistics, the disastrous results of the defund-the-police movement," Johnson said. "All they can do is lie and distort... assassinate my character... all I need to do is tell the truth. We are telling the truth about Mandel...

The brother of Kenosha County murder victim Joseph Vite, a beloved foster dad ambushed and executed by his foster son and an accomplice, says he wrote two letters to Gov. Tony Evers, imploring Evers to intervene and stop the killers from being freed on parole. Ed Vite, of Kenosha, says Evers ignored his letters completely. Not long after the first letter, in 2020, one of the killers, Eric Nelson , was freed by Evers' appointee to the Parole Commission, John Tate, even though the Democratic DA, sheriff, and county executive threw their support behind keeping Nelson locked up. A petition garnered more than 3,000 signatures to prevent Nelson's release. The following year, Evers reappointed Tate, saying he was "pleased to do so." “It was such a premeditated murder,” Charles Vite, Joseph's other brother, says. “Calculated. It was just a terrible murder with absolutely no reason to do so other than the gain for a car, money. It was senseless.” Ed says he ask...

It’s unclear if the Wisconsin legislature would even consider introducing an exemption law. After spending millions of dollars on campaign ads to paint Tim Michels as radical on abortion, Gov. Tony Evers is calling Michels dishonest for being open to exemptions to Wisconsin’s strict abortion law. Michels on Friday told News Talk 1130 WISN’s Dan O’Donnell that he would sign a law allowing women who are the victims of rape or incest to get an abortion in the state. “I am pro-life and make no apologies for that. But I also understand that this is a representative democracy. And if the people, in this case, the legislature,  brought a bill before me, as you just stated, I would sign that,” Michels said. Wisconsin’s current abortion law only allows for exemptions to save a mother’s life. Evers had made abortion the centerpiece of his re-election bid. He is running several ads that say Michels would not support exemptions for rape and incest. On Friday, the governor all but calle...

John Tate clinically says parole is "entirely a data-driven process." No- it also involves real people, namely victims' families. Gov. Tony Evers' two-time appointee to chair the Wisconsin Parole Commission is defending the discretionary paroles of some of the most brutal killers and rapists in Wisconsin history - including men who strangled and cut the throats of women and who murdered children - because he says they aren't risks to public safety. One of the paroles was of Carl Beletsky, who cut his wife Kathleen's head off in Oconomowoc and put it in a wood-burning stove. Another was of the killer of 17-month-old Drake London, brutally beaten in Kenosha. Meanwhile, the governor has remained silent on the specific cases. In the interview, Tate clinically defended the paroles of murderers, whose victims' families are still suffering deeply from the crimes and releases and who, in multiple cases, say they weren't even notified . [caption...

The Wisconsin Institute for Law & Liberty (WILL), filed a lawsuit on behalf of Wisconsin Right Now Monday against the Wisconsin Parole Commission for violating the state's open records law by refusing to release the names of people who were granted parole in 2022. The lawsuit, filed in the Washington County Circuit Court, alleges that the Wisconsin Parole Commission failed to comply with statutory requirements relating to open records laws by not complying with the request, which was first made in May 2022. Wisconsin Right Now followed up with the Commission, however, the commission failed to respond back. Wisconsin Right Now has been running a series of stories about paroles. Those names were released by the Parole Commission in a sheet that only went through the end of December 2021. The news site, which is run by a veteran journalist and former law enforcement officer, is seeking the 2022 names to educate the public about who was released on parole in Wisconsin. WIL...

Since 2019, Gov. Tony Evers' Parole Commission has released hundreds of convicted criminals, freeing them early on parole mostly into Wisconsin communities, including more than 270 murderers and attempted murderers, and more than 44 child rapists. Donell McKennie was one of them. His release was discretionary. 19th in the series . What Donell McKennis did to tiny Drake London, age 17 months, has to be one of the most horrific child abuse deaths in state history. McKennie is accused of beating and torturing Drake. McKennie was the live-in boyfriend of the toddler’s mother. The details come from a Kenosha News story at the time: The mother described the 1997 beatings endured by the child in Kenosha County as “torture.” The child had previously been in a foster home, and his foster mother objected to him being placed back with his mother. The district attorney at the time, Robert Jambois, accused McKennie of being motivated by racism, saying he beat the child “becaus...

Since 2019, Gov. Tony Evers' Parole Commission has released hundreds of convicted criminals, freeing them early on parole mostly into Wisconsin communities, including more than 270 murderers and attempted murderers, and more than 44 child rapists. Terrance Harris was one of them. His release was discretionary. 18th in the series . The death of a child is a community tragedy, and 13-year-old Laquann Moore's death was a big deal when it happened, galvanizing the City of Milwaukee against skyrocketing violent crime. Homicide numbers have been at record highs now for several years in a row, but back in 1996, the city was in the midst of its previous highest violent crime era. The way the girl died tore at people's heartstrings; Laquann was simply sitting on a porch with her 11-year-old friend, Shalonda Young, when a bullet struck Laquann in the abdomen and traveled through her body into Shalonda's chest. Shalonda was wounded but survived. Laquann died that day....