Wisconsin Right Now

It's unprecedented to resurrect a police shooting case in which the officer was repeatedly cleared years ago. Yet that's what Judge Glenn Yamahiro has done despite his ex-wife's close ties to the case. Milwaukee County Judge Glenn Yamahiro, a former public defender, has revealed that he did not want only a "career prosecutor" to review the 2016 Joseph Mensah shooting case that Yamahiro has resurrected despite multiple past reviews that cleared the officer. Instead, he picked two lawyers with strong Democratic ties who have both donated money to liberal candidates. One is a business lawyer. The Mensah Special Prosecutors [caption id="attachment_45518" align="alignleft" width="179"] Scott Hansen[/caption] The Mensah special prosecutors are Scott Hansen , who works primarily in business law for the Reinhart Boerner Van Deuren law firm, and La Crosse County District Attorney Tim Gruenke. Gruenke is a Democrat who has donated to...

Judge Glenn Yamahiro, whose ex-wife and the mother of his child has represented the families of men shot by former Wauwatosa Police Officer Joseph Mensah, used a rare John Doe procedure on Wednesday to find probable cause that Mensah committed homicide by negligent handling of a dangerous weapon in the death of Jay Anderson five years ago. Yamahiro's decision, which is unheard of in Wisconsin, runs counter to the decision years ago of an elected prosecutor and former prosecutor. Mensah was already cleared in the 2016 death of Anderson by the elected district attorney John Chisholm and by former US Attorney Steve Biskupic in a report as an independent investigator. Furthermore, a federal review amounted to nothing, and the Milwaukee Police Department did an exhaustive review at the time. He will appoint a special prosecutor to consider whether to bring a homicide charge. Remember that any charges would need to be proven beyond a reasonable doubt before a jury. That's a highe...

Milwaukee County Judge Yamahiro, in an unprecedented decision, has outrageously found probable cause that former Wauwatosa police officer Joseph Mensah committed homicide in the five-year-old death of Jay Anderson Jr. Judge Yamahiro will appoint a special prosecutor to consider whether to bring a homicide charge using a little-known provision in John Doe laws. Remember that any charges would need to be proven beyond a reasonable doubt before a jury. That's a higher standard than probable cause. We don't think the media will tell you all of these facts, but they are important to remember. Here are 14 key facts that are important to remember about Judge Yamahiro's outrageous decision: Judge Yamahiro Key Facts 1. Judge Yamahiro has a significant alleged conflict of interest. His ex-wife and the mother of his child, Deja Vishny, assisted in representing the Anderson family and has worked side-by-side for months with attorney Kimberley Motley, calling for criminal charges...

Deja Vishny, the ex wife of the judge who issued the unprecedented decision that there is probable cause that already cleared former Wauwatosa Police Officer Joseph Mensah committed homicide appeared in a press conference last year in which she trashed Mensah and vowed that she and attorney Kimberley Motley would "use every legal means at our disposal to continue this fight. To continue the fight to make sure Mensah is never a police officer." You can watch the video later in this article. In addition, Deja Vishny, a former public defender who works for Motley's law firm on an of counsel basis, has written many anti-Mensah screeds on Twitter, calling for him to be fired. She also wrote a tweet that somewhat presaged what her ex-husband, Milwaukee County Circuit Judge Glenn Yamahiro, decided as a result of a rare John Doe hearing requested by Motley and the family of Jay Anderson, who Mensah shot to death. Vishny, who has helped Motley represent the Anderson family as...