Supreme Court candidate Susan Crawford criticizes opponent’s handling of sex crimes

Dane County Circuit Court Judge Susan Crawford, one of two candidates vying for an open seat on the Wisconsin Supreme Court, is accusing her opponent, Waukesha County Circuit Court Judge Brad Schimel, of mishandling sex and abuse crime cases during his career as a judge, as a district attorney, and as Wisconsin attorney general.

Schimel, who served as attorney general from 2015 to 2019, has called the accusations lies.

The statewide election to fill the seat of retiring Justice Ann Walsh Bradley will take place on April 1.

On social media, in television ads, and in media appearances, Crawford and her campaign have repeatedly criticized Schimel’s sentencing in cases of domestic abuse and child pornography and his handling of rape kits during his time as Waukesha County district attorney and attorney general. 

One of Crawford’s ads features current and former Wisconsin law enforcement officials telling vie

wers, “Brad Schimel won’t keep you safe.” 

“Brad Schimel let thousands of rape kits go untested for years,” says Dane County Sheriff Kalvin Barrrett, and former Sheriff Dave Mahoney continues, “while rapists walked free.” “And victims waited for justice,” concludes former University of Wisconsin–Madison Police Chief Sue Riseling.

Those claims are based on 2017 and 2018 reporting by local newspapers in the USA Today Network–Wisconsin network that found just nine out more than 6,000 backlogged rape test kits had been tested during the first two years of Schimel’s time as attorney general and that another 26 kits had been left untested during his time as Waukesha DA. Under Schimel, in 2015, the state Department of Justice had received millions of dollars in grants to increase rape kit testing and help victims. 

A July 2018 story said that Schimel publicly overstated the number of kits that had been tested. 

One survivor told the newspaper network in June 2018 that she had been unaware that her rape kit had not been tested. The assailant in that case was convicted of sexual assault without it; however,she noted that testing was vital for catching serial predators. “If somebody has a kit out there and it’s never tested, the DNA is never collected, it’s never in a database and this can continue to happen. And you can’t tell me that there’s not repeat offenders.”

On Feb. 13 of this year, Schimel told the Green Bay Press Gazette that the backlog began before his election as attorney general and that he had worked to address it, saying in an email, “I am proud of our work to protect victims and I am disgusted by my opponents’ [sic] willingness to lie to rape victims in her pursuit of power.”

In a Feb. 21 op-ed published in the Waukesha Freeman, Crawford said: “It’s common sense that delaying justice carries its own severe costs for victims and their families — but apparently Schimel doesn’t agree. And like a true politician, Schimel only picked up the pace on testing as the 2018 election grew near, when he hoped Wisconsin voters would re-elect him.”

Asked by the Wisconsin Independent about Crawford’s criticism of Schimel, a campaign spokesperson did not address them and said in an emailed statement: “Child rapists, sexual predators, and violent criminals know that they have an ally in Susan Crawford. Susan Crawford’s career is defined by making Wisconsin less safe. Now, she wants a promotion and if she takes her dangerous ideology statewide, we won’t recognize Wisconsin.” 

Another Crawford campaign spot highlights a case in which a Waukesha man was charged in 2013 with felony possession of child pornography. The defendant’s lawyer gave $5,000 to Schimel’s campaign, says the ad’s featured speaker, identified as Hal J., and Schimel “gave him a plea deal.”

Hal J. tells viewers, “Well, I have kids and I can’t believe all a sex predator had to do to get a plea deal was give Brad Schimel’s campaign $5,000.” 

A spokesperson for Schimel’s attorney general campaign told WISC-TV in Madison in 2018 that the agreement, which included a mandatory minimum sentence and no additional charges, was not actually a plea deal because the charge was not changed. 

In a Feb. 20 Facebook post, Crawford’s campaign referenced a 2019 Milwaukee Journal Sentinel report about the arrest of a New Berlin man on charges of assaulting and pointing a firearm at his ex-girlfriend: “In 2019, a domestic abuser pressed a gun into a woman’s neck & threatened to shoot her if she called the police. He caught a break & ended up in Brad Schimel’s courtroom, who gave him a light sentence. Then he reoffended with more abuse charges. Brad Schimel is too dangerous.” After serving a two-year sentence, the man pleaded guilty to a 2022 domestic abuse-related misdemeanor.

In a press release, Crawford’s campaign said Schimel is “notorious for giving light sentences to domestic abusers,” citing three additional court cases that came before Schimel.

This story was originally published by the Wisconsin Independent.