Recently, the legislature passed a measure to change how bail is determined in Wisconsin. It has passed twice in consecutive legislative sessions, which means that it will now head to our April ballot as a constitutional amendment. How bail is determined is critically...
Wisconsin
License suspension keeps people from paying off court debt
If your driver’s license were suspended, what would you do? What could you afford to do? You’re not allowed to drive on a suspended license, but you have to get to work. Could you afford to take a Lyft or Uber every day? Is there public transportation? Could you...
Wisconsin Supreme Court: sex trafficking is a defense for murder
If someone is trafficked sexually and, as a result of that, kills their trafficker, they may be innocent under Wisconsin law, according to the Wisconsin Supreme Court. The initial question is whether the sex-trafficking victim committed the homicide as a direct result...
People aren’t still getting arrested for weed possession, are they?
According to multiple polls, around 70% of Americans support the legalization of marijuana for adult use. And, marijuana is legal, at least for medical use, in the majority of U.S. states – and the total number of states where it is legal keeps growing. Currently,...
Wrongfully convicted man sues Milwaukee for rights violations
Two months after Lavare Gould, 19, was killed in 2008, Milwaukee police had no suspect or leads. Then, a man who was arrested in an unrelated case claimed to have information about Gould’s case. The information was conflicting, but it implicated Ladarious Marshall,...
Carry rights restored after Wisconsin disorderly conduct conviction
Under federal law, anyone convicted of any felony offense or of any domestic violence offense, even a misdemeanor, is prohibited from possessing a firearm. This is an example of what we call the “collateral consequences” of a criminal conviction. Collateral...
Wisconsin Supreme Court allows end-run around lack of warrant
When the founders decided to require warrants before the government could search someone, what rights were they trying to protect? They wanted to free Americans from an intrusive government seeking to take their liberty without due process. They wanted to protect our...
1 in 36 Black men in Wisconsin is in prison
A new report by The Sentencing Project places Wisconsin at the top of a grim list. It imprisons more of its African-American male adults than any other state. In fact, one in every 36 Black men in Wisconsin is incarcerated. This is a staggering fact on its own, but it...
Wisconsin high court: Cops can search phone data they already have
In 2016, George B. agreed to allow the Green Bay Police Department to review his phone for a hit-and-run investigation in which he was never charged. The consent form he signed didn’t specify exactly what the police would be allowed to download – and they downloaded...
Wisconsin Supreme Court: Can cops run your ID with no suspicion?
When should you be free to go after a traffic stop? The law only allows police officers to detain you if they have good reason to suspect you are involved in a specific crime. When they have no suspicion, they are supposed to let you go. That didn’t happen for Heather...