I am committed to using the Internet, computer technology and computer assisted research. I retain the services of investigators and experts, as needed, in each individual case. I do extensive research on the Internet. I use Macintosh computers.

One of my interesting projects was to trace the creation of a potentially serious conflict of interest arising from Wisconsin's contracts with Corrections Corporation of America (CCA) to transport and house Wisconsin convicts. It appeared that all of Wisconsin's judges, prosecutors, law enforcement officers, state employed public defenders and others in the criminal justice system were directly invested in CCA though its parent, Prison Realty Corporation (PZN), because of their participation in the Wisconsin Retirement System which held 200,000 shares of PZN stock worth over $1,500,000.00.

I filed Requests for Disclosure in cases around Wisconsin seeking additional financial information from those who sought to lock up my clients in order to bring motions to disqualify the conflicted participants or to seek reversal of convictions where conflicted participants were involved in the case. Click here for a copy of the disclosure request which will give the details of the investments and the conflict. This effort helped lead to the State Investment Board's divestiture of its PZN stock.

I have won two jury trials in Federal Court in Milwaukee. In one, my client was charged with being a felon in possession of a handgun. The cops found 30 pounds of pot and a handgun in a house where he was living. I was able to show that the cops moved evidence and failed to accurately record who said what. After showing the jury that the pot came from someone other than my client and that he did not have the usual trappings of large scale drug dealers, the jury took less than two hours to acquit.

In Milwaukee, I represented an elementary school teacher charged with sexually assaulting one of his students. The case took over a year and a half and ended with a dismissal of all charges when the complainant refused to allow access to records showing her mental instability which my investigation disclosed.

In a multi-county sexual assault of a child case, I was able to keep my client out of jail completely and to prolong reporting of the case to the authorities when the family came to me first seeking treatment rather than punishment.

The Wisconsin Legislature amended the definition of "sexual contact" to include the intentional emission of "penile" ejaculate onto another. My brief on the equal protection claim that the Legislature's failure to criminalize deposit of female sexual fluids, including female ejaculation, convinced the prosecutor to amend the felony charges to misdemeanors, even after the trial judge denied the equal protection motions.

In another case, the trial court suppressed a confession and over $40,000 worth of stolen property based upon police misconduct. There, the police failed to give the required Miranda warnings when they interviewed my client in prison. They also violated his rights under the Fourth Amendment when they searched his storage locker based upon consent from a former girlfriend whom the police knew was involved in a child visitation dispute with my client.

Another client's problems with his probation officer led the sentencing judge to hold a probation supervisor and Wisconsin's Department of Corrections in contempt for violating an order that my client not participate in sex offender treatment.

I recently completed representation of a client in large federal multi-state child sexual abuse and pornography and state identity theft prosecutions.

I won a motion to suppress evidence in one of Milwaukee County's Drug Courts because I was able to show that the arresting cop lied on the witness stand. I used a surveillance video that the cop did not know caught her actions to prove she lied. The case was dismissed.

In 2006, I was awarded the William M. Coffey Defender Award by the Wisconsin Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers for contributions to the professionalism of the defense bar.

Click here for my Resume.

The material and information contained on these pages and on the pages linked from these pages are intended to provide information and not legal advice. The information presented on these pages may not be applicable to your specific legal or factual situation. You should consult with a lawyer licensed to practice in your jurisdiction before relying upon any of the information presented here.

Feel free to send me e-mail. However, you are advised that the act of sending me e-mail or downloading information from this website does not alone create an attorney-client relationship. Unless you are already one of my clients, your electronic mail will not be privileged and may be disclosed to other persons. Even if you are my client, remember that electronic mail on the Internet is not secure and that you should avoid including sensitive, confidential or damaging information in unencrypted messages.

Before you send me e-mail, understand that I cannot answer specific questions about a case unless I am hired to represent a person charged in the case and am licensed to practice in the jurisdiction where the case is pending. I cannot and do not give legal advice over the Internet.

This website is not intended to be advertising and I do not wish to represent anyone desiring representation based upon viewing this website in a state where this website fails to comply with all laws and ethical rules of that state. This site is meant to be informational only, consistent with the legal profession's obligation to educate the public.

Know Your Rights An article I wrote on citizen police contacts.

The Declaration of Independence

The Bill of Rights

Wisconsin Circuit Court Access Look up your Wisconsin trial court records.

Cecil Greek's Criminal Justice Page This is the best compilation of Criminal Justice Information on the Net.

Alex Bunin's Errores Juris 2005. A must have for those who do federal criminal defense work. This is an Adobe Acrobat file for which you will need the Adobe Acrobat Reader.

Jeff Flax's Legal Resource Page Jeff Flax is a consultant to the Federal Defender Program in Colorado and has put together a collection of links to the resources every defense lawyer needs to find the law, find an expert, find a witness, learn about medicine or other subject areas and to best use technology to present a defense in a criminal case.

U.S. Supreme Court Decisions

Recent U.S. Seventh Circuit Court of Appeals Decisions.

Federal Grand Jury Information A good overview of grand juries and how they operate for the  lay person by the authors of West's "Federal Grand Jury."

Wisconsin State Public Defender Summaries of recent Wisconsin appellate decisions involving criminal law issues posted by the Wisconsin State Public Defender are linked from this page. Be sure to read my concerns about the SPD below.

Findlaw The most comprehensive law locator on the Net. Its Criminal Law section can be reached by clicking here .

The Legal Pad's Criminal Law Page. A good collection of criminal law reference materials.

Free Advice's Criminal Law Page. A good summary of basic criminal law concepts and terms.

Criminal Defense Issues is another good collection of basic criminal law issues and law.

CrimeLynx Home Page. A great collection of resources for the criminal defense lawyer.

The American Civil Liberties Union Home Page. The ACLU was one of the lead plaintiffs, along with the Electronic Frontier Foundation and others, suing to block enforcement of the latest Congressional attempt to legislate morality by banning obscene (whatever that means) material from the Net. We won in the Supreme Court which declared the Communications Decency Act unconstitutional and in the District Court which issued a preliminary injunction against enforcement of the Child Online Protection Act. Information on that effort can be found on the ACLU home page.

The Wisconsin ACLU Chapter Home Page Information on local civil liberties fights and resources.

The National Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers This page offers much for citizens and more for defense lawyers who join. NACDL litigated to gain access to the results of internal investigations of Dr. Frederic Whitehurst's claims of improprieties at the FBI Crime Lab. The FBI Lab Manual can be used to make sure forensic evidence is processed properly. 

The Wisconsin Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers Find a member lawyer for your Wisconsin criminal case. Members have a forum to discuss criminal law issues and cases as well as helpful links and information. I am the immediate past President of this Association.

The U.S. Attorney's Manual and Bulletin Find out how the other side is supposed to act.

There is an active effort to prevent the reintroduction of the Death Penalty in Wisconsin. Here is page which contains national information on the ultimate penalty. Click here. For the Capital Defense Network, Click here. Last year and the year before, a coalition of groups kept the Wisconsin Legislature from reinstituting the Death Penalty or even passing a bill providing for a referendum on the issue. The Coalition will be keeping up its efforts to educate the public and members of the legislature. The ACLU Home Page also contains information on the Death Penalty. I testified before the Wisconsin Senate Subcommittee on Corrections against reintroduction of the Death Penalty on behalf of the State Bar's Criminal Law Section in 1996. Click here to see my testimony. Join the effort, now strengthened by a resolution by the ABA's House of Delegates calling for a moratorium on the sanction, by contacting me.

The State Bar of Wisconsin's Web site has useful information and links to recent court opinions and legislation, bar news, section activities and much more. You can also subscribe to Caselaw Express, a listserv containing summaries of all recent Wisconsin appellate decisions.

Pathways Counseling Center offers treatment for people facing criminal issues and several of the agency's staff have served as experts in my cases. Click here to go there.

Attorney Randy Singer has compiled a great list of legal software for those of us who use Macintosh computers. Click here to go there.

The Wisconsin State Public Defender program is in serious trouble. The SPD used to have a great reputation for providing competent and effective representation to indigent citizens accused of Criminal and Childrens Code violations or whose liberty was threatened in mental health and developmental disability commitment proceedings. It was founded in the 1970s to wrest control over indigent defense from the judges who then appointed counsel for those who could not afford to hire their own lawyer. Over the past several years, under the direction of a Republican administration, the SPD has taken serious hits from the Wisconsin Legislature. Now, the problem is political control of indigent defense from the conservative right which normally promotes individual liberty and freedom from governmental intervention.

This control has been established in many ways. Staff caseloads have increased beyond what a reasonably bright, seasoned lawyer can effectively handle. The hourly rates paid to private bar lawyers who take SPD appointments have been reduced to less than what most lawyers have to pay for office overhead, driving many experienced lawyers, myself included, off the SPD appointment lists. Parents facing loss of their children in neglect and abuse cases no longer receive counsel, unless the Court believes the case has special problems. The SPD no longer provides counsel for appeals past a direct appeal in state court or to challenge conditions of confinement.

As the former Chair of the Criminal Law Section of the State Bar of Wisconsin, I have spoken and published about some of these problems. An article about the ethical issues raised by the SPD Flat Rate Contracts for misdemeanor representation was published by the State Bar and the Milwaukee Bar Associations. Click here for that article The NACDL published a Report on Low Bid Contracting which was sent to all State Chief Justices and Disciplinary Boards. Click here for NACDL President Lefcourt's cover letter which contains links to the report and a supporting memorandum from the NLADA. The SPD has also been required to tighten is eligibility standards. My criticism of this effort was published in the March, 1996, issue of "The Wisconsin Lawyer." Click here for that article I also submitted a proposal to the Commission on the Judiciary as a Co-Equal Branch of Government asking the Supreme Court to investigate the agency and the damage done to it by the Legislature and Governor. Click here for that testimony.

Kentucky's J. Vincent Aprile II published two short but powerful articles in the ABA Criminal Justice Section's Newsletters on the ethical duty of public defender lawyers to maintain their professional independence in the representation of their clients and the administration of defender programs. They are a must read for those who need support for zealous representation in a PD environment of high caseloads and few resources.

To tell your elected representatives how you feel about the issues discussed here, here are links to pages containing their addresses both snail mail and, in some cases, their email addresses:

Wisconsin State Legislators

Wisconsin Congressional Delegation or

For sheer whimsy, Wavy Gravy's Home Page For those who recall the 60's.

This page was last updated on February 3, 2007.

WARING R. FINCKE
Attorney at Law
1784 Barton Ave., Suite 17
West Bend, Wisconsin 53090

(262) 334-1030 (voice)
(262) 334-1035 (fax)
 
 

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