Tony Evers receives complaint seeking removal of DA John Chisholm over Darrell Brooks bail
Molly BeckGov. Tony Evers has received a complaint seeking the removal of District Attorney John Chisholm after one his prosecutors recommended a $1,000 bail for Darrell Brooks, which was posted just days before Brooks drove his 3,000-pound SUV through a Christmas parade killing six people and injuring dozens more.
The complaint was filed Friday by Orville Seymer of Franklin and a group of residents who pledged they were taxpayers of Milwaukee County, Seymer said, and received by the governor's office on Monday. It asks Evers to remove Chisholm to prevent similarly low bail recommendations in future cases involving violent offenders like Brooks.
"... as witnessed in Waukesha last month, the devastation resulting from Chisholm's dereliction of duty to protect the public has reached outside the borders of Milwaukee County," the complaint says.
More:What we know about the Waukesha Christmas Parade attack
The complaint was signed by Seymer and six people who did not list their addresses or return phone calls from the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel. Seymer has long been affiliated with group Citizens for Responsible Government that arose from the Milwaukee County pension scandal.
A spokeswoman for Evers said the governor received the complaint Monday and has not yet had a chance to review it.
Before he received the complaint, Evers last week said he would review a complaint if it were lodged with him. He noted Democratic Attorney General Josh Kaul had signaled he didn’t support forcing Chisholm out, saying voters should be the ones to decide his fate.
“I saw Attorney General Kaul’s comment in the paper today or yesterday about ‘that’s what elections are for,’ and that’s what elections are for, but I'm obligated to take care of the process that is laid out in front of me, if and when I receive a complaint,” Evers said on Thursday.
Seymer said in an interview that waiting three years for an election is too long. Chisholm, in office since 2007, is up for re-election in 2024.
"How many people will die in the next nearly three years before John Chisholm stands for election?" Seymer said. "Do we wait for 10 people to be killed or 15? What's the acceptable limit?"
A spokesman for Chisholm did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Under state law, a governor may remove an elected district attorney for "inefficiency, neglect of duty, official misconduct, or malfeasance in office."
Earlier this year, Evers launched an investigation of the Eau Claire County District Attorney Gary King's over alleged sexual harassment in the workplace after receiving a complaint from King's former colleagues. King resigned before the investigation concluded.
In 2010, then-Gov. Jim Doyle began the process to remove then-Calumet County District Attorney Ken Kratz after Kratz sent sexual messages to a domestic violence victim but Kratz resigned before its completion.
The bail in the Brooks case, which Chisholm called inappropriately low given Brooks' history, was set in a case involving Brooks allegedly running over a woman with the same vehicle he used to run over more than 60 people in the Nov. 21 attack.
A Journal Sentinel analysis of similar open cases charged this year found Brooks' bail was considerably lower than the median of $5,000.
Chisholm said the bail amount was recommended by an early-career prosecutor in the middle of a jury trial with two dozen felony cases to review.
The assigned prosecutor, whom Chisholm did not name but is listed in court records as Michelle Grasso, looked at Brooks' most recently posted bail — $500 — and doubled it, Chisholm said. She did not have access to the risk assessment when she made that decision because it had not yet been uploaded to the case management system, he added.
The assessment, obtained by the Journal Sentinel, showed Brooks to be fairly high risk for release from jail. The assessments, used in courts around the country, have been criticized for reinforcing bias and not being individualized.
Court Commissioner Cedric Cornwall, who did have access to this information according to Chisholm, approved the $1,000 bail. Cornwall was reassigned in recent weeks to a non-criminal division.
Evers has said Brooks “should not have been out on bail” but he has not said whether Chisholm should resign or be removed.
Brooks is now being held on $5 million bail in the Waukesha case. A judge on Monday raised his bail in the prior Milwaukee County case to $200,000.
Patrick Marley and Ashley Luthern of the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel contributed to this report.
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Contact Molly Beck at molly.beck@jrn.com. Follow her on Twitter at @MollyBeck.