VILLAGE OF PADDOCK LAKE, Wis. (AP) - Authorities say a 47-year-old man shot by a Kenosha County sheriff’s deputy has died.
The Kenosha County Sheriff’s Department identifies the man as Darren Myron Fude of Paddock Lake.
According to the sheriff’s office, Fude confronted deputies with a shotgun shortly before 6:30 p.m. Saturday and ignored orders to drop the weapon. A deputy then shot him.
Deputies gave Fude first aid, but he died in a hospital emergency room.
The deputy who fired his service weapon was placed on standard paid administrative leave.
No deputies were hurt. The sheriff’s department has requested an outside agency investigate the shooting.
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MADISON, Wis. (AP) - A new Wisconsin law limiting secret John Doe probes doesn’t mean prosecutors’ days of pursuing political corruption are over. But their remaining tools have limitations that may make it more difficult, especially in complex cases, legal experts say.
Prosecutors and investigators will have to turn to old-fashioned detective work or the state’s little-used grand jury procedure to build their cases, presenting problems for overworked district attorneys who may not have the time to dig through misconduct allegations outside of the John Doe process, they say.
“You don’t have a cop bringing in the case on a platter to you,” said Ray Dall’Osto, a Milwaukee defense attorney who described himself as leaning Democratic. “There’s going to be a tendency that these DAs are focused on immediate issues, like crimes of violence. The DAs are going to have to be more creative.”
Wisconsin is the only state with John Doe proceedings. They’re similar to grand jury proceedings. Prosecutors can present evidence in secret and compel witnesses to testify in secret before a judge.
Unlike a grand jury proceeding, where a prosecutor controls what he wants the jury to hear before the panel decides whether enough evidence exists to indict, John Does are more like depositions, with the judge ultimately deciding whether a crime has been committed.
Milwaukee County District Attorney John Chisholm, a Democrat, has used the John Doe process at least twice against Republican Gov. Scott Walker. One probe focused on whether his aides engaged in illegal campaigning when he was Milwaukee County executive. The other looked into whether Walker’s 2012 gubernatorial recall campaign illegally coordinated with outside conservative groups.
The first probe netted six convictions. The conservative-leaning state Supreme Court halted the other investigation this summer. The court found candidates can coordinate with outside groups on issue advocacy, political jargon for ads that laud or criticize a candidate’s position on an issue but don’t expressly ask voters to elect or defeat him, saying those communications amount to free speech.
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STEVENS POINT, Wis. (AP) - Police say a 20-year-old man is under arrest for a false report about a boat capsizing on the Wisconsin River.
The Stevens Point Police Department says the Portage County Dispatch Center got a call just after 4 a.m. Sunday that a boat had struck the Verso Corp. dam and capsized. The caller said an unknown number of people were in the water.
Several law enforcement agencies responded. After an investigation, authorities determined that a drunken Stevens Point man had given a false report and that no boat had capsized.
Police say the same man had entered the Verso power plant and caused damage, and then fell into the river. He’s being held in the Portage County Jail.
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TOWNSHIP OF OCONTO FALLS, Wis. (AP) - Three elderly people are dead after a two-vehicle crash in northeastern Wisconsin.
The Oconto County Sheriff’s Office says the crash was reported just after 6:30 p.m. Saturday in the Township of Oconto Falls.
According to the sheriff’s office, an 82-year-old Lena woman was driving north on a county road when she failed to stop for a stop sign at State Highway 22. Her vehicle was struck broadside by a van driven by a 35-year-old Oconto Falls man.
Three people in the woman’s vehicle were killed - a 91-year-old Lena man, an 89-year-old Oconto Falls woman and a 96-year-old Oconto Falls woman. The 82-year-old driver was taken to a hospital with non-life-threatening injuries.
None of the five people in the van were seriously hurt. Names of the victims were not released.
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