TMJ4 is threatening to take the Milwaukee County District Attorney’s Office to court if it does not release a complete copy of the so-called “Brady” list.
The District Attorney’s Office has twice denied an open records request for the full list.
In a letter sent to the office, TMJ4’s lawyer set an August 23 deadline to respond to the news station’s demand to produce the records.
“(We) would prefer not to have to enforce this in court, but the Office’s refusal to provide the public records may leave (us) no choice,” wrote attorney Brendan Healey.
The “Brady” list gets its name from a landmark U.S. Supreme Court case.
In 1964, the court ruled in Brady v. Maryland that officials can’t hide exculpatory information in criminal cases. It’s why many prosecutorial agencies keep “Brady” lists to track law enforcement officers with documented histories of dishonesty, criminal activity, bias, and other integrity concerns.
In January, TMJ4 filed an open records request with the county to obtain their full “Brady” list.
The District Attorney’s Office agreed to provide only a partial list that includes 140 officers who have been “charged with a crime or forfeiture action.” An assistant district attorney said other names, including officers with documented histories of dishonesty, are exempt from disclosure.
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In May, TMJ4 sent a second request asking the DA’s Office to reconsider.
That request was also denied.
In its denial, the DA’s Office claimed that the law gives it a “blanket exception for prosecutorial and investigative files.”
But TMJ4’s and its legal counsel believe that is an overreach and abuse of the law.
“The Wisconsin Supreme Court has emphasized, however, that this so-called ‘blanket exemption’ is actually quite limited,” Healey wrote. “In Nichols v. Bennett, which the Office acknowledged in its June 10 letter, the Wisconsin Supreme Court stated that only ‘documents integral to the criminal investigation and prosecution process’ are exempt… In that case, the Supreme Court recognized the harm that can result if prosecutors are given untrammeled latitude to hide public records from the public: ‘A prosecutor cannot shield documents subject to the open records law simply by placing them into a ‘prosecutorial file.’”
TMJ4 requested the “Brady” list as part of its “Ghosted” investigation.
The series involved a Milwaukee County Sheriff’s Office deputy with a history of repeated misconduct, including five suspensions, records show. In 2016, the deputy was suspended for going to a Walgreens drunk and making “racially inflammatory remarks” to Black people.
Records show witnesses said he yelled “Why do Black lives matter?” and “You’re going to f***ing explain to me, just fess up for your people, what the f*** do I owe you people?”
The Sheriff’s Office told TMJ4 the deputy was not on the “Brady” list.
In a previous TMJ4 report, ACLU Wisconsin President William Sultan said that conduct should absolutely land on the “Brady” list.
“It also demonstrates a failure on the law enforcement agency to effectively discipline its employee,” he said. “I think we can all agree that people exhibiting racist behavior should no longer be police officers.”
Watch: TMJ4 threatens to take Milwaukee County District Attorney to Court.
TMJ4 battling Milwaukee County DA for keeping ‘Brady’ list secret
Sultan believes the case also signals much bigger issues with how Milwaukee County tracks officers with integrity issues.
“It means there are hundreds, maybe thousands, of officers in our state that have demonstrated similar bias, untrustworthiness, that the public doesn’t know about,” he said.
[Editor’s note: Dave Biscobing is the Chief Investigative Reporter for KNXV-TV (TMJ4’s sister station) in Phoenix, AZ and a corporate trainer for Scripps investigative news teams. For this story, he can be reached at David.Biscobing@TMJ4.com .]
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