December 29, 2004
Please, Connect These Dots ::
politics — tagged ag, crime, legal, politics and wisconsin
5:44 pm
So, ten months ago, a certain Wisconsin Attorney General was cited for a DUI. Then, last month, a high profile hunting incident resulted in five people killed and three hurt. Now, as Talk Left points out, the same Wisconsin Attorney General cited earlier for a DUI is prosecuting the case. This seems a bit fishy to me.
According to Talk Left, this will be the first case that Attorney General Lautenschlager will try personally as attorney general. If you’re still wondering why she picked this case over any other crime in Wisconsin, here’s my theory: (1)It’s a high profile case, which continues to make the rounds in the national news (I can’t seem to get away from the story, even out here in Vermont); (2)Lautenschlager is up for re-election in 2006; (3)she will have some significant political obstacles surrounding her DUI to overcome in that election; (4)what better way to get a head start on those obstacles then to put a dangerous (and potentially mentally unhinged) criminal behind bars.
Now, on the one hand, this is simply a canny political move. The case is high profile. It is also a slam-dunk for whoever prosecutes the case (and no matter their abilities as an advocate). So, I think Lautenschlager will be able to win the case, thus making herself look good — or at least a little better — without too much of a risk of railroading the defendant or otherwise endangering due process. But on the other hand, such a gamble with justice seems like bad ethics. I think that any gamble like this, no matter how slight it is, should be treated with the greatest care or, in the best case scenario, avoided entirely. Not to say that Lautenschlager is necessarily a bad person — she is most likely responding to the necessity of being an elected official. But still, the idea that the defendant would have to pay the price of an unfair trial because of personal mistakes that Lautenschlager made is fundamentally off-putting to me.
