Milwaukee County Judge Janet Protasiewicz, who is now one of the top two candidates remaining for a vacant seat in the Wisconsin Supreme Court, has a record of being soft on crime.
Protasiewicz is running against ex-Justice Dan Kelly and currently holds an edge over him after liberal justices won 54% of the vote in the first round of the election to conservatives 46%.
The Wisconsin Republican Party launched a website detailing various instances where Protasiewicz gave violent offenders and sex offenders light sentences.
It includes her giving no jail time to a man who raped a 15-year-old and no jail time to a mother who starved her special needs child to death, and, most recently, an instance where she sentenced a man who raped his own family member to only 14 months in jail.
Protasiewicz acknowledged her light sentence, saying that she was giving him the ‘least amount of time she thought was appropriate’.
The Daily Mail Reports–
Janet Protasiewicz sentenced rapist to just 14 months in prison https://t.co/WtPX3hV00J via @MailOnline
— Bo Snerdley (@BoSnerdley) February 25, 2023
A liberal candidate for the Wisconsin Supreme Court gave a man who raped his own cousin a 14-month sentence because he ‘wasn’t a danger to the public.’
Milwaukee County Judge Janet Protasiewicz, 60, who is running against the conservative former Justice Daniel Kelly, oversaw the sentencing of Jovian Reese, 23, who was convicted of sexually assaulting his cousin in 2018.
While Reese faced a maximum sentence of 10 years, Protasiewicz opted to give him just 14 months in prison, along with 50 hours of community service, 1130 WISN reports.
‘Mr. Reese, I am giving you the least amount of time I think is appropriate,’ she said during the sentencing. ‘It is significantly less than what I thought I was going to give you.’
According to the criminal complaint filed against Reese, the then-18-year-old had invited his cousin to his house on December 9, 2017, and raped her after she fell asleep.