Thursday, August 20: New commutation board begins work, apprehension at Election Day goodwill gesture, judge halts teen pregnancy program’s revision, prediction markets and gambling laws, extending voting hours
QUOTE OF THE DAY
“All the children deserve this in Wisconsin. They deserve a second chance, a second look.”
– Wendy Heredia of Justice Forward Wisconsin, who has known Michael Maldonado for eight years and supports his application to have his prison sentence commuted.
Gov. Tony Evers' announcement, shortly before he leaves office, that he will begin commuting sentences of people imprisoned in Wisconsin set off a scramble among incarcerated people and their advocates. (Getty Images)
This Friday, Michael Maldonado, 47, a resident of the Kettle Moraine Correctional Institute who has been incarcerated for 31 years for a crime he committed when he was 15, will be one of 12 applicants considered by Wisconsin Gov. Tony Evers’ Commutation Advisory Board. As the board prepares to begin its work Frank Zufall and Andrew Kennard, fellows in our Criminal Justice Project, review the records of Maldonado’s original crime, his prison term to date and the details of his application for his sentence to be commuted.
Three Wisconsin legal organizations are advising the Sheboygan County Sheriff’s office to take steps to avoid intimidating voters after the sheriff posted it was dispatching deputies to polling locations on primary Election Day last week. What the office saw as an opportunity to connect with the community got pushback from members of the public worried about voter intimidation, threats to election workers and potential election interference during President Donald Trump’s second term.
A federal judge in the District of Columbia issued an order Wednesday blocking U.S. Health and Human Services from implementing sweeping changes to grants under the Teen Pregnancy Prevention Program while a lawsuit proceeds, but dozens of existing grants that were canceled this summer will remain so for now, unless the administration chooses to reinstate the funds. Kelcie Moseley-Morris of Stateline has the latest developments in the lawsuit.
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ICYMI
The Sheboyan County Law Enforcement Center. (Photo courtesy Sheboygan County)
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