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Joint Finance Approves Two Gun Prosecutors in Milwaukee

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The Milwaukee County District Attorney’s office will make room for two new prosecutors from the state Justice Department. The new officers will focus solely on prosecuting gun crimes in Milwaukee.

The legislature’s Joint Finance committee voted unanimously Wednesday to allow the Justice Department to spend more than $350,000 on the new hires.

This past summer, amid a soaring homicide rate in Milwaukee, leaders here and the state Department of Justice struck an agreement. It would pay for two state prosecutors to set up shop in the Milwaukee County DA’s office to help with gun cases.

On Wednesday, the Joint Finance committee approved the funding. Republican state Sen. Alberta Darling of River Hills believes the additional manpower will make a difference.

“Getting the habitual criminals and career criminals off the street as our police chief wants us to do, so they can’t plea bargain down their gun crimes from felonies to misdemeanors. They don’t get any consequences for those misdemeanors so they go on and on and on until finally they commit a major murder or they themselves are murdered,” Darling says.

One legislator who feels the move is inadequate is Democratic Rep. Chris Taylor of Madison. She insists the state needs to attack the problem on several fronts.

“The only solution I hear is let’s hire two more ADA's in Milwaukee. We’re not having the conversation about gun safety measures that are reasonable that people want. 90 percent of the people in this country want universal background checks. Those are the issues the public wants us to tackle and this is just a little tiny band aid. I’m going to support it because it’s better than nothing but it’s nowhere near good enough,” Taylor says.

Another panelist reluctant to support the plan but ended up voting for it anyway is Democratic state Sen. Lena Taylor of Milwaukee. She admonishes Republicans for on sanctions.

“This is the same old, same old. I know that the DA’s office is understaffed but you continue to create more and more penalties. We have the Department of Punishment, not Corrections,” Taylor says.

Republican state Rep. Dean Knudson defends the plan. He says it’s about locking up people known to be violent.

“What we’re talking about today has nothing to do with school shootings and mental illness. This has to do with violent crime on the streets of Milwaukee every day by people who are involved in gangs, they’ve done it before and they’re still out on the streets,” Knudson says.

Knudson acknowledges passage of the measure is only a small part of the solution. The committee’s action on Wednesday was final, so the two new prosecutors will soon begin handling gun cases in Milwaukee.

Marti was a reporter with WUWM from 1999 to 2021.