January 7, 2009

Why should she?

According to Jefferson County Circuit Court Judge Randy R. Koschnick, he "remains hopeful" that Wisconsin Supreme Court Chief Justice Shirley Abrahamson will sign his "clean campaign pledge."

In a letter dated January 5 and posted at his website, Koschnick purports to remind the C.J. of his twin announcements issuing last November: his intent to challenge her seat on the bench, and the drafting of his own personal "pledge."

"As of the date of this letter," Koschnick writes most recently, "I have received no response from you or your campaign."

And? Nobody can reasonably draw any inference from this, other than the fact that Koschnick says he's received no response.

Koschnick, on the other hand, seems to find it significant. It isn't.

Judge Koschnick might be better off acknowledging the ultimately dispositive issue in State v. Knapp, that law enforcement officers deliberately and intentionally withheld the suspect's Miranda warning.

Or, as Koschnick well knows, that Matthew J. Knapp was found guilty at trial, convicted, and sentenced (by Judge Koschnick) to life in prison in spite of the exclusion of the physical evidence in question.

Even better and more interesting, acknowledging that the U.S. Supreme Court's guidance on the aforementioned dispositive issue isn't quite as clear as Knapp's detractors would like you to believe, consisting as it did of two conflicting plurality* opinions.

How would that be for a pledge.

* A decision by only four (or fewer) of nine justices.

2 comments:

Scot1and said...

As you pointed out Koschnick's pledge is offensive in itself. The call my campaign coordinator line is absurd. The C.J. shouldn't even consider the pledge if Koschnick is unwilling to have direct contact.

Perhaps if I ever find myself in his Court, I'll ask him to call my secretary for scheduling.

Anonymous said...

Sometimes a publicity action such as this, works when you have a district full of cows. Most likely, a hired gun provided him a list of dirty laundry from his own past that could back to bite and utilized smartly by an incumbent.