Supreme Tire Slashing Trial Post Mortem

Jeff Wagner, a former federal prosecutor and one time GOP candidate for attorney general, nails it when he writes:

A Shameful Example of Prosecutorial Cowardice

All I can say is "wow"!

Given the pathetic track record of Milwaukee County District Attorney E. Michael McCann when it comes to prosecuting the politically well-connected, the plea agreements in the cases of four of the "Milwaukee Five" should not come as a surprise to anyone. I always thought however that the prosecution would wait until sentencing to take a dive. I mean even a boxer in a fixed fight is supposed to make it look good before he goes down.

The decision to reduce the charges against the four men responsible for slashing tires on GOP vehicles the night before the 2004 election was one of the most disgraceful examples of prosecutorial cowardice that I have ever seen. By allowing the four to plead "no contest" to misdemeanor property damages, McCann has treated a serious case of voter suppression as if it was theft of a few political yard signs. From the perspective of the prosecution, everybody involved in the decision to take the matter away from the jury should be ashamed of themselves.

From the beginning, my impression was that McCann wanted no part of this prosecution. What should have been an investigation that took days dragged on for months. It then took almost a full year after this for the case to be brought to trial. The concept "justice delayed is justice denied" seems tailor made for the way this case was handled.

In any event, once the matter actually went to trial, it struck me that the guilt of the majority of the defendants really didn't seem to be an issue. The defense attorneys all seemed to do a fine job but the idea that unnamed Democrat operatives slashed the tires and set up the defendants seemed to be a pretty far stretch. Regardless, to take this case from the jury and essentially give it away because prosecutors feared the jury might have been hung was absurd.

Show me the rest.