In 2012, the US Supreme Court in Miller v. Alabama 567 U.S 460 held that mandatory life sentences without the possibility of parole are unconstitutional for juvenile offenders. While this decision assisted in reshaping juvenile justice, and offered retroactive relief (Montgomery v. Louisiana, 577 U.S. 2016) its impact on Wisconsin is problematic, moot even. Former Governor, Citizen Walker severely curtailed justice reform with the state’s ‘truth-in-sentencing’ initiative which all but nullified parole while extending sentences for thousands of offenders across Wisconsin. It can be proffered that Wisconsin, empowered with legislative discretion when handing down LWOP judgements, has, under th
Since 1989, there have been 60 exonerations in the state of Wisconsin with over 414 years embezzled from the wrongfully convicted. The wrongful incarceration of Brendan Dassey should have catalogued 2018’s tally at 61 and 427 respectively. However, the procedural jigsaw that is the federal appellate process and the unduly restrictive AEDPA statute gutted Brendan’s habeas corpus petition. Positioning his fight for freedom abaft an ornery Wisconsin Department of Justice (DOJ), we lurched out of 2017 with hearts both bruised and stout. "His confession was not voluntary and his conviction should not stand, and yet an impaired teenager has been sentenced to life in prison," "I view this as a pro
