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WAUPACA, Wis. (WBAY) - “There could be lots of dirty hands here, but I will find there has been a Brady violation.”
Waupaca County Circuit Court Judge Ray Huber made that ruling after a hearing trying to determine if a suspect’s car was illegally searched. But it’s what was said on the stand during testimony by top members of the Waupaca County Sheriff’s Office that has now unleashed a firestorm -- opening the door for dozens of unrelated cases to possibly be thrown out.
What started as a trespassing call involving a suspect in Waupaca County led to an hours-long court hearing in which the sheriff testified under oath that police reports are routinely altered and deputies don’t always know their reports have been changed.
It’s prompting the district attorney to notify defense attorneys across the state -- with the potential of dozens of cases being thrown out.
FIRST ALERT INVESTIGATES has been looking into this for the last week. We learned that late last week nearly 80 defense attorneys across Wisconsin received what’s called a Brady letter from the Waupaca County district attorney (see complete text below).
District attorneys are legally obligated to tell defense attorneys when an officer is found to have lied or has been untruthful about something in the case. It’s called a Brady violation. That can greatly impact a case -- and in some circumstances get them thrown out. But what we’re talking about here is far different and much bigger with the possibility of many Brady violations because, according to testimony by the sheriff and a detective captain, police reports are routinely changed.
In video of a motions hearing in Waupaca County court, obtained exclusively by Action 2 News, defense attorney Kate Drury questioned several members of the Waupaca County Sheriff’s Office regarding a police report involving her client and a search of his car back in 2020.
“When Detective Captain Thobaben told you she altered a police report, what was your reaction?” Drury asked the sheriff.
“When she said she corrected the report? We do it all the time,” Sheriff Tim Wilz answered.
“And you do corrections to substantive facts of police reports all the time?” Drury followed up.
“We do corrections to incorrect reports draft,” Wilz said.
The report sent to the district attorney’s office reads in part that Drury’s client’s car would be “towed and taken to the Manawa evidence garage to be inventoried and searched.”
But the defense attorney found another report, which she says was the original report, with the same sentence continuing to say “...searched for any possible evidence related to past thefts with [her client].”
According to testimony, when a detective discovered this and told the original deputy working the case, that deputy said he didn’t know his report had been changed.
That began raising questions about how often this happens.
“Did you make the change to this report, removing the language for any possible evidence related to post thefts with [my client]?” Drury asked the deputy who worked that case.
“I did not,” Deputy John Stephens replied.
Stephens testified he didn’t know his report had been changed until after it was at the D.A.’s office.
“And you had nothing to do with that change?” Drury asked.
“Not that change, no,” Stephens answered.
A sheriff’s detective who says he noticed the altered report testified that he raised concerns with the sheriff’s administration.
“I was concerned that the report had been changed and was sent to the district attorney’s office without the authoring deputy’s knowledge,” Detective Sgt. Peter Kraeger told the court.
Drury asked the sheriff, “And so your opinion is that it’s the policy of the Waupaca County Sheriff’s Department to change the factual observations of the author of the report when it’s appropriate?”
Soon after, that detective and another who got involved were placed on administrative leave. Their immediate boss, Capt. Julie Thobaben, who talked with the deputy about the search at the center of the case, was called to the stand. She was asked about changing police reports in general.
“What type of corrections do you make?” Drury asked her.
“Grammatical word changes, any corrections that need be to make the report correct,” Thobaben said.
Waupaca County Circuit Court Judge Ray Huber made that ruling after a hearing trying to determine if a suspect’s car was illegally searched. But it’s what was said on the stand during testimony by top members of the Waupaca County Sheriff’s Office that has now unleashed a firestorm -- opening the door for dozens of unrelated cases to possibly be thrown out.
What started as a trespassing call involving a suspect in Waupaca County led to an hours-long court hearing in which the sheriff testified under oath that police reports are routinely altered and deputies don’t always know their reports have been changed.
It’s prompting the district attorney to notify defense attorneys across the state -- with the potential of dozens of cases being thrown out.
FIRST ALERT INVESTIGATES has been looking into this for the last week. We learned that late last week nearly 80 defense attorneys across Wisconsin received what’s called a Brady letter from the Waupaca County district attorney (see complete text below).
District attorneys are legally obligated to tell defense attorneys when an officer is found to have lied or has been untruthful about something in the case. It’s called a Brady violation. That can greatly impact a case -- and in some circumstances get them thrown out. But what we’re talking about here is far different and much bigger with the possibility of many Brady violations because, according to testimony by the sheriff and a detective captain, police reports are routinely changed.
In video of a motions hearing in Waupaca County court, obtained exclusively by Action 2 News, defense attorney Kate Drury questioned several members of the Waupaca County Sheriff’s Office regarding a police report involving her client and a search of his car back in 2020.
“When Detective Captain Thobaben told you she altered a police report, what was your reaction?” Drury asked the sheriff.
“When she said she corrected the report? We do it all the time,” Sheriff Tim Wilz answered.
“And you do corrections to substantive facts of police reports all the time?” Drury followed up.
“We do corrections to incorrect reports draft,” Wilz said.
The report sent to the district attorney’s office reads in part that Drury’s client’s car would be “towed and taken to the Manawa evidence garage to be inventoried and searched.”
But the defense attorney found another report, which she says was the original report, with the same sentence continuing to say “...searched for any possible evidence related to past thefts with [her client].”
According to testimony, when a detective discovered this and told the original deputy working the case, that deputy said he didn’t know his report had been changed.
That began raising questions about how often this happens.
“Did you make the change to this report, removing the language for any possible evidence related to post thefts with [my client]?” Drury asked the deputy who worked that case.
“I did not,” Deputy John Stephens replied.
Stephens testified he didn’t know his report had been changed until after it was at the D.A.’s office.
“And you had nothing to do with that change?” Drury asked.
“Not that change, no,” Stephens answered.
A sheriff’s detective who says he noticed the altered report testified that he raised concerns with the sheriff’s administration.
“I was concerned that the report had been changed and was sent to the district attorney’s office without the authoring deputy’s knowledge,” Detective Sgt. Peter Kraeger told the court.
Drury asked the sheriff, “And so your opinion is that it’s the policy of the Waupaca County Sheriff’s Department to change the factual observations of the author of the report when it’s appropriate?”
Soon after, that detective and another who got involved were placed on administrative leave. Their immediate boss, Capt. Julie Thobaben, who talked with the deputy about the search at the center of the case, was called to the stand. She was asked about changing police reports in general.
“What type of corrections do you make?” Drury asked her.
“Grammatical word changes, any corrections that need be to make the report correct,” Thobaben said.