No charge for Wisconsin justice accused in choking

MADISON, Wis. — Wisconsin Supreme Court Justice David Prosser won't face criminal charges over allegations that he choked a liberal colleague, a prosecutor said Thursday.

Justice Ann Walsh Bradley accused Prosser of choking her in June as the justices deliberated on a legal challenge to Republican Gov. Scott Walker's contentious collective bargaining law, which strips most public workers of nearly all their union rights. Prosser has denied the allegations.

Sauk County District Attorney Patricia Barrett, a special prosecutor in the case, said she has reviewed investigators' reports and decided there's no basis to file charges against either Walsh Bradley or Prosser. She told The Associated Press that accounts from other justices who witnessed the apparent altercation varied, but she declined to elaborate further.

“I believe a complete review of the report suggests there is a difference of opinion,” Barrett, a Republican, said. “There are a variety of statements about what occurred ... the totality of what did happen does not support criminal charges against either Justice Bradley or Justice Prosser.”

The Dane County Sheriff's Department, which conducted the investigation, has not released the reports.

Walsh Bradley, 61, is generally seen as part of the court's three-justice liberal minority. Prosser, a 68-year-old former Republican legislator, is considered part of the four-justice conservative majority. The factions have been openly feuding for years.

Tensions were running especially high as the justices deliberated over Dane County District Attorney Ismael Ozanne's legal challenge to Walker's union law. Ozanne alleged Republican lawmakers violated the state's open meetings law during debate on the measure.

Walsh Bradley has alleged Prosser choked her the night before the court released an opinion upholding the law.

The charging decision initially fell to Ozanne because Walsh Bradley said the altercation took place in the state Capitol in Madison, the Dane County seat.

But Ozanne, a Democrat, asked a judge to appoint a special prosecutor in his place, saying he wanted to avoid any appearance of a conflict of interest since Prosser upheld the union law. Dane County Chief Judge. C. William Foust tapped Barrett.

Prosser issued a statement entitled, in capital letters, “Justice Prosser Cleared,” saying he always knew he would be exonerated and accusing Walsh Bradley of sensationalizing the incident.

“I am gratified that the prosecutor found these scurrilous charges were without merit,” Prosser said. “I look forward to the details of this investigation becoming public record.”

Walsh Bradley issued her own statement saying she was never focused on prosecuting Prosser and only wanted to address what she termed a “workplace safety issue.”

“I well understand the difficulty of gaining any criminal conviction,” she said. “The prosecution's burden of proof is very heavy, as it should be. I also know that criminal charges alone would not have addressed our safety in the workplace and the special prosecutor's decision not to file charges does not resolve the safety issue, either.”