Sheriff hates Demske's guts (D posted bail and has also voted against increasing sheriff's budget)
BAIL POSTED FOR SUSPECT
Sheriff calls for removal of Racine County Board member who posted bail for another man
This screenshot from video shared as an email attachment on Wednesday shows Nick Demske, left, going to post bail for a Racine County Jail inmate, according to the Racine County Sheriff's Office.
RACINE — Racine County Sheriff Christopher Schmaling on Wednesday evening issued a press release in which he called for Racine County Board Supervisor Nick Demske to be removed from his post after Demske posted bail for a man who Schmaling described as “a dangerous criminal with access to high-powered weapons and a large amount of ammunition.”
In response, Demske pointed out that it is not a crime to post bail, nor has the person who was let out of jail — Adrian O. Jefferson — been convicted of any crimes.
According to the Racine County Sheriff’s Office news release, Jefferson, 23, has multiple open cases against him related to firearm offenses. However, according to online court records, he has no prior criminal convictions in Wisconsin.
Demske
Demske posted the $10,000 bail Wednesday on behalf of the Joshua Glover Bail Fund, of which Demske is a leader.
Demske added that, in addition to having not committed a crime, he was unaware of how it would be possible for him to be removed from the County Board without a recall or resigning — which he does not plan to do.
In an interview with WISN-TV, Demske called Schmaling’s statements “a political stunt.”
People are also reading…
- Felon accused of hitting a car and building during police chase in Racine while carrying cocaine, firearm
- Legal for a teen to walk about with an AR-15? Rittenhouse trial judge says yes
- After being found not guilty in homicide, man gets 17 years in prison for firing gun
- Jury out for an hour before convicting man in murder of Marcus Caldwell
Demske and the bail fund
Demske, who works at the Racine Public Library, has represented a district that includes the City of Racine’s south side along the lakefront since first being elected in 2018.
The Joshua Glover Bail Fund is a fund set up by a nonprofit that a local group uses to get people out of the Racine County Jail, giving them better odds of beating charges levied against them and also allowing them some semblance of a normal life outside of jail. After bail is posted for someone, and after the bail money is returned if the person makes all their court appearances and is either convicted or exonerated, the money that was used to bail them out can then be used to bail the next person out.
When the JGBF was set up in spring of this year, Demske told The Journal Times “You and I can get accused of the same crime on the same day and maybe even get the same amount of bail … and if I have the amount to pay it, then I’m out that same day. I’m making my payments on my apartment or my house and keeping my job or keeping up with school … and most importantly I’m able to fight my case from outside of a cage,” whereas someone without the money to afford bail, even if it’s only a couple hundred dollars, remains locked up.
Demske said that if Schmaling has an issue with Jefferson being out of jail, then the sheriff should raise the issue with the court officials who set the bail or the bail system itself — not with the man who posted the bail.
The supervisor also said, in a phone interview Wednesday night, that he did not know about the sheriff’s demand until he was called by a reporter. Of the sheriff’s news release being issued without notice, Demske said “that’s probably not the best way for county elected officials to be communicating with each other.”
In a statement, Schmaling said “Supervisor Demske paid for the release of a dangerous individual, who still may have access to military grade weapons and ammunition, back out into our community. Supervisor Demske has a consistent and extended history of voting against public safety proposals if the proposals are related to law enforcement. Supervisor Demske makes our community less safe, and he should be removed immediately.”
Demske said that the request to post Jefferson’s bail was initially made to the Milwaukee Freedom Fund, but was referred by the Milwaukee Freedom Fund to the Joshua Glover Bail Fund because Jefferson was in Racine’s jail. The JGBF was to be reimbursed for the $10,000 by the Milwaukee Freedom Fund.
Cash bail and Waukesha
A reckoning with the cash bail system may be beginning in Wisconsin, after last week’s tragedy at a Waukesha Christmas parade. The suspect accused of having driven an SUV into the parade, causing six deaths and more than 60 injuries, is Darrell Brooks Jr., 39.
Brooks had gotten out of jail earlier this month by paying bail of $1,000 after being accused of hitting a woman intentionally with his car. The bail being set at $1,000 for such a serious offense was “inappropriately low,” the Milwaukee County District Attorney’s Office stated in retrospect.
After the fatal incident, Brooks’ bail was set at $5 million. That is 150% greater than the bail that had been set for Kyle Rittenhouse in Kenosha County, which Rittenhouse was able to post in November 2020 — less than four months after he shot three people, killing two — thanks to hundreds of donations from supporters across the country. On Friday, Rittenhouse was found not guilty on all charges against him by a Kenosha County jury.
Thomas Roanhouse, chairman of the County Board, and a spokesman for Racine County government did not immediately reply to messages left Wednesday night.
In a Facebook comment Thursday morning, Racine Alderman CJ Rouse replied to the sheriff, writing “What right do you have to make such a bold demand? You Sir are a disgrace to the position and you should be removed.”
Charges
This photo allegedly shows Adrian O. Jefferson with a stolen firearm.
One of the allegations against Jefferson is that he was among a group who, on July 5, 2018, allegedly broke into a locked vehicle owned by a Racine County Sheriff’s Office SWAT Team member and stole multiple firearms, including a fully automatic Colt M16A1 and an Armalite AR-10 rifle with a sniper sight — which the Sheriff’s Office described as a “sniper rifle.” That night, according to the Sheriff’s Office, Jefferson also entered vehicles outside five other homes in the subdivision where the locked vehicle was parked.
Criminal complaints attached to these allegations when they were filed did not state that the firearms were taken from a SWAT team member’s vehicle, but rather only “a truck” parked outside of a home.
As of August of this year, none of the firearms that were stolen have been recovered, according to authorities.
On July 14, 2018, Jefferson is alleged to have committed a carjacking in Milwaukee County that included pointing a firearm at police officers before dropping the gun and being arrested. His bail was initially set at $35,000 with GPS monitoring (and $50,000 without monitoring), but that bail was reduced to $2,500 and Jefferson got out in September 2019, according to the Sheriff’s Office.
Then in May 2020, a warrant was issued for Jefferson’s arrest after an alleged car theft in Waukesha County, after which a $5,000 bail was set.
A warrant was issued in February 2021 for his arrest in regard to the Racine County theft from a SWAT team member’s vehicle, and he was arrested on July 15, 2021, and had been held in the Racine County Jail until his bail was posted Wednesday, according to the RCSO.
According to the Sheriff’s Office, Jefferson is due next in court for a status conference on Dec. 21.
“On today’s date (Wednesday, Nov. 24), County Supervisor Nick Demske posted $10,000, so that Jefferson, who is extremely dangerous to the public, could be released. Jefferson is currently out of custody in the community despite his long and dangerous arrest record,” Wednesday’s RCSO release stated.
Videos shared Wednesday in subsequent emails disbursed by the Sheriff’s Office appear to show Jefferson and at least two other men holding up large firearms, allegedly the firearms stolen from the SWAT team member’s vehicle.
Relationship was icy before
Schmaling and Demske have publicly sparred before, although neither had outright called for the other to be removed from their respective elected office until Wednesday.
Racine County Board Supervisor Nick Demske is shown with a Black Lives Matter sign in June 2020.
Demske has repeatedly voted against measures to expand funding and provide more armaments to the Racine County Sheriff’s Office, such as a new Bearcat armored vehicle for around $300,000 last year.
Demske said Wednesday that he felt targeted by the sheriff, noting that he has been the most vocal opponent among County Board supervisors to expanding the Sheriff’s Office.
Racine County Board Supervisor Nick Demske is shown with a Black Lives Matter sign in June 2020.
“The sheriff is not calling for the judge who set this bail to be removed … even though the judge is the one who said if this amount of money can be put up, then this individual can be let out of jail,” Demske said, noting that Schmaling is “focusing on one particular elected official (Demske) who tends to be most critical of the sheriff’s budget … which takes up not just a lot of the tax levy of Racine County, but the majority of the tax levy.”
In July, Demske said he was “flabbergasted” by remarks made by Schmaling to the County Board after Schmaling called for increased support and funding for his office after a Racine County investigator was shot while subduing an active shooter at a gas station.
In his remarks to the board after the shooting, Schmaling had called reform ideas, such as no longer having traditional law enforcement officers perform routine traffic stops, “insane and idiotic.” Demske had felt targeted by Schmaling at the time, even if Schmaling did not use his name, as Demske has been at the forefront calling for progressive reforms of local law enforcement.
Supervisor Jody Spencer also took issue with Schmaling’s comments from July, writing in an email to a reporter at the time: “The sheriff’s words in addressing the County Board moved me. I felt his emotional account of this incident, and was grateful that he shared what he did with us until he started to chastise a dedicated colleague’s ideas … We should never feel deterred from speaking up … When new concepts are presented — which is what the sheriff targeted toward the end of his statement — they should at least be heard and not scoffed at.”
Likewise, Demske unsuccessfully advocated against raising the Sheriff’s Office’s budget by $1.87 million last year after the County Board declined to raise funding for nonprofits by $20,000. And in 2019, he and one other County Board member, Fabi Maldonado, also of the City of Racine, were the only two who voted against approving the acceptance of a $11,500 grant that would allow the Sheriff’s Office to get a tool that would make it easier for investigators to access data on locked cellphones and tablets.
Schmaling
https://journaltimes.com/news/local/sheriff-calls-for-removal-of-racine-county-board-member-who-posted-bail-for-another-man/article_6d36e864-c53e-53f7-b41d-e9936247987c.html?utm_source=journaltimes.com&utm_campaign=%2Fnewsletter-templates%2Fnews-alert&utm_medium=PostUp&utm_content=c875b689ddaecbc6454a5e71d42fc904f59d36f8
Comments
Post a Comment