PLEA DEALS GARNER THOUSANDS OF DOLLARS FOR DO-GOOD GROUPS

Some Wisconsin courts - including those in Milwaukee and Waukesha
counties - have collected hundreds of thousands of dollars from
criminals and doled the money out to local do-good groups such as the
Boys & Girls Clubs and DARE.

But such collections have all but ended in Fond du Lac County, where a
prosecutor bemoaned the loss of money to such groups.

And Dane County judges have washed their hands of the practice.

As the state Ethics Board investigates whether former attorney general
candidate Vince Biskupic violated the law by secretly not charging
people who gave money to local groups, prosecutors and judges are
interpreting the law differently on when and how criminals can be
ordered to pay.

Biskupic, a former Outagamie County district attorney, came under fire
after the Wisconsin State Journal reported that he agreed not to
charge about a dozen people who gave about $37,000 to organizations
loosely defined as crime prevention groups.

Unlike plea bargains approved in open court by a judge, these alleged
deals were done in secret, behind closed doors without public
knowledge or oversight.

But some feel that even deals done in open court pose potential for
abuse and chief judges around the state tried to clamp down on the
practice by pushing through new rules in 2000 on how donations can be
ordered.

Daniel Moeser, a Dane County circuit judge who was chairman on the
effort, said judges were concerned that people were able to buy their
way into better deals. Those with ability to pay were getting better
plea bargains than their impoverished peers by agreeing to give money
to prosecutors' favored causes.

The committee got a law passed that says prosecutors can't amend or
dismiss charges in exchange for contributions to crime prevention groups.

Routine in Waukesha But Waukesha County prosecutors routinely enter
into plea bargains in which they ask defendants to plead to one charge
in exchange for having other charges dismissed - and pay money to
Fighting Against Crime Through DARE or Crime Stoppers of Waukesha
County Inc. as part of their sentence.

Fond du Lac County Assistant District Attorney Scot Mortier said
Friday that he thinks those agreements are illegal.

"I don't think you can do that," Mortier said. "Now, has there
actually been a case that says you can't do that? No. But look at the
plain language. You can't seek contributions if you amend or dismiss."

Waukesha County District Attorney Paul Bucher disagreed.

"What that statute is addressing is the quid pro quo, dismissals
solely in exchange for contributions," Bucher said.

"We ask for (contributions) routinely in almost all cases, sometimes
when there are reductions" in charges.

But contributions are only part of the sentence, Bucher said.
Counseling, jail, probation or fines also are ordered.

Waukesha County circuit judges are adopting the recommendations of
Bucher's office. Judges have ordered defendants to pay a total of more
than $90,000 over the last three years to two crime prevention groups:
FACT-DARE and Crime Stoppers.

Both are headed by Bucher. FACT-DARE is a fund that helps pay for Drug
Abuse Resistance Education programs in local schools. Crime Stoppers
pays rewards for crime-solving tips.

Mortier said Fond du Lac County judges used to order criminals to give
money to DARE and a local domestic abuse shelter.

But after the changes in 2000, all but one judge stopped ordering
criminals to make donations. And Mortier and his four peers in the
district attorney's office stopped asking because they believe they
can't.

Mortier wants the tool back.

"The end result of this is that our city and county DARE programs have
lost about $5,000 per year and our local battered persons' shelter
lost about $3,000 per year," he said.

Criminals should give money back to groups that work "to clean up the
mess that they created," Mortier said. "We thought this was a
wonderful common-sense approach."

Some do; some don't Prosecutors and judges in other counties are
continuing to collect funds, including Outagamie County, where
Biskupic served as district attorney, as well as Brown, Washington and
Milwaukee counties.

Ozaukee County judges do not order contributions, nor do their peers
in Dane County. Dane County Clerk of Circuit Court Judy Coleman said
the judges "just don't order them. They don't want to get into the
business. Who do you choose? How do you choose one agency or another?"

In Milwaukee County, judges order defendants to pay money or forfeit
seized proceeds in drug busts to a non-specific "crime prevention fund
trust."

Once a year, a committee of seven - two judges, the district court
administrator and four citizens - reviews applications for funds and
awards "grants" to crime prevention groups.

Last week the committee divvied $185,000 among eight agencies out of
24 that applied. Equal contributions of $25,000 went to the Grand
Avenue Boys & Girls Club, Dr. Howard L. Fuller Educational Foundation,
Latino Community Center, Notre Dame Middle School, PEARLS for Teen
Girls Inc., Southeastern Youth and Family Services and Spotted Eagle
Inc. A $10,000 contribution went to Urban Sports Authority.

In Brown County, judges ordered convicts to give money to just one
group: the local teen court. Collections from defendants rose to
$8,420 in 2002 from $5,441 in 2001.

In Outagamie County, criminals forked over funds to numerous groups,
including the Appleton Police Benevolent Association and programs run
by the Sheriff's Department.

Washington County convicts paid $1,658 to DARE last year and $20 to a
women's shelter. In 2001, payments were $4,750 to the shelter and
$2,409 to DARE.

Sheryl Gervasi, interim deputy director of court operations for the
State Courts Office, said she did not know the current total
collections statewide for crime prevention groups.

But in 1998, she said, it was more than $600,000.