SHERIFF STILL WANTS BARCZAK'S CAR

Milwaukee County sheriff's investigators are proceeding with their attempt
to seize former County Clerk of Courts Gary Barczak's 1988 Mazda, which
they say was used to "facilitate the transfer" of the 12.5 grams of crack
cocaine sheriff's deputies found in Barczak's possession last November.

Barczak was sentenced earlier this month to three years of probation and a
$400 fine after he pleaded guilty to misdemeanor drug possession and
possession of drug paraphernalia.

Barczak was initially charged with felony solicitation--the crime of asking
another person to commit a felony--but the charge was dropped in late January.

Before the charge was dropped, a sheriff's department spokesman said the
department usually files forfeiture claims on a drug crime defendant's
property when a felony has been charged. (See Jan. 22 Shepherd Express.)

Why go ahead with the forfeiture of Barczak's car after the felony was
dropped?

"We think it's the right thing to do. We're going to proceed," said Deputy
Inspector Peter Misko, head of the sheriff's criminal investigations
department. Misko said the department was "trying to be fair" with Barczak,
but also questioned Barczak's account of his plans the evening he was
arrested.

After sheriff's deputies saw the drug deal set up by informant Troy Cager
(Barczak's cocaine supplier and former sex partner), Barczak was arrested
in the driveway of his home as he was preparing to leave in the car. He had
a small amount of the crack with him.

"If he was going back to his office, why did he take his crack cocaine with
him? ... He says he never took crack to the office," Misko said, recounting
some of Barczak's claims. "Where was he going?"

The car facilitated the transfer of the cocaine, Misko said, giving
sheriff's deputies and County Corporation Counsel Bob Ott a legal claim on
the car. Ott said in January that law enforcement often stops a forfeiture
if a defendant is cooperating with authorities.

But legal sources interviewed during the course of Barczak's case have said
that seizing a car is uncommon when no drug-dealing crime is charged.
Barczak, reached at his home Monday, was quick to agree.

"Absolutely," he said when asked if he thought the refusal to return the
car was excessive punishment. "I don't think they have any legal standing."

The civil court fight over the car is pending before Winnebago County Judge
Thomas Williams, the judge who presided over Barczak's criminal case. No
court date has been set, and Barczak said his lawyers are preparing a
motion for a summary judgment to dismiss the case. Barczak lawyers
responded to the claim on the car by arguing that the county lacked
jurisdiction to seize it, and that doing so would be an excessive and
unconstitutional punishment.

A Shepherd Express article last fall showed that the sentence Barczak
received in criminal court was consistent with sentencing in drug
possession cases involving first-time offenders. Barczak had no prior
record. Since the sentence, county auditors found a shortfall of over
$1,000 in Barczak's campaign fund, and Barczak and his wife Judy have filed
for a divorce.

Barczak's lawyer Tom Wilmouth refused to comment on the forfeiture case.
Misko is confident that the car will become the property of Milwaukee
County. "A court may disagree," he said. "But the majority of the time we
prevail."