Nov. 02--A judge ruled Friday that prosecutors have sufficient probable cause to go forward with a case against four Milwaukee police officers charged with conducting illegal strip and rectal searches of suspects.
Milwaukee County Circuit Judge Jeffrey Wagner made his decision at the preliminary examination, after about three hours of testimony from Milwaukee police detective Justin Carloni, who recapped testimony that nine victims gave at a secret John Doe proceedings that led to the charges, filed last month.
The complaint lays out in graphic detail how the primary suspect, Officer Michael Vagnini, conducted searches of men's anal and scrotal areas, often inserting his fingers into their rectums. Vagnini acknowledged performing one of the searches. At least one suspect said Vagnini planted drugs on him.
State law and police procedures prohibit officers from conducting body cavity searches. Only medical personnel are allowed to perform them, and police must first obtain a search warrant.
Attorneys for the other defendants argued Friday that the complaint should be dismissed because what their clients are accused of doing -- sometimes just being present at searches -- doesn't rise to the threshold of party-to-a-crime liability.
District Attorney John Chisholm responded that the specific statute under which the officers are charged makes their mere presence, on duty, an action because it reasserted to the victims that they were not free to leave and had to comply with the searches.
Wagner denied the motions to dismiss the complaint.
The four defendants -- Vagnini, Jeffrey Dollhopf, Brian Kozelek and Jacob Knight -- are now set for arraignment Nov. 15.
Vagnini faces 25 counts and is the only officer charged with sexual assault. Dollhopf faces two counts of misconduct in public office and one count each of conducting an illegal cavity search and an illegal strip search, both as party to a crime. Knight and Kozelek are each charged with a single count of misconduct in public office. In addition, Knight is charged with being a party to the crime of an illegal cavity search, and Kozelek with being a party to the crime of an illegal strip-search.
All have been suspended with pay.
During cross-examination of Carloni, defense attorneys questioned identifications of their clients by witnesses who were never shown photo arrays or asked to pick out the officers from lineups. They pointed out that the complaint puts some defendants at some incidents based primarily on police records that might not account for an officer being reassigned or attending a different matter at the last minute.
An attorney for some of the victims cited in the criminal complaint attended Friday's hearing. Jonathan Safran said his clients were always worried they would not be believed, and will be encouraged that Wagner thought the complaint was credible enough for the case to go forward.
He also applauded that many police officers did testify at the John Doe about what they've witnessed, which corroborated many victims' statements. More than 30 members of the police department testified during the John Doe, which took place over several months earlier this year.
But Safran said there are many more victims and many more officers who conducted improper searches, or did not report knowledge of such conduct, and that he hopes to see more charges.
Copyright 2012 - Milwaukee Journal Sentinel
