by TChris

Former District Attorney Joseph Paulus is in prison after swapping cash for dismissals of drunk driving charges (TalkLeft background here and here). But officials have been less willing to investigate the prosecutor's other -- and more serious -- misdeeds.

Bill Lennon, elected to replace Paulus, doesn't understand why the Wisconsin Department of Justice has been slow to investigate reports that Paulus' ethical lapses may have resulted in convictions of innocent defendants. Among other matters, Lennon wants to investigate:

allegations of recently missing evidence from the Oshkosh Police Department in the 1990 Mark Price murder conviction; and allegations that a transcript in the 1999 John Maloney murder case prosecuted by Paulus was altered to exclude "exculpatory statements" by the defendant. ... [T]he probe will look at allegations against Paulus, including "getting people convicted who may not have been guilty of crimes, taking bribes, manufacturing evidence, hiding evidence."

Lennon deserves credit for pursuing these matters, but why isn't the state's Department of Justice taking the lead?

"I understood that the attorney general's office was going to keep us informed and allow us to be minimally involved, and to date that just hasn't happened," the Republican district attorney said. "I don't know what the state of the attorney general's investigation is. They haven't shared anything with us. They haven't kept us up to date -- they have basically put a block on everything."

Perhaps the state's attorney general should spend less time grandstanding and more time trying to recitify the damage caused by this corrupt public official.