Doug Huffman
Banned
imported post
http://www.greenbaypressgazette.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article%3FAID%3D/20080131/GPG0101/80131048/1206/GPGnews&cid=0
http://www.jsonline.com/story/index.aspx%3Fid%3D713855&cid=0
http://www.madison.com/wsj/home/local/270728&cid=1127156529
http://www.620wtmj.com/news/local/15277941.html&cid=0
CRANDON, Wis. (AP) -- More families have filed claims seeking to hold the employers of a Forest County sheriff's deputy accountable for a shooting rampage that killed six young people and severely wounded another.
Forest County Clerk Ann Mihalko said 12 notices of claim were filed with her office Monday. Four victims' estates or parents are seeking money from the county for their deaths, and the lone survivor is seeking compensation for his injuries.
Crandon City Attorney Lindsay Erickson said similar claims were filed with the city. The local governments can either allow or disallow the claims, she said.
If the claims are denied, the next step under Wisconsin law would be a civil lawsuit.
Tyler Peterson, 20, gunned down six young people in the early morning hours of Oct. 7 after he showed up at a house party in Crandon to make up with ex-girlfriend Jordanne Murray but was told to leave.
Peterson, also a part-time Crandon police officer, got an assault rifle from his truck, went back inside and started shooting, investigators have said.
He died hours later after holing up at a friend's property. Authorities have said Peterson suffered what appeared to be self-inflicted head wounds, along with a wound in the arm from a long-range bullet.
The ex-girlfriend's father, Paul Murray, filed a notice of circumstances of claim last week, alleging the Forest County Sheriff's Department and Crandon Police Department were negligent in Peterson's "training, supervision and control."
The two notices did not seek a specific dollar amount in damages but claimed Murray suffered the "wrongful death" of his 18-year-old daughter, her medical and funeral expenses and the loss of "society and companionship."
The notices said Murray would submit more formal claims once his loss was more fully evaluated.
Along with Jordanne Murray, Aaron Smith, 20, Bradley Schultz, 20, Lindsey Stahl, 14, Lianna Thomas, 18, and Katrina McCorkle, 18, died in the rampage.
Charlie Neitzel, 21, was the lone survivor.
According to Mihalko, the claim notices filed Monday involved the estates of Schultz, Stahl, Thomas and McCorkle, their parents and Neitzel.
The families' attorney, former attorney general Peg Lautenschlager, who is now in private practice in Madison, did not immediately return a telephone message Monday.
The Wisconsin Department of Justice official suspended last week is linked to an e-mail about fellow employees that officials deemed threatening, according to a letter written by a department official.
The letter indicates that the e-mail was either sent or received by Carolyn Kelly, the suspended director of the department 's special assignments bureau and state fire marshal.
The email is part of an investigation into "possible misconduct " by an employee and won 't be immediately released, according to the letter, signed by Dean Stensberg, the department official in charge of handling requests for documents from the public.
The letter, released on Saturday, doesn 't say whether the e-mail or the investigation is connected to Kelly 's suspension on Jan. 28. Justice officials have declined to release the text of the electronic message.
Kevin St. John, a spokesman for Attorney General J.B. Van Hollen, declined to comment on the suspension or elaborate on the letter, which the Justice Department provided to the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel in response to an open records request.
Kelly declined to comment on the letter, and said she has not had contact with Justice officials regarding the circumstances of her suspension since she was notified of it last week.
Kelly has confirmed she is on paid administrative leave. Her salary is $87,107.
As director of the special assignments bureau, she oversaw agents who assisted local law enforcement investigating murder cases and police shootings, among other things. Agents she supervised responded to the October murders of six people in Crandon by an off-duty sheriff 's deputy, and she was part of a team reviewing law enforcement 's handling of the situation. The deputy, Tyler Peterson, killed himself hours after the rampage.
A report on the matter is expected to be released on Thursday.
Dan Bach, a former deputy attorney general who is Kelly 's lawyer, said he has not seen the email referenced in the letter and that Kelly has not been given a specific reason for her suspension.
"We 're mystified by this, " Bach said. "She 's been a 25-year employee with absolutely a stellar record. "
Kelly has been on maternity leave for several weeks, and was still at home when she was notified of the suspension, Bach said.
Kelly 's suspension is the second move involving high-level officials in the Division of Criminal Investigation. DCI administrator Jim Warren resigned on Jan. 2, saying in an e-mail his year under Van Hollen had been "very difficult. "
Attorney General J.B. Van Hollen will discuss the slayings of six young men and women in Crandon at a news conference in Madison on Thursday, four months after the killings by an off-duty Forest County sheriff's deputy.
Van Hollen has been largely silent on the killings since an initial briefing Oct. 9, when he directed authorities and local residents to avoid sharing information about the crimes.
The investigative branch of the state Department of Justice has led the inquiry into the shootings and subsequent suicide of the killer, Tyler Peterson. In his only public account, Van Hollen said that the 20-year-old shot himself in the head three times during a confrontation with law enforcement officers roughly 12 hours after the slayings.
Since then, the Department of Justice has refused to release any records, autopsy results or witness statements related to the investigation, pending a review by Forest County District Attorney Leon Stenz.
Stenz said Friday that he had finished the review but would not discuss his conclusions before Van Hollen's news briefing.
This week, the parents of one of the victims filed notices of claim, accusing the Sheriff's Department and Crandon Police Department of failing to properly train and supervise Peterson.
[font="Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif"][font="Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif"]MADISON — Wisconsin Attorney General J.B. Van Hollen refused to say Wednesday why the state fire marshal has been suspended. [/font][/font]
[font="Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif"][font="Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif"]Carolyn S. Kelly was suspended this week indefinitely with pay from her job as director of the arson bureau inside the Wisconsin Department of Justice. She had been in that position since 1994.
Kelly is also a senior homicide investigator for the department, where she has worked for 25 years.
“We in the Department of Justice are not going to be publicly discussing personnel issues,” Van Hollen said during a news conference he called to announce a new crime alert system for businesses. “Those are issues that are handled within the department.”
Kelly had been part of the team of state and local officials reviewing the October shooting deaths of six people by off-duty sheriff’s deputy Tyler Peterson in Crandon. Van Hollen has promised to release some records relating to the investigation in the coming weeks.
Van Hollen would not say whether her suspension was related to that case. He did say he did not believe Kelly was under criminal investigation.
Kelly’s suspension was the second change in recent weeks at the top of the state Division of Criminal Investigation. [/font][/font]
http://www.greenbaypressgazette.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article%3FAID%3D/20080131/GPG0101/80131048/1206/GPGnews&cid=0
http://www.jsonline.com/story/index.aspx%3Fid%3D713855&cid=0
http://www.madison.com/wsj/home/local/270728&cid=1127156529
http://www.620wtmj.com/news/local/15277941.html&cid=0
CRANDON, Wis. (AP) -- More families have filed claims seeking to hold the employers of a Forest County sheriff's deputy accountable for a shooting rampage that killed six young people and severely wounded another.
Forest County Clerk Ann Mihalko said 12 notices of claim were filed with her office Monday. Four victims' estates or parents are seeking money from the county for their deaths, and the lone survivor is seeking compensation for his injuries.
Crandon City Attorney Lindsay Erickson said similar claims were filed with the city. The local governments can either allow or disallow the claims, she said.
If the claims are denied, the next step under Wisconsin law would be a civil lawsuit.
Tyler Peterson, 20, gunned down six young people in the early morning hours of Oct. 7 after he showed up at a house party in Crandon to make up with ex-girlfriend Jordanne Murray but was told to leave.
Peterson, also a part-time Crandon police officer, got an assault rifle from his truck, went back inside and started shooting, investigators have said.
He died hours later after holing up at a friend's property. Authorities have said Peterson suffered what appeared to be self-inflicted head wounds, along with a wound in the arm from a long-range bullet.
The ex-girlfriend's father, Paul Murray, filed a notice of circumstances of claim last week, alleging the Forest County Sheriff's Department and Crandon Police Department were negligent in Peterson's "training, supervision and control."
The two notices did not seek a specific dollar amount in damages but claimed Murray suffered the "wrongful death" of his 18-year-old daughter, her medical and funeral expenses and the loss of "society and companionship."
The notices said Murray would submit more formal claims once his loss was more fully evaluated.
Along with Jordanne Murray, Aaron Smith, 20, Bradley Schultz, 20, Lindsey Stahl, 14, Lianna Thomas, 18, and Katrina McCorkle, 18, died in the rampage.
Charlie Neitzel, 21, was the lone survivor.
According to Mihalko, the claim notices filed Monday involved the estates of Schultz, Stahl, Thomas and McCorkle, their parents and Neitzel.
The families' attorney, former attorney general Peg Lautenschlager, who is now in private practice in Madison, did not immediately return a telephone message Monday.
The Wisconsin Department of Justice official suspended last week is linked to an e-mail about fellow employees that officials deemed threatening, according to a letter written by a department official.
The letter indicates that the e-mail was either sent or received by Carolyn Kelly, the suspended director of the department 's special assignments bureau and state fire marshal.
The email is part of an investigation into "possible misconduct " by an employee and won 't be immediately released, according to the letter, signed by Dean Stensberg, the department official in charge of handling requests for documents from the public.
The letter, released on Saturday, doesn 't say whether the e-mail or the investigation is connected to Kelly 's suspension on Jan. 28. Justice officials have declined to release the text of the electronic message.
Kevin St. John, a spokesman for Attorney General J.B. Van Hollen, declined to comment on the suspension or elaborate on the letter, which the Justice Department provided to the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel in response to an open records request.
Kelly declined to comment on the letter, and said she has not had contact with Justice officials regarding the circumstances of her suspension since she was notified of it last week.
Kelly has confirmed she is on paid administrative leave. Her salary is $87,107.
As director of the special assignments bureau, she oversaw agents who assisted local law enforcement investigating murder cases and police shootings, among other things. Agents she supervised responded to the October murders of six people in Crandon by an off-duty sheriff 's deputy, and she was part of a team reviewing law enforcement 's handling of the situation. The deputy, Tyler Peterson, killed himself hours after the rampage.
A report on the matter is expected to be released on Thursday.
Dan Bach, a former deputy attorney general who is Kelly 's lawyer, said he has not seen the email referenced in the letter and that Kelly has not been given a specific reason for her suspension.
"We 're mystified by this, " Bach said. "She 's been a 25-year employee with absolutely a stellar record. "
Kelly has been on maternity leave for several weeks, and was still at home when she was notified of the suspension, Bach said.
Kelly 's suspension is the second move involving high-level officials in the Division of Criminal Investigation. DCI administrator Jim Warren resigned on Jan. 2, saying in an e-mail his year under Van Hollen had been "very difficult. "
Attorney General J.B. Van Hollen will discuss the slayings of six young men and women in Crandon at a news conference in Madison on Thursday, four months after the killings by an off-duty Forest County sheriff's deputy.
Van Hollen has been largely silent on the killings since an initial briefing Oct. 9, when he directed authorities and local residents to avoid sharing information about the crimes.
The investigative branch of the state Department of Justice has led the inquiry into the shootings and subsequent suicide of the killer, Tyler Peterson. In his only public account, Van Hollen said that the 20-year-old shot himself in the head three times during a confrontation with law enforcement officers roughly 12 hours after the slayings.
Since then, the Department of Justice has refused to release any records, autopsy results or witness statements related to the investigation, pending a review by Forest County District Attorney Leon Stenz.
Stenz said Friday that he had finished the review but would not discuss his conclusions before Van Hollen's news briefing.
This week, the parents of one of the victims filed notices of claim, accusing the Sheriff's Department and Crandon Police Department of failing to properly train and supervise Peterson.
[font="Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif"][font="Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif"]MADISON — Wisconsin Attorney General J.B. Van Hollen refused to say Wednesday why the state fire marshal has been suspended. [/font][/font]
[font="Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif"][font="Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif"]Carolyn S. Kelly was suspended this week indefinitely with pay from her job as director of the arson bureau inside the Wisconsin Department of Justice. She had been in that position since 1994.
Kelly is also a senior homicide investigator for the department, where she has worked for 25 years.
“We in the Department of Justice are not going to be publicly discussing personnel issues,” Van Hollen said during a news conference he called to announce a new crime alert system for businesses. “Those are issues that are handled within the department.”
Kelly had been part of the team of state and local officials reviewing the October shooting deaths of six people by off-duty sheriff’s deputy Tyler Peterson in Crandon. Van Hollen has promised to release some records relating to the investigation in the coming weeks.
Van Hollen would not say whether her suspension was related to that case. He did say he did not believe Kelly was under criminal investigation.
Kelly’s suspension was the second change in recent weeks at the top of the state Division of Criminal Investigation. [/font][/font]
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