Few offenses are treated as seriously by police, prosecutors, and judges as sex crimes against children. Even violent crimes, in general, do not result in the same emotional determination to find, prosecute, and punish those who hurt and victimize children. This a lesson that a Wisconsin man is about to learn the hard way—so to speak—as he was recently sentenced to serve 25 years in prison for child sex trafficking.

A Series of Disturbing Events

A 36-year-old man from Rhinelander was sentenced to 25 years in federal prison last week. The man had already pleaded guilty to “sex trafficking of a child under the age of 14 years old.” According to news reports, court documents, and a press release from the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Eastern District of Wisconsin, the plea deal resulted in similar state-level charges in Marathon and Lincoln Counties being dropped.

Court documents indicate the man relied on social media and public Wi-Fi to communicate with minors, often offering money in exchange for sex acts, between 2018 and 2020. The charge to which he pled guilty, however, involved the solicitation of a 13-year-old girl in Illinois in 2019. The man reportedly drove to Illinois to have sex with the child in exchange for cash. Additional investigation found that the man performed or attempted sex acts with several other minors in Wisconsin, Minnesota, and Illinois.

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During a criminal investigation, it is not uncommon for police officers to mislead or even outright lie to suspects in an effort to get them to confess to the crimes in question. For example, an officer might tell a suspect that the suspect’s friend identified the suspect as the perpetrator of the crime, even if the friend said no such thing. While this practice is highly controversial, courts throughout the country have upheld countless convictions and plea deals in cases that involved such deception.

Another type of deception, however, is now being challenged in a 46-year-old murder case from Marinette County. In this case, the deceit is related to how the suspect’s DNA was obtained, long after the case went cold. Even more unusual is the fact that the man who was convicted of the murder died in prison earlier this year, but the appeals are continuing anyway.

A Quick Recap

The case in question was the 1976 double-murder of a young couple in a park in Marinette County, Wisconsin. After an extensive police investigation, the case went cold and remained unsolved until just a couple of years ago.

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If we are being honest, we have all made decisions and done things that we are not proud of, and some might have even led to rather unfortunate results. Relatively few of us, however, have ever done something that might lead to a police chase. Frighteningly enough, this is exactly what happened last week in Milwaukee, when four teenagers allegedly stole a car and led police on a chase that ended in a late-night crash.

A Scary Situation

According to police and new reports, four teenage boys were taken into custody in the early hours of the Sunday of Labor Day weekend. The boys were arrested for allegedly stealing a car and attempting to evade Milwaukee police. The chase ended near 27th and Nash when the car that the boys were in collided with another vehicle.

Representatives from the Milwaukee police say that the driver of the allegedly stolen vehicle was a 15-year-old boy. The other occupants of the car were all males, including another 15-year-old and two 14-year-olds. The police say that vehicle was taken in a robbery and that a firearm was found in the vehicle after the accident. All four were taken into police custody pending a decision on criminal charges from the Milwaukee County District Attorney’s office.

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Thanks to television, movies, and pop culture in general, you probably know that if you are ever arrested on suspicion of having committed a crime, you have the right to remain silent. But do you know why you have this right or why arrestees are reminded that they have it? If you are not 100% sure, you are almost certainly not alone. Many misconceptions and misunderstandings exist about the series of statements that are commonly referred to as a criminal defendant’s “Miranda rights.”

What Are the Miranda Rights?

We have all seen it on TV: A suspect is arrested and read their Miranda rights. However, it is more accurate to call them Miranda “warnings” or “reminders.” The specific wording may vary slightly, but reading a suspect their rights involves four distinct statements and one question.

The four statements are a reminder that:

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If you have ever been arrested and charged with a crime, you probably know that there is a great deal of uncertainty that goes along with facing the Wisconsin criminal justice system. Each case is unique, as it is dependent on the specific circumstances of a given situation, but many cases tend to follow at least some similar patterns.

Starting with your initial charges, your criminal defense lawyer will develop a strategy for defending you, which might include going to trial or negotiating a plea deal. If you are found guilty or plead guilty in accordance with your plea agreement, the judge overseeing your case must decide on a sentence. Certain circumstantial factors could put you at risk for more serious penalties, and it is helpful to know what they are.

Potential Aggravating Factors

Upon a plea or finding of guilt, your case moves into the sentencing phase, during which the judge will go back and review the entirety of the situation. The judge will look at many things, including whether or not there were elements present that warrant harsher criminal penalties. Some of these elements might apply to just about any criminal offense in Wisconsin, such as concealing your identity while committing the offense. Other elements will only be aggravating factors for certain crimes, such as committing a sex crime knowing that you are HIV-positive.

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