Calumet County District Attorney Ken Kratz: Perverted Justice
September 16, 2010
What happens when prosecutors commit misconduct? What happens when a prosecutor seeks to have sex with a crime victim half his age? We're about to find out:
A prosecutor who sent sexually suggestive text messages to a domestic abuse victim downplayed the seriousness of their content and urged state officials to keep them from the public, his peers and state regulators, e-mails show.
The texts sent by Calumet County District Attorney Ken Kratz could have jeopardized the prosecution of the victim's ex-boyfriend on charges he nearly choked her to death, a state Department of Justice official told Kratz last year.
Kratz, 50, on Wednesday acknowledged sending 30 text messages, which had been obtained by The Associated Press, to the 26-year-old woman while he was the prosecutor on her case last October. He asked in one whether she's "the kind of girl that likes secret contact with an older married elected DA." In others he called her "a hot, young nymph" and tried to spark a relationship.
How did the prosecutor know this girl? Her boyfriend had beat the shit out of her, and he was supposed to prosecute the boyfriend for domestic battery.
Instead of focusing his attention on the criminal, he sent over three dozen perverted text messages to the crime victim. The victim was disturbed, and she reported Kratz to police.
The Wisconsin State Bar conducted an investigation:
The state Office of Lawyer Regulation concluded in March that Kratz's behavior was inappropriate but did not amount to misconduct ....
Perving on a crime victim won't even get a prosecutor a slap on the wrist. And people wonder why there is so much disrespect for lawyers? When lawyers clear other lawyers of misconduct, how is the public supposed to feel about lawyers?
UPDATE: Some of these texts are gold:
Im serious! Im the atty. I have the $350,000 house. I have the 6-figure career. You may be the tall, young, hot nymph, but I am the prize!
I would not expect you to be the other woman. I would want you to be so hot and treat me so well that you'd be THE woman! R U that good?
The delusion of the male ego has no bounds.