Английская Википедия:Bruce Schroeder

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Шаблон:Short description Шаблон:Use mdy dates Шаблон:Infobox officeholder Bruce Edward Schroeder[1] (born Шаблон:Circa 1946)[2] is a retired American lawyer and jurist from Kenosha County, Wisconsin. He served forty years as a Wisconsin circuit court judge in Kenosha County (1983–2023). At the time of his retirement, he was the longest-serving state court judge in Wisconsin. He was previously district attorney of Kenosha County. He came to national attention in 2021 due to his role as the presiding judge for the trial of Kyle Rittenhouse.

Early life and political career

Schroeder was born in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, and graduated from Marquette University with a bachelor's degree in history and political science in 1967. He went on to Marquette University Law School and earned his J.D. in 1970.[3] While in college, he was a member of the police force in Whitefish Bay.[4]

Shortly after being admitted to the bar, Schroeder was hired as an assistant district attorney in Kenosha County, Wisconsin, under D.A. Burton A. Scott, and moved to Kenosha to accept the job.[5] As assistant district attorney, Schroeder was Kenosha's first juvenile prosecutor.[6]

Less than two years later, the D.A., Burton Scott, was appointed to a vacant county judge position. The Kenosha County Democratic Party endorsed Schroeder as his replacement.[6] On August 17, 1972, Governor Patrick Lucey appointed Schroeder district attorney to fill the remainder of Scott's term.[3] In the Fall general election that year, Schroeder won election to a full term as D.A., defeating Republican Robert V. Baker in a close race.[7] He was subsequently re-elected in 1974 without opposition.

In the 1974 general election, Kenosha County's state senator, Doug La Follette, was elected Secretary of State of Wisconsin, creating a vacancy. Schroeder entered the Democratic primary race for the April special election,[8] but was defeated by John J. Maurer of Pleasant Prairie in a four-person race.[9] Schroeder did not run for another term as district attorney in 1976. He went into private practice after leaving office.

Schroeder was active in politics with the Democratic Party of Wisconsin through the 1970s, serving as the Kenosha County coordinator for the 1974 re-election campaign of U.S. senator Gaylord Nelson, and for the 1978 gubernatorial campaign of Martin J. Schreiber.[8][10] Due to the 1977 judicial reform laws, a number of new judicial posts were created in Kenosha County in 1978,[11] and at that time Schroeder was named as a likely candidate for one of the new positions.[12] He was not appointed at that time, but served as a court commissioner for the new organization of the Wisconsin circuit courts from 1978 until his elevation in 1983.[13]

Judicial career

In 1983, incumbent Wisconsin circuit court judge John E. Malloy died in office, creating a vacancy. Schroeder was appointed to fill the position by Governor Tony Earl in May 1983,[13] and was subsequently elected to a full six-year term in 1984 without opposition. Since then, Schroeder has been re-elected seven times without facing an opponent, most recently in 2020.[14] He is Wisconsin's longest-serving state court judge.[15]

Schroeder has been the subject of controversy during his judicial career. In 1987, he received attention for his order requiring HIV/AIDS testing for convicted prostitutes.[16] He developed a reputation for being "no-nonsense" and tough on defendants in court and in sentencing.[17] Some attorneys have described him as an "old school" judge.[2] As a result, hundreds of defendants assigned to his court have requested to be transferred to another judge.[18]

Schroeder came to national attention in 2021 for presiding over the trial of Kyle Rittenhouse, who fatally shot two men during the unrest in Kenosha in August 2020.[15] During the trial, some accused Schroeder of bias towards the Rittenhouse defense. He made several rulings in favor of the defense, including not allowing prosecutors to refer to the individuals Rittenhouse shot as "victims" and allowing the defense to refer to them as "arsonist" and "looters," as long as they could prove they did such activities. Prosecutor Thomas Binger reckoned that Schroeder had already admonished him thousands of times for calling someone a "victim" in other trials.[19] Schroeder was also accused of being harsh towards prosecutor Binger by raising his voice and admonishing him, telling Binger a line of his questioning threatened to undermine Rittenhouse's right to remain silent. According to NPR, several legal experts they interviewed said they believed that specific admonishment was appropriate.[20]

Personal life

Schroeder married court clerk Donna Jean Lane on September 30, 1972, at the St. James Catholic Church in Kenosha.[21][22] They have two adopted children,[23] Terrence Michael (born 1979)[24] and Mary Lynn (born 1982).[25] Schroeder is a member of the German American Society.[8]

Electoral history

Kenosha County District Attorney (1972, 1974)

Шаблон:Election box begin | colspan="6" style="text-align:center;background-color: #e9e9e9;"| General Election, November 5, 1972 Шаблон:Election box winning candidate with party link Шаблон:Election box candidate with party link Шаблон:Election box plurality Шаблон:Election box total Шаблон:Election box hold with party link no swing Шаблон:Election box end

Wisconsin Senate (1975)

Шаблон:Election box begin | colspan="6" style="text-align:center;background-color: #e9e9e9;"| Democratic Primary, February 18, 1975 Шаблон:Election box winning candidate with party link Шаблон:Election box candidate with party link Шаблон:Election box candidate with party link Шаблон:Election box candidate with party link Шаблон:Election box plurality Шаблон:Election box total Шаблон:Election box end

Wisconsin Circuit Court (1984–present)

Year Election Date Elected Defeated Total Plurality
1984[26] General Шаблон:Nobreak Шаблон:Nowrap valign="top" Шаблон:Party shading/Nonpartisan | Nonpartisan 20,400 100.0% 20,400 20,400
1990[27] General Шаблон:Nobreak Шаблон:Nowrap valign="top" Шаблон:Party shading/Nonpartisan | Nonpartisan 15,478 100.0% 15,478 15,478
1996[28] General Шаблон:Nobreak Шаблон:Nowrap valign="top" Шаблон:Party shading/Nonpartisan | Nonpartisan 17,102 100.0% 17,102 17,102
2002[29] General Шаблон:Nobreak Шаблон:Nowrap valign="top" Шаблон:Party shading/Nonpartisan | Nonpartisan 11,927 99.72% 11,960 11,894
2008[30] General Шаблон:Nobreak Шаблон:Nowrap valign="top" Шаблон:Party shading/Nonpartisan | Nonpartisan 16,926 99.01% 17,095 16,757
2014[31] General Шаблон:Nobreak Шаблон:Nowrap valign="top" Шаблон:Party shading/Nonpartisan | Nonpartisan 11,507 99.14% 11,607 11,407
2020[14] General Шаблон:Nobreak Шаблон:Nowrap valign="top" Шаблон:Party shading/Nonpartisan | Nonpartisan 26,063 98.70% 26,406 25,720

References

Шаблон:Reflist

External links

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