Two unnamed petitioners filed a lawsuit in the state Supreme Court Feb. 7 against a judge and a prosecutor involved in the John Doe investigation into Gov. Scott Walker’s recall campaign fund-raising.
The plaintiffs, represented by criminal defense attorney Dennis Coffey, are suing Circuit Court Judge Gregory Peterson and Francis Schmitz, the prosecutor and judge overseeing the John Doe case.
The petitioners are trying to send the case directly to the high court by filing an “original class action.” Since they filed the lawsuit “under seal,” or under legal protection of secrecy, very little information is available about the case.
Former Supreme Court justice Janine Geske said in a Wisconsin State Journal article it is becoming more common to file directly to the court, but she could not recall another time petitions and orders were sealed. She said the secrecy surrounding the John Doe investigation might have caused the petitioners to seal the order.
This specific case concerns the possible illegal coordination of people connected to Walker while he served as the Milwaukee County Executive. The investigation began in May 2010 and led to six people formerly associated with Walker getting charged for crimes ranging from illegal campaigning to embezzling a veterans’ fund, according to a previous report.
This lawsuit follows a November lawsuit by three unnamed petitioners against Peterson. A three-judge panel consolidated the case, and the case is now in the court of appeals.
Motion is pending on the case, according to online case details.
