BEFORE THE PERSONNEL COMMITTEE OF TAYLOR COUNTY, WISCONSIN In the Matter of: Sheriff Bruce Daniels, Complainant, ORIGINAL Vs. Det. Sgt. Steven Bowers, Respondent. Hearing held on the 3rd day of October 2017 at the Medford County Courthouse, Third Floor, Old Courtroom, Medford, Wisconsin. Court Reporter, Mariann Merkel. Merkel's Reporting Services 1?715-387?1247 LUMP BEFORE THE PERSONNEL COMMITTEE OF TAYLOR COUNTY, WISCONSIN In the Matter of: Sheriff Bruce Daniels, Complainant, Sgt. Det. Steven Bowers, Respondent. Hearing held before Board Members, Rollie Thums, Scott Mildbrand, Lester Lewis, Charles Zenner, and Corporation Counsel Courtney Graff on the 3rd day of October 2017. Merkel's Reporting Services 1-715-387-1247 Appearances FOR THE COMPLAINANT: Mindy K. Dale, Esq. Weld, Riley, S.C. 3624 Oakwood Hills Parkway P.O. Box 1030 Claire, WI 54702-1030 FOR THE RESPONDENT: Andrew D. Schauer, Esq. Wisconsin Professional Police Association 660 John Nolen Dr., Ste 300 Madison, WI 53713 FOR THE COMMITTEE: Courtney Graff, Esq. Schmiege Graff Law Office, Ltd. 123 W. State Street Medford, Wisconsin 54451 Also present: Marie Koerner Rich Burghaus INDEX Page Opening Statement by Ms. Dale . . . . . . ..20 Opening Statement by Mr. Witness Larry Woebbeking DIRECT EXAMINATION BY MS. DALE . . . . . . . ..66 VOIR DIRE BY MR. SCHAUER . . . . . . . . . . . . . ..84 CROSS-EXAMINATION BY MR. SCHAUER . . . . . ..106 REDIRECT EXAMINATION BY MS. DALE . . . . . ..134 Merkel's Reporting Services 1-715?387-1247 RECROSS BY MR. SCHAUER . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . ..136 Witness Page Kevin Mayer DIRECT EXAMINATION BY MR. SCHAUER . . . . ..l38 CROSS-EXAMINATION BY MS. DALE . . . . . . . . ..142 Witness Page Christine O'Toole DIRECT EXAMINATION BY MS. DALE . . . . . . . ..143 CROSS-EXAMINATION BY MR. SCHAUER . . . . . ..161 QUESTIONS BY MR. ZENNER . . . . . . . . . . . . . . ..165 QUESTIONS BY MS. GRAFF . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . ..166 REDIRECT BY MS. DALE . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . ..167 RECROSS BY MR. SCHAUER . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . ..167 Witness Page Melissa Seavers DIRECT EXAMINATION BY MS. DALE . . . . . . . ..169 CROSS-EXAMINATION BY MR. SCHAUER . . . . . ..187 REDIRECT BY MS. DALE . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . ..194 QUESTIONS BY MR. ZENNER . . . . . . . . . . . . . . ..197 RECROSS BY MR. SCHAUER . . . . . . . . . . . . ..l96,l98 Merkel's Reporting Services 1?715-387-1247 WNH EXHIBITS Exhibit 1: July 28, 2017, cover letter and Complaint against Sgt. Steve Bowers Exhibit 2: August 3, 2017, letter from Attorney Andrew Schauer requesting a hearing on the charges Exhibit 3: Statutory authority for reference: Wis. Exhibit 4: March 7, 2017, Report of Sheriff Daniels regarding meeting with Chief Deputy Woebbeking and Sgt. Bowers placing Sgt. Bowers on paid administrative leave Exhibit 5: March 7, 2017, memo placing Sgt. Bowers on paid administrative leave Exhibit 6: June 2, 2017, investigatory interview notice Exhibit 7: Internal Investigation Warning from June 14, 2017, investigatory interview Exhibit 8: June 23, 1993, payroll record change form showing Bowers' date of hire Exhibit 9: March 11, 2005, payroll record change form showing Bowers' job change from Deputy to Detective Exhibit 10: November 2013, payroll record change form showing Bowers' job change from Detective to Sgt. Detective Exhibit 11: 2016?17 collective bargaining agreement (no arbitration procedure) Merkel's Reporting Services 1-715-387?1247 man-boom Exhibit 12: Acknowledgment for receiving Taylor County Sheriff Office policy dated March 24, 2014 Exhibit 13: Relevant Taylor County Sheriff 8 Department Policies and Procedures Exhibit 14: Various historical e-mail communications from Sheriff regarding release of information from TASO Exhibit 15: 2007 employee acknowledgment of receipt of Information Technology Agreement Exhibit 16: July 20, 2007, Information Technology Agreement Exhibit 17: November 15, 2012, Information Technology Agreement Exhibit 18: December 13, 2012, e?mail communication to all employees regarding approval of Employee Handbook and its availability on intranet. Exhibit 19: Relevant portions of Taylor County Employee Handbook Exhibit 20: June 14, 2011, letter from Sheriff Daniels regarding Cellular Telephone Usage Exhibit 21: Taylor County Sheriff 8 Department TIME System Policy Exhibit 22: TIME System Training records Exhibit 23: Wisconsin Department of Justice Crime Information Bureau Agency Agreement Merkel's Reporting Services 1-715-387?1247 Exhibit 24: July 19, 2012, e-mail documenting TIME System security awareness user training requirements Exhibit 25: Wisconsin TIME System Security Awareness handout - Secure Area Access Only, dated July, 2012 Exhibit 26: Wisconsin TIME System Security Awareness handout, dated July, 2012 Exhibit 27: Wisconsin TIME System Inservice Training materials, dated February 13, 2008 Exhibit 28: Documentation of completed modules dated March 7, 2012; March 5, 2014; and March 3, 2016 Exhibit 29: E?mail communication between Chief Deputy Woebbeking and various Individuals associated with Cold Justice to show sequence of events Exhibit 30: Law Enforcement License Agreement with and Productions Exhibit 31: Law Enforcement Location Agreement with and Productions Exhibit 32: Law Enforcement Appearance Release Form, Arbitration Provision, Confidentiality and Voluntary Participation Agreement with and Productions - Larry Woebbeking Exhibit 33: Law Enforcement Appearance Release Form, Arbitration Provision, Confidentiality and Voluntary Participation Agreement with and Productions - Steven Bowers Merkel's Reporting Services 1-715-387-1247 book) 0301 Exhibit 34: E?mail communication between Sgt. Det. Bowers and various individuals associated with Cold Justice Exhibit 35: Master Investigation Grid for Cold Justice filming Exhibit 36: Page 1: Transcript of voice mail message to Christine O'Toole Page 2: E-mail string from February 27, 2017, between Bowers and O'Toole Exhibit 37: February 27, 2017, e?mail communication from Sheriff regarding release of information and Bowers' response Exhibit 38: February 28, 2017, e?mail communication from Sheriff directing to Bowers to retrieve documents Exhibit 39: February 28, 2017, e?mail communication from Bowers to Christine O'Toole regarding return of records Exhibit 40: February 28, 2017, e?mail communications from Christine O'Toole to Sheriff Daniels apprising him tha? ce returned Exhibit 41: March 1, 2017, report of Sheriff Daniels regarding improper dissemination of confidential information to Cold Justice personnel Exhibit 42: March 2, e-mail communication between Sheriff Daniels and Betty Danen (former Data Records Manager) regarding Merkel's Reporting Services 1-715?387?1247 Exhibit 43: March 13, 2017, report of Chief Deputy Woebbeking regarding improper release of information to Cold Justice personnel Exhibit 44: that were returned to Shief Deputy from Cold Justice Exhibit 45: March 7, 2017, report of IT Director Melissa Seavers with Screen sho+s of droobox access members and contents or Exhibit 46: March 3, 2017, e?mail communications between IT Director Seavers and Sheriff Daniels to show access to Dropbox contents have been removed. Exhibit 47: Dropbox Terms of Service Exhibit 48: Dropbox Privacy Policy Exhibit 49: Verification of Jaime Henrichs' employment dates Exhibit 50: Portion of 1d letters that Bowers sent noting tuat the information was confidential Exhibit 51' Portion of TIME records Exhibit 52: Portion of \cuments relating to 4' Exhibit 53: Portion of ?*le of reports contains by another County, references to children, and interview with a minor Merkel's Reporting Services 1-715-387-1247 DJN Exhibit 54: Portion showing DCI reports saved and copy of the DCI Reports Exhibit 55: April 26, 2017, report of Sheriff Daniels regarding IT Director's discovery that Leleted from the Dropbox Exhibit 56: April 26, 2017, report of IT Director Melissa Seavers regarding 5 with Screen shots nF access members and contents of showing deletion of dropbox contents and County's restoration of the documents, Screen shots showing list oflinked devices and deleted and restored files Exhibit 57: Screen shofc thwinq directory of files found on dated February 25, 201! Exhibit 58: Training records for WAHI conference, identifies "Cold Case Review Team" Exhibit 59: .1 Exhibit 60: Police reports regarding Facebook harassment Exhibit 61: E-mail communications regarding Facebook Harassment Exhibit 62: E?mail communications regarding assignment to Sheriff Exhibit 63: Sheriff Daniels report and attachments regarding the "Poem" Merkel's Reporting Services 1?715-387-1247 001wa Exhibit 64: Transcript of Sgt. Det. Bowers' investigatory interview Respondent's Exhibit List. Exhibit 1: Front page of website of Kelly Siegler, and information from "Bio" and "Accomplishments" pages of her website Exhibit 2: Curriculum Vitae of Steven J. Spingola. Exhibit 3: Curriculum Vitae of Jaime L. Alberti. Exhibit 4: E-mail from Mary Palmer re Jaime Henrichs n/k/a Alberti 2012 Role Model of Our Core Values Award and attachments re same. Exhibit 5: E-mail from Det. Capt. Greg Hagenbucher and attached picture re Wisconsin Homicide Investigators Meritorious Service Award. Exhibit 6: Wausau Daily Herald story: "Wausau PD announces awards" dated March 2, 2016. Exhibit 7: Dropbox Receipts. Exhibit 8: Text messages between Jaime Alberti and Kelly Piller. Exhibit 9: Pinterest post from Kelly Piller to Jaime Alberti. Exhibit 10: Facebook Messenger messages between Kelly Piller and Steven Bowers. Merkel's Reporting Services 1-715-387-1247 Exhibit 11: Letter from Patrolman Greg Toro regarding Bowers' extra effort in solving burglary, dated July 20, 1994. Exhibit 12: Certificate of Recognition to Bowers as a "Traffic Safety Champion" from Office of Transportation Safety, dated January 19, 1996. Exhibit 13: "Make It Happen Performance Award" to Bowers from Medford Police Department and Taylor County Sheriff Department, dated November 18, 1998? Exhibit 14: Letter of thanks to Bowers from Chief Justice Shirley Abrahamson, dated December 3, 2001. Exhibit 15: Letter and note of thanks to Bowers from Medford Area Senior High School for I arranging presentation regarding Teen Awareness Day dated February 18 and 19, 2003. Exhibit 16: Thank vou note to Bowers from family of 1 - .I Exhibit 17: Letter of Commendation from Medford Police Department regarding Bowers' work training department personnel on operation of in squad cameras and ordering and installation of same, dated February 17, 2004. Exhibit 18: Letter from ommending Bowers' performance in citing him for speeding, and note from Bruce regarding same, dated February 26, 2004. Merkel's Reporting Services 1?715-387?1247 Exhibit 19: Thank you letter from Stetsonville Elementary School regarding Bowers' quick response regarding a missing child, dated October 7, 2004. Exhibit 20: Certificate of Commendation and letter from Medford Police Department to Bowers for actions in the line of duty leading to an arrest, dated May 5 and 19, 2005. Exhibit 21: Thank you letter from University of Wisconsin?Extension to Bowers for giving a presentation on Methamphetamine Issues in Taylor County, dated July 29, 2005. Exhibit 22: Letter of Appreciation to Bowers from Taylor DA Karl Kelz regarding efforts concerning a criminal interdiction detail, dated September 30, 2005. Exhibit 23: Thank you letter from Northcentral Drug Enforcement Group regarding Bowers excellent job with assignments during a drug abuse investigation, dated February 7, 2007. Exhibit 24: Thank you note to Bowers regarding presentation to law class dated October 16, 2007. Exhibit 25: Letters from Bruce Daniels and Larry Woebbeking regarding Bowers' work after a head on collision, dated June 29, 2011 and July 6, 2011. Exhibit 26: Thank you letter to Bowers from regarding getting money returned to them, dated May 14, 2012. Merkel's Reporting Services 1-715-387-1247 DON Exhibit 27: Fax cover sheet from Bruce Daniels, proposed Taylor County Board Commendation Resolution, and Application to American Police Hall of Fame and cover letter from Bruce Daniels regarding Bowers' work "negotiat[ing] with hostile gunman who was barricaded in a home, after having shot and seriously injured one of our other deputies" in which he "successfully negotiated with the suspect to turn himself in without further harm or bloodshed," dated October 9, 2013. Exhibit 28: From Bruce Daniels to Bowers regarding department staff meeting where he "will be acknowledged for [his] years of dedicated service to the Taylor County Sheriff's Department" and where he "will be acknowledged for the critical part [he] played in successfully diffusing a highly dangerous incident," dated March 26, 2014. Exhibit 29: Thank you and commendation letter from Robert Shields Jr., U.S. Department of Justice Special Agent in Charge to Bowers for his efforts in support of the FBI's nationwide active shooter training initiative, dated November 20, 2015. Exhibit 30: Recommendation for Detective Sergeant Position from Chief Deputy Larry Woebbeking. Exhibit 31: Video of "Cold Justice" Television Program, Season 2, Episode 5, aired February 14, 2014, httos://. Exhibit 32" Video of "Cold Justice" Television Program, Season 4, Episode 8, to air September 23, 2017, [link to be provided next week]. Merkel's Reporting Services 1-715?387?1247 Joint Exhibit 1 Joint Stipulations Joint Exhibit 65 - Time Sheet Exhibits Received/Stipulated Joint 1 Joint 65 Complainant's Exhibits Received/Stipulated 29,30,34,35,36,37,38,39, 40,41,42,43,49,61,62,63,65 Respondent's Exhibits Received/Stipulated Please note the above?mentioned exhibits were stipulated or received on the record. If not noted, they were not discussed during the hearing. Merkel's Reporting Services 1?715-387-1247 MR. ZENNER: We'll call the meeting to order. First item approve the agenda of six items. MR. MILDBRAND: Approve. MR. THUMS: Second. MR. ZENNER: All in favor? MR. THUMS: Aye. MR. MILDBRAND: Aye. MR. LEWIS: Aye. MR. ZENNER: Opposed? Motioned carried. Personnel Committee, which serves as the Grievance Committee, will meet for the purpose of conducting a hearing pursuant to Wisconsin Statutes for considering disciplinary action of a sheriff's department deputy. The committee will adjourn into closed session pursuant to Wisconsin Statute and for: Considering dismissal, demotion, or discipline of any public employee and the taking of the formal action on any such matter; provided that the public employee is Merkel's Reporting Services 1?715?387?1247 (JON given actual notice of any evidentiary hearing which may be held prior to final action being taken and of any meeting at which final action may be taken and the right to demand that the evidentiary hearing or meeting be held in open session. Wisconsin Statute The employee has been provided notice through counsel and has requested that the evidentiary portion of the meeting be held in closed session. Deliberations concerning a case which was the subject of any judicial or quasi-judicial trial or hearing before that government body under Wisconsin Statute and conferring with legal counsel for the governmental body who is rendering oral or written advice concerning strategy to be adopted by the body with respect to litigation in which it is or is or is likely to become involved under Wisconsin Statute The meeting will reconvene in open session pursuant to Section 19.83, Wisconsin State Statutes, to take any necessary action on the matter discussed in closed session. Merkel's Reporting Services 1?715-387?1247 MR. LEWIS: So moved. MR. MILDBRAND: Second. MR. ZENNER: Motion is made second to go into closed session. Roll call vote. Rollie. MR. THUMS: Aye. MR. ZENNER: Scott. MR. MILDBRAND: Aye. MR. ZENNER: Lester. MR. LEWIS: Aye. MR. ZENNER: Myself, aye. We are in closed session. MS. DALE: I will start with the opening statement. MS. GRAFF: Perhaps we should give appearances for the record. MS. DALE: I am Mindy Dale with Weld Riley and I am representing the sheriff in this matter and he is bringing to you his recommendations as Sergeant Bowers be terminated. MS. GRAFF: And the appearance on the other side. MR. SCHAUER: My name is Andrew D. Schauer staff attorney with the Wisconsin Merkel's Reporting Services 1?715?387?1247 001 Professional Police Association. With me also is business agent Rich Burghaus and Sergeant Detective Steven Bowers appears in person. MR. THUMS: Rollie Thums, supervisor from District 12. MR. MILDBRAND: Scott Mildbrand, I represent District 6 of the county board. MR. LEWIS: Lester Lewis, I represent District 13. MR. ZENNER: Chuck Zenner, District MS. GRAFF: Attorney Courtney Graff, corporation counsel. The previously mentioned gentleman makeup the Personnel Committee. MS. KOERNER: I am Marie Koerner. I am the HR manager serving as the secretary for the committee today. MR. SCHAUER: Can I make a point? MS. GRAFF: Sure. MR. SCHAUER: For the record one of the committee members is not here and will not participate in any point in the taking of testimony or the deliberations of this Merkel's Reporting Services 1-715-387-1247 case; correct? MR. ZENNER: Correct. MR. SCHAUER: Any discipline would have to be sustained by three of the four of you; correct? MR. ZENNER: Correct. MS. DALE: And Ms. Graff, is acting as the hearing officer in her role as corporation counsel. OPENING STATEMENT BY MS. DALE: With that, I will begin with an opening statement, then Sergeant Bowers' attorney will be giving an opening statement and we will begin with our testimony. I want to thank you for being here today. We're going to try to do our best to present the evidence as seamlessly and efficiently as possible so that we don't have to keep you here for the full three days scheduled this week and two possible next week. I want to note this is an administrative hearing so hearsay evidence is admissible. It's up to you to determine how much weight you give to that hearsay Merkel's Reporting Services 1-715-387?1247 \lmUevidence and I know I'm going to try to abstain from making objection so that we can keep things going and keep things moving. In front of you is a binder of exhibits that contains the sheriff's exhibits. Also in that binder is a calendar. The event that we're going to be talking about for the most part occurred in February and March of this year. So if you would like to refer to that calendar, take notes on that calendar it's for you to use and those would be your personal notes and not part of the record. First, just a couple of ground rules. The allegations that have been made against Sergeant Bowers could also constitute criminal violations. So when we, when I say "we" the sheriff as part of this investigation and I, interviewed Sergeant Bowers we give him what is called a Garrity Warning and it is Exhibit 7 in the binder. It provides that any information that he provided during that investigatory interview or anything we learned as a result of that investigatory interview could not be used in Merkel's Reporting Services 1-715-387-1247 waH any subsequent matter. It can only be used in a personnel matter. So that same is true today. Anything you hear, any of the testimony has to stay confidential and cannot be used in any other forum. So that Garrity Warning continues through this hearing. Sergeant Bowers has been compelled to tell the truth and, again, nothing that he says can be used in any other subsequent proceedings. The other housekeeping matter or matter of importance is the confidentiality of these binders and the information that is in them. We are going to be talking about three open murder investigation files. One is the Monte case. That was a case that was the subject of a TV program which I'll explain in a minute. There are two other open murder investigations that we will be discussing,? case. When the charges were drafted, they were referred to as car 7 ix? Merkel's Reporting Services 1?715-387-1247 shat/became very apparent that it's very difficult for the individuals to talk about what happened and try to do so in a way referring to Case A and Case B. So we will be referring to those cases by name. They are confidentialdisclose any portion of that information to anyone else. So what are we here about today. This case is about trust and common sense. You don't disclose confidential information from an open murder investigation file to your girlfriend or to a TV reality show without permission. You don't tamper with evidence. You don't give false information during an investigation or misleading information during an investigation. The case will focus on that release of Merkel's Reporting Services 1-715-387?1247 \IONU?lbwa confidential information. There also will be some additional information about three smaller matters that just demonstrate that Sergeant Bowers should not be in a supervisory position. You don't use your authority as a sergeant to dispatch a deputy to a woman's home to tell her to stop Facebook messaging you and your girlfriend when you are not happy with how the City of Medford Police Department handled it. You don't ignore a harassing and bullying e-mail that is sent by one of the subordinates on a Saturday afternoon and then have a conversation with him on Saturday night and telling him it is ballsy and then tell the sergeant that-?or the chief deputy, well, he didn't read the full thing until Sunday and he still didn't take action after he read the full e?mail. And you don't tell your subordinates that they should forward their cases to the sheriff to review while you are busy filming a TV reality show without asking him first. You don't commit these acts of Merkel's Reporting Services 1?715?387?1247 ubme misconduct and remain employed by the Taylor County Sheriff's Department. Now what I want to highlight is the evidence that we are going to present and give you a little bit of background. Prior to 2013 Sergeant Bowers set up a Dropbox. I don't know if you are familiar but it's a cloud-based storage and you can use it to store documents, photographs, videos. He used that cloud storage, that Dropbox, for personal and work purposes. He put policies on it, he kept track of his vacation hours, he stored video from SWAT training, he downloaded personal videos and photographs. And he said he did it for convenience sake so he could refer to it when he was outside of the office but he didn't tell anyone that he had done this. Then in approximately March or April he allowed his girlfriend access to that Dropbox and she accessed it and read portions of the file. His explanation was Merkel's Reporting Services 1-715-387?1247 that she had worked for the Taylor County District Attorney's office in the past. It was ten years ago. Since then she had worked at the Marathon County District Attorney's office. She worked there for eight and a half years. She was privy at that point to the confidential information regarding Marathon County murder investigations, not Taylor County murder investigations. She then moved into the corporation counsel's office and for the last over two years has worked in corporation counsel's office. She's not even in the D.A.'s office. She had absolutely no authority and Sergeant Bowers had absolutely no authority to give his girlfriend access to that Dropbox. He asserted that it was okay because be viewed her as an extension of law enforcement. She wasn't an extension of law enforcement. She was not an extension of the Taylor County investigatory team working on that file. She had absolutely no Merkel's Reporting Services 1?715?387-1247 boom GUI authority to access that and he had no authority to give her access. He also asserted that, well, she had had discussions about that case with a DCI agent so she was part of the team essentially. Well, if that happened two wrongs don't make a right. That's a confidential murder investigation information. Now it brings us to Cold Justice. In 2015 the chief deputy, and you'll hear his testimony, received a phone call from a TV show called Cold Justice indicating that a family had reached out to them about doing a show about an unsolved murder in Taylor County. Cold Justice, I don't know if you are familiar with it, comes in, reviews the case file in some occasions looked at evidence and may send that evidence out for additional forensic information, does interviews of witnesses, and attempts to solve the murder. It can be a valuable service, but at the same time it is a TV show. It's film for entertainment value. Merkel's Reporting Services 1-715-387-1247 boom qumm They came in and did a show here. So in 2016 the family contacted the chief deputy and asked them to followup with Cold Justice and see if they were still interested in the case. The chief deputy did and provided them with a very generic summary of what the case was about. They in turn determined that they did have some interest in working with Taylor County on the file so they asked for additional information on that murder investigation. Before any information was released, the chief deputy followed Taylor County policies and procedures, well known. You don't release confidential murder investigation materials without permission, without clearing it with the sheriff, and without clearing it with the district attorney, because the district attorney is the individual that has to try that case. The district attorney ultimately agreed to release the case file information to them. Over the next months details were ironed out, contracts were signed, and they came in to do the filming. Merkel's Reporting Services 1?715-387?1247 (JUN Prior to the time they arrived, Sergeant Bowers was assigned to assist on the case. Chief deputy was the lead investigator but Cold Justice wanted someone else to participate. What Cold Justice does is they send out teams of two, a representative of the show and an active law enforcement officer from Taylor County to do the interviews. Sergeant Bowers was that second person. Prior to them arriving he sent out some forensic evidence to be re-examined and then on Friday, February 24th he met the Cold Justice stars for the first time, a prosecutor from Texas, and a retired law enforcement officer from Milwaukee County. He met with them at 3:00 in the afternoon. He was so enamored with them that the very next day he allowed them access through their e-mail addresses to the full He also started looking for documents relating to another file, said he couldn't find it or wasn't sure if he found the information so he directed the data records Merkel's Reporting Services 1-715-387?1247 .mwN manager to find the physical boxes of all the information from that murder investigation file and give that information to Cold Justice. The two boxes are right there. There is all the evidence on that case and a box marked medical records, directed them to just give them to them so they could review the information and scan it into their computer so it would be on a file. No one inventoried that material before it went up, it was just given to them. The data records manager also created three She pulled off what she had access to on the computer, which was some of Sergeant Bowers' files and some of Detective Harlan Schwartz's files. She put those on CD. She also obtained a file from Harlan Schwartz and he downloaded what he had and gave it to them. She put the CD's in those boxes and they took them out of the sheriff's department offices. This third floor was their staging area. This is where they did the interviews, this is where they did the Merkel's Reporting Services 1-715-387?1247 filming, this is where they had their work station. When the sheriff found out the next day accidently that the information had been released, he sent out an e?mail communication, and it's in your binder at Exhibit 37. He sent out, and I apologize for killing trees, he sent out an e-mail that stated, just wanted to send a reminder to the sheriff's office records are just that and release of those records need to go through appropriate channels. It's my understanding that the people here filming have shown some interest in other cases than the one they are here for. It's my understanding that records related to those cases have been released to them. There are very good reasons for why these type of releases need to be approved. I would be very glad to hear the reason why our policies were disregarded by whoever directed this to happen. I also expect that there will be no further release of any record of this type without my Merkel's Reporting Services 1-715-387-1247 authorization." And he sent that out at 5:00 p.m. because he found out late afternoon that the breach had occurred. He found out that the records manager had released the boxes and that there was this Dropbox out there. Sergeant Bowers responded two hours later, approximately, a little less than two hours, he said he was correct that it did happen and it was me, he admitted it. He released the records. He was working with the investigator and the prosecutor as part of that we were talking. They asked if we had any other cold homicides and I said we did. After explaining the cases to them they said they were interested in them. guess I got caught up in the whole we were working together thing and the fact that this case was going so well. In my exuberance with the fact that this may be the thing we need to get over the hump in these cases, I let them read the case file to see if they would even be interested in them. Know that I meant no disrespect to you, nor was it my intent to disregard the Merkel's Reporting Services 1-715?387-1247 policies of the department. In my eyes at this time I saw it as more sharing with another agency as opposed to the release of information. I simply saw it as an opportunity for me to get farther on these cases and took it. In hindsight, I realize I should have run it by you and realize that I was wrong." He had known the Cold Justice staff less than 24 hours before he released that information to them and he didn't just let them read the file, he gave them the entire file and the access to everything that was on that computer disk. The sheriff began damage control, talked to the district attorney, requested that the records be returned. Cold Justice Yet the next day while the filming crew was in Milwaukee with the chief deputy they handed over a file containing documents . mud .. Merkel's Reporting Services 1-715-387-1247 LION director shut off Sergeant Bowers' e-mail address, went into the Dropbox and shut off the shared feature so that those individuals from Cold Justice could not have access to that Dropbox any more. In April, just prior to scheduling his investigatory interview, the sheriff had IT access that Dropbox so he could do an inventory of what was 0' To his surprise that Dropbox had been deleted from the Dropbox. IT was able to restore the file and to have the evidence of what had been released to Cold Justice. Sergeant Bowers will tell you he was not trying to destroy evidence he was simply trying to get his documents back. He was trying to get access to his Dropbox. He had access to the Dropbox. While the county thought they had shut off his access, he was able to access that from any device that had been linked to that account. So he could still access that Dropbox from his cell phone. He didn't delete all the work Merkel's Reporting Services 1-715?387-1247 nwaiinformation from it, he just deleted that file. So we have missing evidence that IT restored. We began and the sheriff conducted additional investigation on the case. In preparation for the investigatory interview, the box was brought down, both back from evidence and the evidence storage room and it was discovered that there were four disks in the box. The question is where did that fourth disk come from. So the data records manager popped it in to see when it was created. It was created on that Saturday that Sergeant Bowers was looking for the When asked during his investigatory interview where the CD came from, he said that he had no idea and that he had not downloaded anything from -, clearly he had. IT compared the contents of that file to what is only accessible on Sergeant Bowers' private drive. He has an drive that only he and IT can access. What was on that disk mirrors what was on his file. Further, the sheriff discovered that CD's Merkel's Reporting Services 1-715?387?1247 (JUN are numbered sequentially and the type of CD didn't match any that was in the storage room or any that of the sheriff's department used but it match the CD folder, the stack of CD's, that was in Sergeant Bowers' office and sequentially was the one that was next. So our witness first you will hear from the chief deputy and he will provide you with some background information and his interaction with Cold Justice, then you will hear from Kevin Mayer, he's a dispatch jailer, he's the one that wrote the poem and had the e?mail communication that was sent out to staff that was inappropriate. Then you will hear from the data records manager, Christine O'Toole regarding the directives she was given and what she did, then you will hear from the IT director, Melissa Seavers, she will walk you through what she found as she went through the investigation, then you hear from District Attorney Kristi Tlusty who will describe her interactions with Cold Justice and the potential impact that this releases have on her ability to prosecute these cases. Then we may call Merkel's Reporting Services 1?715?387-1247 boom Sergeant Bowers to the stand and it depends on whether we need to explain anything through him, but we will have the sheriff kind of summarize everything and fill in the gaps as far as some of the documentation and why he is recommending termination. In summary, I'm sure that the crew from Cold Justice are very nice people. I understand that they are going to be here tomorrow and they are going to testify about when they were here and what they did. I'm sure they are sincere about working with counties but they don't just do it out of kindness of their hearts. This is a TV show and Sergeant Bowers did not have the right to release that information and to have somebody that jumps to that conclusion and makes that snap judgment on his own that it's okay, you have to seriously think how can I trust him in the future and what kind of decisions is he going to make next time. For the purposes of this hearing, the sheriff is not going to take issue with the fact that Sergeant Bowers established an utilized a Dropbox for personal and work Merkel's Reporting Services 1-715-387-1247 mwawm related purposes. He does take issue with the fact that Sergeant Bowers downloaded that confidential computer file on an open murder investigation and then shared the contents of that document. This information has to be kept confidential for a number of reasons and the implications are grave. There is personal liability if counties release information such as this outside of the confines of active law enforcement. The information contained in the Dropbox file also contained information from the TIME system. TIME system is an electronic database that is only available to state, federal, and international law enforcement agencies. Misuse of that time information can result in penalties, it can result in loss of this agency being able to access that information. In your binders at Exhibit 3 is a list of the statutory criteria that you are going to be asked to take into consideration when making your decision. The first page outlines the hearing procedure but what is Merkel's Reporting Services 1-715-387-1247 most important is on -- MR. SCHAUER: I'm sorry, Mindy, what tab are you on? MS. DALE: I'm on Tab 3 and it's Page 31. MR. SCHAUER: Okay. Go ahead. That's fine. MS. DALE: What you will find in the binder for ease of reference they have been Bate stamped starting Number 1 so they are sequentially numbered through Exhibit 63 so that we can refer to the page numbers as we go along and it will be easier for you to follow. But under 5m, these are the criteria that you will be asked to make your decision. The first-?A asks whether the deputy MR. SCHAUER: -- I understand you have every right to summarize your case but can we dispense with reading them the statutes? MS. DALE: I'm going to explain the statute to them and what the evidence will show. Merkel's Reporting Services 1?715-387-1247 boom MR. SCHAUER: Please go ahead. MS. DALE: The first determination is whether the deputy could reasonably be expected to have knowledge of the probable consequences of the alleged conduct. Sergeant Bowers knew the rules. Rule violations can result in disciplinary action up to and including termination. The second criteria is whether the rule or the order that the deputy alleged violated is reasonable. We are dealing with department policies, we're dealing with state and federal regulations that provide and safeguard confidential information and these rules are reasonable. The next criteria is whether the sheriff before filing the charge against the deputy made a reasonable effort to discover whether the deputy did in fact violate the rule or order and that is what the evidence will show that he did violate these rules. Whether the sheriff before filing the charge--I'm sorry made a reasonable effort to discover whether the deputy did in fact violate the rules he did a thorough and Merkel's Reporting Services 1?715-387-1247 complete investigation over a period of several months. Whether the effort described was fair and reasonable. These are serious violations and there is no evidence to suggest that the sheriff would not have treated anyone else the same way. Whether the sheriff discovered substantial evidence that he violated the rule, again, you'll hear that evidence today. Whether the sheriff is applying the rule fairly and without discrimination. Some of these seem to repeat. Again, they are serious violations and no evidence to suggest that he would have treated any other individual differently. And whether the proposed discipline reasonable relates to the seriousness of the alleged violation and the deputy's record of service with the sheriff's department. It does. Sergeant Bowers was a 20-year county employee. He had only one written warning in his file but that does not mitigate against termination. Merkel's Reporting Services 1-715?387-1247 mow?The union may argue that this penalty is too great, that he didn't realize at the time that he was wrong and he won?t do it again. But we have serious violation of trust, serious violation of common sense. At the end, after you have heard all the evidence, I ask you to think can you trust this deputy who is engaged in these types of activities, can you trust him with confidential information, can you trust him not to disclose confidential information to individuals that he shouldn't disclose information to. He disclosed it. Once milk is spilled you can't put it back in the carton. The information has been compromised from these murder investigations. You can't just ask forgiveness and keep your job. I want to thank you for your attention and, again, we will try to do our best to be as expeditiously as possible in presenting this evidence. Thank you. OPENING STATEMENT BY MR. SCHAUER: First of all, let me introduce myself I am Andrew Schauer. I am the attorney for Merkel's Reporting Services 1-715-387?1247 (nu-Iwa \the WPPA, the union and also Steve Bowers for this hearing. Let me answer opposing counsel's last two questions before I get into my prepared opening statement. Yes, you can ask for forgiveness and go on and say no more and fix the issue and continue to work that is what progressive discipline is all about. Subsection of the statutes that opposing counsel read talks about his record of service with the department for a reason. The statutes tell you to follow progressive discipline in Subsection G. The county has not suspended or demoted Steve Bowers. So you have every ability to judge whether or not he is sincere in admitting the wrongs that he did, fighting with them about the wrongs that he didn't do and apologizing sincerely for the things that he had done wrong. If you accept that apology at face value, as you should because Steve has never been accused of any type of value of trust before, then the law states that you have to consider his record of service, engage in Merkel's Reporting Services 1?715-387-1247 AWNH OUT progressive discipline and reduce this termination to something more reasonable like a suspension. So, yes, of course, you can ask for forgiveness, say no more and be an employee. Now with regard to my prepared remarks. In response to the great majority of the charges here you are going to hear us say, yes, that occurred but what happened isn't a violation of the policy or if it technically falls under the policy we're going to ask to you look at whether or not it is a big deal, whether it is a substantial violation, okay. Not every violation of policy is a terminable offense, otherwise Subsection of the statute would not exist. That might come off to you like we're making excuses for his actions but please remember we have to present the case this way because it isn't as black and white as at sheriff and his counsel would have you believe. It's not just your job as a committee to either sustain, reduce or reject the sheriff's proposed line of Merkel's Reporting Services 1?715-387-1247 (JON discipline here to determine whether some violation of policy occurred. It's your job per that statute to determine whether the proposed penalty relates to the seriousness of the allegation in light of Sheriff Bowers' service record. Not only has he not been suspended before, he has not been demoted. We have brought evidence of over 20 letters of thank you, commendations and awards that are all in the file. The sheriff in order to sustain discipline has to look at his entire record of service and the charges which are--you don't have to turn it to but just trust me. Exhibit 1 in the big binder you are not going to see any mention at all in here of anything positive in Steve Bowers' file. The sheriff did not review his entire record of service and did not consider that in making this termination, you need to. When you look at this entire case, when you do something that the sheriff didn't do, it will be clear that this is a gross over reaction to the actually proven violations Merkel's Reporting Services 1?715-387?1247 bookthe policies that the sheriff can prove and that Steve admits to. The rest of it we believe will be exposed?-just let me go onto the next thing. Let's take the charge upon which the sheriff and the opposing counsel spent the most time. In sharing protected law enforcement information with a reality TV show. Now I know when that is all you say it sounds awful, but when you peel back what actually happened and with who it happened and what Bowers did and what he admits what he did, it all be very understandable to you. The reality show that was mentioned by opposing counsel is called Cold Justice and what they do is they take law enforcement professionals and they send them to local law enforcement agencies and they focus on solving a specific cold case that the department has. They bring in all sorts of DNA and ballistic experts to try to cover additional evidence that wasn't found earlier. They bring something to the table for that law Merkel's Reporting Services 1-715?387-1247 enforcement agency that that law enforcement agency might not have resources to do themselves or time to do themselves. This show has been responsible for 28 arrests, l6 indictments and ten convictions. This is not Cops, okay. This is a serious group of people trying to actually do good in the world by giving resources to local law enforcement so that that they can bring justice to families. One of the families that they want to bring justice to was the Eugene Monte family. The sheriff allowed this team to come in and work with Chief Deputy Woebbeking and Steven Bowers on this Eugene Monte homicide. We keep talking about the Cold Justice team just like there are some hot shots from California. One of the people on the Cold Justice team his name is Steve Spignola and he was featured pompously in the episode about the Monte case which just aired recently. Steve Spignola is not only a retired Milwaukee Police Department detective, he is also currently a detective for the Village Merkel's Reporting Services 1?715?387-1247 Lannon Police Department. He is a current, certified, and sworn Wisconsin law enforcement and that is who Steve was driving with the first day that they were driving. And like Steve does with other sworn law enforcement people that he does they start talking about other cases. They start sharing war stories, every single detective that I know that I have ever talked to does this. Sharing of information about other cases leads to additional knowledge amongst law enforcement, it is to be encouraged. As cops often do during downtime from driving to the interviews, Bowers mentioned to Spignola that there were two other cases that the Cold Justice team might be interested in. The executive producer for the show, Nan Strait, and the star of the show, former Texas prosecutor Kelly Siegler, will be here tomorrow to testify how they asked Steve, in fact, pushed Steve to get them the files on these other two homicide cases. Bowers saw that the department gave the Cold Merkel's Reporting Services 1-715?387-1247 Justice team permission to talk to all of these people about the Monte case and, therefore, saw no reason not to give them the files r' ?44? lmv-crc or That's the sum and total of this awful thing that opposing counsel just described. This awful sharing of information that can't happen. He was sharing it with a group of people who the sheriff already gave permission to review the Monte case. What possible reason could he have to say that these people weren't also trustworthy enough to be able to hold what they found out about these two other cases in confidence as well. Of course Steve wants all the help he can to solve these cases. The victims of those crimes of their families demand no less, right. So he turned over the documents. One of the cases was already in electronic form on the electronic storage system called Dropbox and the other one was a physical file. For that file Bowers gave Merkel's Reporting Services 1-715-387-1247 @01wa Christine O'Toole, the data records manager, instruction to turn over the file to Cold Justice. Now Christine doesn't answer to Bowers, she answers directly to the chief deputy. If what was turned over by Ms. O'Toole to the Cold justice people was not indexed properly that's on her and people that she answers to not on Steve. So this idea that Steve just willy nilly said, give them the file, he said, give them the file for this specific purpose it is extremely reasonable. It should have been Christine's job to know what it is that she gave to the Cold Justice people and be able to testify that she got that all back and low and behold there is an e?mail in here that says, - So, again, there is a level of separation between what Steve did with regard to the She hasn't received any amount of discipline at all, she won't. The sheriff completely says that she was told by Steve to do this and, therefore, it's on Merkel's Reporting Services 1-715-387?1247 ($01.5me Steve and not Christine when Christine's title is Data Records Manager. So take that for what you will. If the data records manager of the department had a question as to whether this was an appropriate thing ask her manager, Chief Deputy Woebbeking. Long story short, she turns over the file. It very quickly got back to the sheriff that these records had been released and Bowers admitted immediately that it was him that ordered that these records be turned over or that he turned them over himself through the Dropbox. He admitted that it was him that turned over these other two files to the Cold Justice team. Instead of the sheriff just saying to him, hey, I really wish you would with run that by me first, what does he do he engages in a full blown investigation that takes months into figuring out what Bowers admitted to. Think about that for a second. Why would the sheriff go into a full blown investigation mode over something that Steve Merkel's Reporting Services 1-715-387-1247 \Jmm said at moment one, it was me, I'm sorry, I got a little ahead of myself, I should have asked you first. Then the sheriff goes into full blown investigation mode. There is absolutely no reason for it. You heard a lot talk about just now. In that investigation, they found out that these CD's had been copied. Steve will testify here today, and I think he did testify at the investigate interview that he doesn't have any recollection of doing that. There is a very good reason he doesn't have a recollection of doing that. He worked 75 hours that week and they asked him about it five months after it occurred. So they are saying, well, these are here and they were made. I don't know how that happened, I don't remember doing that. He doesn't say he didn't do it he just said he didn't remember doing it. Now that can't be untruthfulness for purposes of this hearing and why would Steve ever lie about such a thing. Steve is an investigator, he is a detective, he knows Merkel's Reporting Services 1-715-387-1247 ALON how computers work. He knows that every time you delete something on the county computer that the county IT department can find it. So why is he going to lie about something like that. It makes no sense. He didn't lie. He didn't intend to tell them he never did it. If that is what the transcript says we're going to politely disagree with the transcript and we will tell you about that when it comes up. In that investigation, he found out that Bowers also used a paralegal from Marathon County Corporation Counsel's office who had a great deal of experience in organizing working homicide investigations to help review and organize these files. Now if we're going to treat Jaime Alberti with a little bit of respect let's do it professionally. That is how she should have been described first not as his girlfriend. She is his girlfriend, we admit that, but she is also a professional who does a job and does it extremely well. So for the sheriff and his counsel to say, oh, he's just sharing the files with his Merkel's Reporting Services 1-715?387-1247 GUI girlfriend and anybody else, completely not the case. This isn't like the girlfriend was a bartender at the corner tap and that she is just, oh, hey look at this, this is cool. That isn't what he did. He shared this information with Ms. Alberti so that they could compile the case, so that they could take it to the Wisconsin Association of Homicide Investigators to try to get work on it and the sheriff has a problem with that. Okay, I guess he does, yes, officially does she work for a law enforcement agency called a law enforcement agency, no. Does she work for the Marathon County Corporation Counsel's office, yes. Are they a criminal justice agency, yes, and we will get into that in more detail. Most important of all the rules he is accused of violating and this goes throughout the Jaime Alberti matter and the Cold Justice matter is Procedure 100-3-1 and I'm just going to read a very small portion of it. "All officers have the authority to release records not normally open to the public to any law enforcement Merkel's Reporting Services 1-715-387-1247 ?3004001 agency within the scope of the official business with the exception of incidents involving juveniles." That is all Steven intended to do with regard to Jaime Alberti, with regard to Cold Justice. Now the rest of the charges just go downhill from there. Each one of them more out there than the one before. That's crazy. Any transfer of file he's going to leave an electronic footprint by which the IT people can tell something has been removed. Steve is an investigator he knows this. All Bowers was trying to do at the behest of his union business agent was to remove law enforcement documents off his Dropbox. He was trying to do what the sheriff told him to do, which was minimize the possibility that these files would be disseminated to the public at large. l. You know Merkel's Reporting Services 1?715-387?1247 know that because he told him what occurred at moment one. So to call this tampering is completely ludicrous. This isn't tampering, is Steve trying to restore .1 his Dropbox back to only his files on it a So to call that tampering with evidence is a ridiculous stretch and I hope you see it for that. Sheriff also accuses Bowers of providing security codes to the Cold Justice team. Even after reviewing the charges, we are still a little unclear as to what the actual allegation is here and opposing counsel did not discuss that in her opening so I'm not going to go any further with it. Maybe that is a charge that they are leaving by the way side. Bowers didn't give them any such codes. In the location agreement, the sheriff already approved allowing the Cold Justice team access to the entire department, except the jail. So even if he Merkel's Reporting Services 1-715-387-1247 had done this it was something that the department already approved in writing so I'm hoping there won't be any more talk about access codes. The sheriff accuses Steve of be untruthful and/or misleading in stating that he, A, has no authority to enter into contracts with Cold Justice on the part of the sheriff's office, while, B, having signed a release form to allow his likeness to be on the television program. There are two problems and, again, this wasn't mentioned in the opening by opposing counsel but maybe they are leaving this charge on the way side as well. But two things here, the release form is not a contract, it's only signed by Bowers not both parties so he is absolutely right that he didn't enter into any contacts with Cold Justice. Secondly, Bowers signed the same document that Chief Deputy Woebbeking signed at his behest. So the idea that signing this document or saying that you have to sign this document somehow was untruthful or misleading was actually ludicrous. Merkel's Reporting Services 1-715-387?1247 The sheriff accuses Bowers also of denying that he did any verification to make sure that Cold Justice had returned everything they had taken, but that, "It was clear from the e?mail communication between Bowers and the data records manager that he knew what documents had been released." All Bowers said to the Data Records Manager O'Toole was basically, When the sheriff advised her and everyone else to get the files back that's exactly what happened. But Bowers didn't know what exact files Ms. O'Toole turned over. He would have no way of knowing what exactly came back to Ms. O'Toole. Ms. O?Toole seems to indicate in her e?mail that the records she turned over to Cold Justice were returned so we don't know where the sheriff is going with that as well. Now for even more far afield charges that the sheriff added onto this. The sheriff accuses Bowers of an abuse of authorities for sending sheriff deputies to Merkel's Reporting Services 1?715-387?1247 (JONH deal with a person that was harassing him and Jaime Alberti over the internet. We will have Jaime and Steve testify to what they experienced and we have evidence of it in the record. We will have Bowers explain what his thinking was with regard to this, but as any of you know who might have gone through a similar thing when somebody you care about is being harassed you want it to stop. So he had a uniformed deputy go over to the harasser and simply ask her to stop and guess what, that's what happened, it stopped, end of story. Bowers probably should have kept this matter at the local police department and if the local police department officer didn't do what was actually necessary to get the matter resolved he should have probably gone up the ladder at the city department and talk to the chief about it we admit that. But at the end of day, the chief deputy wrote Bowers a warning letter over it and that was the end of it until its appearance here. Bring up this here in violation of double jeopardy considerations and the Merkel's Reporting Services 1-715-387-1247 sheriff is asking to punish Bowers twice for the same thing. He already received it as part of the record the warning letter that Chief Deputy Woebbeking already sent to Steve about this matter. The sheriff accused Bowers of an abuse of authority for having two subordinates send their reports directly to the sheriff while they were out working with the Cold Justice team. We will have Bowers explain himself in this regard but at the end of the day there was an operating procedure in effect whereby the sheriff would review documents of this type in certain circumstances. With Bowers and Chief Deputy Woebbeking working solely on the Cold Justice case that week there was no one else in the sheriff's department qualified to review the reports of the two detectives that normally answered to Steve. Should he have asked, sheriff, can I have them send you their reports, yeah, he should have. Respectfully, we believe that the sheriff's nose is simply out of joint as Bowers' didn't ask first. Merkel's Reporting Services 1-715?387?1247 That's the theme for this entire case. It's all stuff that the sheriff would have reasonably said yes to but Bowers didn't appropriately ask first. Do we respect the sheriff's ability to enforce this rule in the department, absolutely. Do we think the sheriff has the right to demand that he approve this type of action first, absolutely. But is Bowers' failure to do so a terminable offense. If the truly reasonable answer to these questions is, of course, I'll review these reports for you, Steve, while you go and work over 75 hours this week trying to solve a cold case homicide, of course, That should have been what the sheriff said. You should have came to me and asked first but what you are asking for is extremely reasonable and, yes, go ahead and do that. That's why we are here. That is why this isn't a suspension is that Steve got excited about doing his job. He tried Merkel's Reporting Services 1-715?387?1247 bring justice to grieving families. He tried to do that work in the most efficient way possible and he didn't ask permission first. Outside of that, there isn't a single document anywhere that shouldn't be where it is, yet the sheriff is being reasonable. Finally, the sheriff accuses Bowers of not taking employment action against an employee Kevin Mayer over a poem that Mayer wrote an e-mailed to the entire department when Bowers never read the entire e?mail before the e-mail got to the attention of the sheriff. At that time the sheriff then took action to deal with the situation. After that point is when Steve read the entire thing. So Bowers never told Mayer it was ballsy or anything to that effect. The evidence that you will hear today is that the only person absolutely sober during the time that Steve and Jailer Mayer were together the only person that was sober was Steve. So for them to tack on another charge of him looking the other way while a poor sheriff's deputy is getting bullied, Merkel's Reporting Services 1-715-387?1247 ADON this is a made up charge, it is a tack on charge. Bowers never told Mayer that it was ballsy or anything to that effect. He never brought it up to Mayer. To state that Bowers turned a blind is absolutely insane. I think that that is everything. I thank you. I appreciate your attention. I know this is going to be a long couple days. Thank you for your patience in dealing with all of this. We look forward to putting in a full record and letting you decide for yourself whether Steve Bowers is a hard working deputy you want working in this department. If so, you have every right to throw these charges out in their entirety, to reduce them to a reasonable amount of discipline, such as, a short suspension or sustain them. Seeing that Bowers has never been suspended by the department it would be a reasonable course of action to reduce them to an appropriate amount. Finally, they are going to talk to you Merkel's Reporting Services 1?715?387?1247 lot about liability and about possible lawsuits. They are not going to be able to show any situation where they have received any amount of actual problem from the people who had the files have any of those files when they had then, all right. There is zero liability to the county and there is absolutely no loss of the county's TIME system used by the state and the federal agencies that deal with that. They are saying it's something that could have occurred and no action by any of those agencies has happened so this is just them trying to make this seem more serious than it actually is. Finally and finally, we had the Garrity because this could be a criminal matter. Long story short, this matter isn't a criminal matter. He hasn't been charged with a crime by anyone. I appreciate the Garrity warning. I think it was appropriate that it was given here but saying it with such a stern and prominent place in this hearing at this time makes this seem like it is a bigger deal than it is. You have to Merkel's Reporting Services 1?715?387?1247 .see this for what this is and what it's not. Thank you for listening and we will get look forward to getting this done as quickly as possible. MS. GRAFF: Quick break. (Brief break taken). MS. DALE: Before we start the witness, do you want us to move for admission of each exhibit as we go through or handle it at the end? MR. SCHAUER: I believe at the end of each witness. Would that be all right? MS. DALE: That would be all right. MR. SCHAUER: For the committee's clarification, there is a stipulation and it's at the front page of your binder or on top of your binders. Does everybody have this? MR. LEWIS: The joint stipulation? MR. SCHAUER: Yes, it says joint stipulation on it. And, actually, I think before testimony is given I think it's a really good idea that gets read by each of you because it provides some amount of background and both opposing counsel and I Merkel's Reporting Services 1?715-387?1247 have stipulated to the facts in here and the last fact is that we have stipulated to certain of the exhibits in the two binders in front of you. So we will be moving other exhibits into the record in addition to the ones we already stipulated as we go. MR. LEWIS: Very good. MR. SCHAUER: But please take a look at the joint stipulation before we get into this witness. MS. GRAFF: Okay. LARRY WOEBBEKING, After having been first duly sworn to tell the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth, testified as follows: DIRECT EXAMINATION BY MS. DALE: Q. I'm going to be asking you some questions but direct your answers to the committee here. For the record, would you state your full name? A. Larry Woebbeking. Q. And what is your title? A. Chief Deputy, Taylor County Merkel's Reporting Services 1?715-387?1247 .Sheriff's Office. Q. And how long have you been employed with Taylor County? A. Twenty?sevenish years. Q. And what positions have you held with Taylor County? A. Deputy, detective, sergeant and chief deputy. Q. How long have you been chief deputy? A. Twelve years, I think. Q. Do you have law enforcement experience prior to being employed by Taylor County? A. Yes. Q. And what was that experience? A. I worked for??I started my law enforcement career in Rusk County worked for the road deputy there, worked in Reno, Nevada, Reno PD as a police officer before coming here to Taylor County I worked for Gilman and then Taylor County. Q. Would you briefly describe your job responsibilities as chief deputy? A. Supervising the department, so Merkel's Reporting Services DWNH OWLD essentially I would be second in command underneath the sheriff. So I would supervise the day to day operations of the department and any aspect that that would involve. Q. If you have any questions regarding what you are doing you followup with the sheriff? A. Most of the time. I answer to the sheriff, obviously, my direct supervisor. Q. And is he accessible to you? A. Yes. Q. I know this is difficult because Sergeant Bowers is a friend of your's; correct? A. He is. Q. And you have had only a limited role in the investigation; correct? A. That's correct. Q. Do you have responsibility for disseminating Taylor County Sheriff's Offices policies and procedures? A. Yes. Q. Explain how policies are disseminated? Merkel's Reporting Services 1?715?387-1247 Typically, we will do it in a couple different fashions. We will use the e-mail system, we also have given it in hard copy and CD form. Q. Turning your attention to Exhibit 12 in the big binder, is this an example of how you would transmit a policy to department members? A. It is. Typically we have a receipt that would go along with it. Q. You know what was attached to this? A. I don't know the specific policy that this would relate to. Q. Turning to Exhibit 13, what is Exhibit 13? A. This would be at least a portion of the Taylor County Policy and Procedure Manual. Q. And are these policies then disseminated to Taylor County Sheriff's Department employees? A. They have. Q. How are they disseminated? MR. SCHAUER: To speed this along we will stipulate to 12 and 13 that they are Merkel's Reporting Services 1?715-387-1247 sheriff's department policies and that Steve received those policies and was responsible to follow them. Will that speed that part of it along? MS. DALE: That will. Thank you. MR. SCHAUER: So 12 and 13 moved by her and admitted by us. MS. DALE: Would you also like to stipulate that Sergeant Bowers received the information technology policy at Exhibits 15, 16 and 17 and signed the acknowledgement? MR. SCHAUER: Yes, admit we will make that stipulation and admit receipt of 15, 16, and 17. Q. Turn to Exhibit 19? MS. DALE: Do you want to stipulate that this is part of the handbook that the employees received? MR. SCHAUER: Yes, we will stipulate this is part of the handbook that was received. Would you also stipulate to the fact that this would be in effect unless Merkel's Reporting Services 1-715-387?1247 LION superceded or otherwise amended by either the sheriff's department policies or the collective bargaining agreement? MS. DALE: Correct, stipulate. MR. SCHAUER: So stipulate then to 19 under those conditions. Q. Is it the responsibility of department employees to follow the excerpts of the policies and procedures in the exhibits we have just referred to and stipulated to? A. Yes, it is. Q. Whose responsibilities is it to enforce those policies and procedures? A. Supervision from sergeant through the sheriff. Q. What is the department's policy regarding the release of information to individuals outside the Taylor County Sheriff's Department office? A. Well, there would be the public open records law that we would follow and any information would have to be approved by the sheriff or his designee which would typically be me. Merkel's Reporting Services 1-715?387-1247 ALAN who has the authority to release that information to third parties? A. No one without approval. Well, Christine, which would be data records, does have some stipulations that she already is aware of what can be released. So she would be able to release some preauthorized material. Outside of that, I can't think of anybody else. Q. Can you give examples of what that would be? A. Probably accident reports to the newspaper, local radio stations that type of thing. Q. Who has the authority to release information to other law enforcement agencies about an Open investigation? A. Officers that are working in conjunction with law enforcement agency working on the same case together would share information. Q. How about outside of that? A. Outside of that, we would go back to the other policies upon approval. Q. Do you believe there has ever been Merkel's Reporting Services 1-715?387-1247 any misunderstanding regarding these policies with any of the officers in the department? A. No. Q. Do you have any reason to believe that Sergeant Bowers did not know those policies and procedures? A. No. Q. What is Cold Justice? A. It is a TV program that works with law enforcement to solve cold cases. Q. And who are Magic Elves? A. I believe that is the production company that they work under. I believe it's the production company. Q. And before we get into this too far, could you identify the names of the individuals that you had interaction with from Cold Justice and what their roles were? A. Well, I don't know if I can remember everybody's name but Kelly Siegler would have been the??I always called her the star--I don't know what her title is, but she is the main character of the show. She is the ex-prosecutor that the show kind of Merkel's Reporting Services 1?715?387-1247 revolves around. Then there was Nan Strait who was the producer and Brendan Dahl I think his last name was. He was like an executive or second producer and then there was a host of other people who worked there and did things but from camera to sound those types of things. I don't know all their names. Then there was a Steve Spignola who was the detective that they would have brought in that worked for their show. Q. Was there a Bennet or a Ben? A. You know I cannot remember all the other names. Those are the main characters that I remember. Q. How did you get involved with Cold Justice? A. I think it was about a year ago, maybe longer but the family somehow reached out to them, the family of the victim in this case, Eugene Monte is our victim, that family reached out to Cold Justice I think it was maybe a year ago year and a half, somehow that got the ball rolling a little bit they had contacted me, I had replied Merkel's Reporting Services 1?715-387?1247 that we had such a case, then I hadn't heard about it for another year or so and the family reached out to me and asked if I could reach out to them again so I just reminded them that the family was interested in that. Possibly if we could all agree and it met the criteria that the family was interested in it and then some more time went on and then they contacted me, the Cold Justice production company contacted me. Q. And at that point what did you do? A. Well, in terms of getting the show aired just in a nutshell we had to get permission from corporation counsel, district attorney, the sheriff to release any information about the case. The family was already on board, then their people by "their people" the Cold Justice people had to review it and decide if they liked the show and contracts went back and forth, a lot of things that corporation counsel would have had to review and approve. After we jumped through all of those hoops, which were and months long, the show proceeded. Merkel's Reporting Services 1?715-387-1247 Look at Exhibit 29? MR. SCHAUER: For the record, we stipulated to 29 as part of the record already so you can discuss it with him outright. Q. What are these documents, are they e?mail communications between you and Cold Justice? A. Yes, they are. Q. And do they set forth kind of the sequence of events of the things that happened? A. Yeah, these are e-mails that would kind of the stages of talks between their production company and me. I would typically relay these to the sheriff and the D.A. and sometimes corporation counsel so this kind of just goes along with the process that I went through. Q. The process began in October? A. Well, I think the 20th. Q. The 2016? A. October of 2016 maybe. The nuts and bolts part of it or where it really got serious probably something like that. It Merkel's Reporting Services 1-715-387-1247 .mwN was longer than that obviously as I relaid to you earlier reaching back and forth probably happened a year before that even. Q. What information did you initially release to them about the Monte case? A. It would have been just a very undetailed summary of the case in terms of we had a death in Taylor County that is unsolved, our victim was found dead with a gunshot wound to his chest. The case was ongoing, it was still open, and we had developed some suspects but had not been able to develop anything further or anything concrete to move forward. So it was a fairly generic overview something similar to that. Q. At some point thereafter did you provide them case file information? A. I did. Q. And what process did you go through before that was released? A. Well, again, I had to get the authorizations of the sheriff and the D.A. I approached the sheriff first to let him know that they had interest. I think as I recall Merkel's Reporting Services 1-715-387-1247 his concerns were several but, obviously, getting the D.A. on board was a big concern. So I met with the district attorney. After getting those approvals, the district attorney apparently essentially said go ahead and release the file to them for their review and it was still kind of under consideration with no guarantee that we would move forward but I got the approval to disseminate the file and did that. Q. And how did you disseminate the file? A. I asked Betty Damon to do that who is our data records manager and I think she primarily did that, maybe something through the e-mail but I think primarily though on disks. Q. Scan the file and put it on a disk? A. I believe that's what she did, yes. Q. Did Cold Justice subsequently do a show on the Monte case? A. They did. Q. Turn your attention to Exhibit 30. This is a document that's already been stipulated to but if you would just explain Merkel's Reporting Services 1?715-387-1247 (JON what 30 is? A. This is one of the contracts I had mentioned earlier that ultimately would have been reviewed by corporation counsel as part of the review process and once I got their blessing I went ahead and signed it. Q. And what does this relate to? A. This particular one appears to be the one granting them access to the case file. Q. And did they use that in the TV show? A. Did we use the case file, yeah, it related to the Eugene Monte homicide that we used in the Cold Justice episode. Q. And the next document, 31? A. Again, this is one of contracts that went on through the review process and ultimately signed. This one is a location agreement which granted them access to the courthouse and the rooms that we designated for them herehandwritten note in here excluding the jail facility is a secure facility but this is the one that granted them access to the Merkel's Reporting Services 1-715-387-1247 mmwalbuilding. Q. And were they given keys or codes to access the courthouse or any of the offices? A. I put them in touch with Jeff Ludwig the maintenance supervisor and he I believe provided them with codes to the front door, the main courthouse door. Q. Did you provide any keys to the offices up here? A. No, not to my knowledge. Q. Were they given any keys or codes to access the sheriff's department office area? A. Not that I ever knew, not by my knowledge. Q. Who controls the assignment of those codes? A. Jeff Ludwig obviously does the county building as a whole, Sergeant Bowers is the one assigned to our secured doors as far as giving out codes. Q. Did you give your door code to Cold Justice? A. I did not. Merkel's Reporting Services 1-715?387?1247 DOOM Are you aware of anyone else providing their code to Cold Justice staff? A. I'm not. Q. Going onto the next Exhibit 32, what is that document? A. Again, this is all part of the packet mostly corporation counsel would have reviewed and that was a pretty process. There was a lot of back and forth. This is the appearance release, which has a lot of language in it about how they can use your appearance but it would be the appearance contract allowing them to use our likeness on TV, I guess. Q. And does it allow them permission to use other materials that you give them? A. It probably does. I would have to read the whole contract. I can't remember the specifics. Well, even Section 2 says allow all material. Q. And what is Exhibit 33? A. This would be the same thing but this is Steve's, Sergeant Bowers to sign for the appearance. Q. What was Sergeant Bowers' Merkel's Reporting Services 1-715-387-1247 LION \involvement with Cold Justice? A. They wanted two detectives to be available to film because there was so many interviews to do. It was actually quite daunting the number of them they wanted us to interview so they needed another detective to do the interviews. Q. Did they interview anyone individually or were interviews done in teams with you and/or Sergeant Bowers? A. Correct, the interviews were always done with one of us present. Q. And why was that? A. Well, I guess we never really talked about that. It was our case, it is an active law enforcement case, it's not solved so things wanted to be handled correctly. They want law enforcement involved in each interview because the hope, obviously the show, and the hope of obviously me, is this would go to the district attorney's office for charges for court so law enforcement was always involved in the interview. Q. Was Sergeant Bowers involved prior Merkel's Reporting Services 1-715?387-1247 the actual filming? A. On the Eugene Monte case? Q. Yes? A. No. Well??let me take that back. He helped me with a couple things over the years. We did a DNA search warrant, he helped me draft some of that. So he did have some minor involvement. Q. Turning to Exhibit 34 before Cold Justice arrived before filming, did Sergeant Bowers have any interaction with them? A. Yes, once we knew we were going forward with the case and we got all our approvals in order and we knew we were going to get things done I had Sergeant Bowers work on a lot of the evidence, he was a natural fit because he was in charge of the evidence room. So a lot of these transmittals of evidence going back and forth to the lab and retesting and everything he started working on a lot of that before they got here. Q. And what are these documents in Exhibit 34? A. Well, this are e-mails obviously Merkel's Reporting Services 1-715-387-1247 from Sergeant Bowers to the production company in terms of some of the evidence going to their labs. MR. SCHAUER: Whose e-mails? THE WITNESS: That looks like Steve's Sergeant Bowers, he's communicating with Jamie, I don't know how to say her last name, but she was the producer with the company as well. It looks like they are talking about the gun, the cartridge, I think this DNA samples they are talking about here probably or the hope that we would get some DNA off of these items. MR. SCHAUER: If I can voir dire him for one second I can stipulate to it. MS. DALE: Sure. VOIR DIRE EXAMINATION BY MR. SCHAUER: Q. This was a thread that you were included in; correct? A. Yup. Q. All right. So none of this was done improperly or without your permission? A. No, I knew about this these things were happening. Q. And Steve didn't do anything wrong Merkel's Reporting Services 1-715-387-1247 AWN doing anything in Exhibit 34; right? A. He probably did what I asked him to do. MR. SCHAUER: I have no objection to 34 and you can consider that received. MS. DALE: Thank you. Q. (By Ms. Dale) Did you have any conversations with Sergeant Bowers regarding the approval process you had gone through to release this document in the Monte case? A. I think he was pretty well aware of it. I think we had a small talk about it like coffee room talk or break room talk whatever you want to call it about the show and what was happening, kind of where we were in the process and that kind of thing. Q. So when did Cold Justice arrive for filming? A. It was March I believe it was in March, this last March. Q. I'm going to ask you to turn to Exhibit 35. What is this document? A. This is a daily run sheet or whatever you want to call it, itinerary, it would often change from day to day. This Merkel's Reporting Services 1-715-387-1247 would be the list of names of the people that we had to interview, contact information, address, who was going to--what team was going to go do the interview. This would change, you know, by one day to the next depending on if we missed somebody or couldn't find something or had to bump them to a different day but it was basically what we worked off of each day. Q. Does it reflect your recollection of when they came for filming? A. Oh, yeah, obviously, right there you can see Friday, February 24th, is when we started our first investigative tape. Q. Prior to February 24th had you met any Cold Justice staff? A. The Jamie who we referred to back in this other e-mail was one of the producers of the show. She flew in earlier several weeks earlier and met with me. We walked up to the third floor, looked at the rooms for filming, we with drove out to the homicide where the house was in Hannibal. So I met with her for a day. I think she was here for a day and left the next but I Merkel's Reporting Services 1?715-387?1247 met her prior to filming. Q. Did any of the staff arrive prior to February 24th to do any set up or anything? A. I think they did if I recall they set up ahead of time. They had a lot of equipment. Q. When was the first time that you met Kelly and Mr. Spignola? A. It would have been the 24th then. Q. Was that the first day that Sergeant Bowers met them as well? A. Yes. Q. Can you identify who is identified in the column marked TDP team? A. Those are the initials of who was going to do that particular interview. So if you take that very first one Craig Amborn and you follow that across to that, that would Steve Bowers and Steve Spignola. That's who did or was assigned to do that interview. You can see LW, which is obviously me, and Kelly Siegler for that one. So it was just the person's initials of who was going to do that interview. Merkel's Reporting Services 1?715-387-1247 boom OKOCD Now you said some evidence had been sent to the forensic lab when did you receive the results of that? A. I can't remember the specific date that I would receive these results. They came in as it was an ongoing process, but it was during the investigation during the filming. Q. By the ballistic experts? A. He came in I think it was toward the latter part of that week he came in and informed us of his results. MR. SCHAUER: We have no objection to 35. We will stipulate to that. Q. I'm going to ask you to turn your attention to Exhibit 43. You are well aware that one of the issues in this matter is Sergeant Bowers' release of information to Cold Justice? A. Yes. Q. When did you first become aware that information on other open investigation murder files may have been given to Cold Justice? A. Well, the third paragraph indicates Merkel's Reporting Services 1?715?387?1247 February 25th. That was when I didn't know about it but I heard them talking about our cases. Q. The committee has not heard any of this so would you walk us through the events that occurred, perhaps Exhibit 23 what is that document? MR. SCHAUER: 43? Q. I'm sorry, 43? A. Exhibit 43 is a report I generated on March 13th about the information I would have had related to Sergeant Bowers giving the film crew, namely, Nan Strait the producer and Kelly Siegler access to other open homicides in Taylor County. MR. SCHAUER: We will stipulate to 43 and ask that the committee review it. MS. DALE: We will give them a minute to review it. MR. SCHAUER: Yeah, I think that would be quicker than having him read it. Q. (By Ms. Dale) During the time that you were filming with Sergeant Bowers, did he say anything to you about a Dropbox? A. No. Merkel's Reporting Services 1?715-387-1247 (AMP say anything to you about releasing information to Cold Justice? A. No. Q. Are you familiar with what a Dropbox is? A. I'm vaguely familiar. I'm not a computer guru. I'm aware of what it is. Q. Do you have a Dropbox? A. I have a dropbox with some photos in it. Q. Did Sergeant Bowers assist you in setting up that Dropbox? A. Yeah, that was probably a couple years ago he helped me put some private photos in a Dropbox. Q. Now your report indicates that when you were in Milwaukee Nan provided a stack of documents to you, a thick stack of papers clipped together, what were those documents? A. Well, I guess I assumed or was aware that they were files related to our open homicide cases that he had shared with them. I didn't look into them, purposely didn't look at them. I just put them in my work folder and delivered them back here Merkel's Reporting Services 1-715-387-1247 LAN once I was back from Milwaukee. Q. And who did you deliver them to? A. The sheriff. Q. Has Sergeant Bowers ever talked to you about the release of the documents, ask if it was okay? A. No. Q. Did he ever tell you they requested documents relating to those files? A. No. Q. At this point you have known Cold Justice for just a couple of days? MR. SCHAUER: Objection, that assumes facts not in evidence. MS. DALE: I think it is in evidence, he said he met them. MR. SCHAUER: He said he talked to them for months. MS. DALE: He said he met them. He had rephrase it. Q. At this point you had only known Kelly, Nan and Steve since Friday; correct? A. Correct. Q. Did you give any consideration to discussing other cases with them? Merkel's Reporting Services 1?715-387-1247 AWN Outside of acknowledging that we had other cases that were open and that we could ask the sheriff I had no other conversations with him about that. Q. Do you know Jaime Alberti Henrichs? A. Yes. Q. And how do you know her? A. She worked for the district attorney office here in Taylor County some years back and currently is Steve's significant other. Q. How long has she been in a relationship with Sergeant Bowers if you know? A. I don't know. It's got to be a year or better I guess, I don't know. Q. And where does she work? A. I think she's corporation counsel's office over in Marathon County. I'm not even terribly sure of that. Q. Did Sergeant Bowers ever tell you that he had given access to the A. No. Q. Sergeant Bowers said he considered Merkel's Reporting Services 1-715-387-1247 WNH sharing information with Jaime as sharing information with another law enforcement agency do you agree with that statement? A. No. Why not? A. Because she's not another law enforcement agency. Your personal trust of a person is not another law enforcement agency. I can't think of any way to make those two go together. Q. Did Sergeant Bowers ever discuss with you getting Jaime's assistance to put together a presentation for the Cold Justice team and first I should ask what is the cold case team? A. Well, a cold case team would be DCI has one, there are some other avenues. You can put together a presentation of open homicide case that is unsolved is a cold case. And you can put together a fairly detailed presentation to them and they can help you maybe work that case or help you solve the case. So it's a presentation that you would put on for another law enforcement agency that would give you assistance to Merkel's Reporting Services 1?715-387?1247 (help solve it. Q. Going back to the original question, did Sergeant Bowers ever discuss with you getting Jaime's assistance to do a presentation for that? A. I vaguely remember some conversation in passing that he told me she liked to do that kind of thing or he said she was good at it or some conversation like that. As I search my memory, I think we had some sort of conversation like that but never a--I don't remember nor did I give any permission for any type of review of that process to happen or for her to be involved. But I think he might have said she liked doing that kind of think or she was good at it or something like that. Q. Did you ever give her permission to let Jaime work on any open Taylor County case? A. No. Q. Did she work on any Taylor County cases after she left Taylor County? A. No. MR. SCHAUER: I got distracted for Merkel's Reporting Services 1?715-387-1247 moment. Can you repeat the last question and answer. (Last question and answer read into the record). Q. What was your reaction when you found out that Sergeant Bowers had released information from the A. I was surprised. Q. Why? A. Because we can't release those files without permission, and I was surprised that he did it, it seemed out of character. Q. After Cold Justice was done with filming what was the wrap up process? A. I'm not sure if I know what you are trying to ask me, how did we conclude it or? Q. Yes? A. We went and met with the family, by "we" Kelly, Ms. Siegler and myself, met with the family, gave them an overview of the case of what we accomplished over that week. We met with the district attorney and gave her a review of it of. They did a little Merkel's Reporting Services 1-715?387?1247 (one filming to ask what we felt of the process and essentially wrapped up from there. They took their equipment and left. Q. Did they leave any equipment behind? A. Yeah, I knew they were going to do that. They left a big dry erase board on wheels that we used to write down certain things about our suspects and some cameras, a couple cameras and a DVD burner or recorder that we used in the interview room on the third floor. Q. During the filming did you allow them to have access to case file? A. The Eugene Monte case, yes. Q. And what did you do when the filming was done with those materials? A. I had the case file with me and I asked everybody to make sure that they had anything from the case file or if they had anything out that I needed it. I checked the file, which is a couple banker boxes, checked the file to make sure everything was put back and in order. I didn't think anything was missing and I took it back down Merkel's Reporting Services 1?715?387-1247 awm office. Q. All right. I'm going to turn to another issue and ask you to turn your attention to Exhibit 61. What is this document? A. I'm just reading it here but it's clearly an e?mail from Steve sent February 19th to Sheriff Daniels and myself and he references the case number that he's talking about. MR. SCHAUER: We have no objection to 61. So is it's stipulated to and part of the record. Q. Can you explain what happened? A. As I recall Steve or Jaime or somebody and by "Jaime" his Jamie were getting some unwanted Facebook messaging that they thought was harassing or unwanted, they made a complaint to the Medford Police Department for I guess reaction or to get it taken care of. Q. And then what happened? A. It came to my attention that I guess Sergeant Bowers didn't like the response or felt the response was inadequate Merkel's Reporting Services 1?715?387-1247 DON from the Medford Police Department in the matter so he called into our dispatch center and had one of our deputies take some action on it. Q. Turn the page, the second page of Exhibit 61 what is that? A. That's an e-mail from me about that incident, basically telling him I didn't agree with his actions and didn't agree with it and didn't like it and by "actions" I mean getting our department involved because he didn't like the response of the police department. Q. Do you consider this e-mail a written warning? A. Yeah, I mean, I think it was pretty straight forward that I didn't like it. MS. DALE: We will stipulate that this is a written warning. MR. SCHAUER: Thank you. Q. Can you turn to Exhibit 62? MR. SCHAUER: Mindy, before we go past 61 if the sheriff is willing to stipulate that this is a written warning, are they willing to stipulate that Sheriff Merkel's Reporting Services 1-715?387-1247 Bowers has already received disciplinary action for this and it shouldn't be considered in this case for additional discipline but rather as a part of prior discipline. MS. DALE: It will be considered as part of his disciplinary history. MR. SCHAUER: But not as -- MS. DALE: not as a separate basis MR. SCHAUER: -- for additional discipline by this committee? MS. DALE: Right. MR. SCHAUER: Thank you. Is that as clear as mud for the hearing examiner? MS. GRAFF: Yes. Q. (By Ms. Dale) When you were doing filming with Cold Justice, did you make any arrangements with the sheriff to cover any of your normal job duties? A. Yeah, I asked him or I can't remember if I asked him or if he volunteered, but in any event, he agreed to do the approvals that I'm assigned to in Merkel's Reporting Services 1-715?387?1247 mulwa 100 terms of when officers go out to do whatever case they are on or whatever activity they do they generate a report. So I'm assigned to the supervisor group to review and prove or disapprove their reports and the sheriff said that he would do that to keep that process rolling while I was unavailable to do it. Q. Did you have any conversation with Sergeant Bowers about his responsibilities while he was involved in the filming? A. Yeah, we had a conversation and I told him that the sheriff was doing my approvals. Steve would have been assigned primarily to the other detective but he also reviewed other reports as well but primarily that of the detectives. I said if the sheriff said he was going to do my approvals for me you might want to ask him maybe he will do your's too. Q. What happened after that? A. Well, the e-mail is here. I haven't read them but apparently I guess I don't know if he didn't ask the sheriff but he apparently told the other detective that Merkel's Reporting Services 1?715-387-1247 WNH 101 the sheriff would be doing those approvals and to send those to him. I found out later through the sheriff that Steve didn't approach him or discuss that with him. So I think there was some upward delegation there of assigning the sheriff to do the approvals without asking first. Q. Turn your attention to Exhibit 63? MR. SCHAUER: We have no objection to 62 and before she goes onto 63 can I have ten seconds? MS. GRAFF: Sure. MR. SCHAUER: Thank you. Q. I want to only ask you about a portion of this exhibit. Would you look at Page 525? A. Okay. Q. What is this document? A. It's an e-mail from me to Sheriff Daniels asking him basically what happened, I copied the message that he sent out and I just asked him it was basically I asked him what happened. Q. What did you find out? MR. SCHAUER: Objection, asks for Merkel's Reporting Services 1?715-387?1247 102 hearsay. MS. DALE: He said what happened. I want to followup to find out what happened. A. I didn't find out what happened necessarily, no. MR. SCHAUER: I'll withdraw the objection. Sorry. Q. Turning your attention to Page 531? MR. SCHAUER: 531 and 532? Q. 531 and 532, what is this document, explain that last paragraph on Page 532? A. Well, to explain that last paragraph, Steve was wondering what he may have done wrong that would basically get him in trouble, get his system shut down. So he basically was trying to remember what he might have done. So in that last paragraph I'm just explaining the fact that he was doing just that trying to wonder what he did wrong he remembered calling his ex-wife a name and he also talked about the e?mail that Kevin Mayer one of our correctional officers sent out, kind of an inappropriate poem kind of thing. So those were the two Merkel's Reporting Services 1?715-387-1247 @01wa 103 things that were coming to his head that he might have done wrong. Q. And does this accurately reflect your conversation with him? A. Yes. Q. Did you see that e?mail? A. I eventually did, yes. Q. And you saw it before you talked? A. Yes, before that day, yes. Q. And was the previous e?mail communication on 525 related to that? A. Yes. Q. Maybe just explain that a little bit? A. This was the e?mail generated?-well, it's my e-mail generated to the sheriff asking him what happened. It's the sheriff's e?mail talking about essentially what he is talking about is this inappropriate poem that was put together by Kevin Mayer and sent out and basically that paragraph that the sheriff sent out all that was essentially about e-mail that was sent out. Q. And that prompted the conversation Merkel's Reporting Services 1-715-387-1247 104 that you had? A. Yes. Q. One of the factors that this committee has to consider is Sergeant Bowers' overall record of service with the department. How would you rate Sergeant Bowers' overall record of service with the department? A. These types of questions are hard so if you will indulge me I don't have a yes or no. MR. SCHAUER: Before you go any further with your answer, I'm trying to decide if I want to object for relevancy because the sheriff's determination of the matter with regard to his work record for purposes of 5m(g) not the chief deputy's so his opinion to the extent to which they informed the sheriff would be relevant but the opinions themselves I don't think would be. MS. GRAFF: I think you can make that argument in closing, but I think because he is a supervisor it is relevant. Merkel's Reporting Services 1?715?387-1247 boom @801 105 MR. SCHAUER: I was thinking out loud. I apologize. MS. GRAFF: No, you are allowed to make objections. MR. SCHAUER: Go ahead and please answer the question. A. So subconsciously is my friendship involved in my answer I don't know. Now that I said that I'll just tell you. I think Steve can be stellar, I think he can be above board and be excellent. I think Steve can be very poor. I think Steve gets it Steve's way. So to answer that question to me is very difficult. He can be an asset to the department. He can be very knowledgeable and get things done, yes. Can Steve be an enemy to himself and come across very hash, very poor, very abrasive, doesn't think things through, yes. So how do you sum that all up and give you one answer. It's difficult for me to tell you that without kind of just laying it out there like that. So I don't know if I answered your question. MS. DALE: Thank you. I have no Merkel's Reporting Services 1?715-387-1247 book106 further questions. MS. GRAFF: What about lunch. Off the record. (Discussion off the record). MS. GRAFF: Back on the record. CROSS-EXAMINATION BY MR. SCHAUER: Q. Good morning, Chief Woebbeking. A. Good morning. Q. I'm going to start with the last thing she mentioned first and then I'll get to my more prepared questioning. I need you to turn to Page 532 in Tab 63? A. I do have it. Q. I'm going to read the last couple of sentences of that for the record. "He stated" and "he" refers to Bowers here, all right. "He stated Kevin will send out e-mails like this from time to time but never that bad. I told him he should have stopped Kevin, none of that is appropriate on work e-mail. He acknowledged that." Did I read that right? A. Yes. Q. Does the phrase he acknowledged Merkel's Reporting Services l-715-387-1247 107 that reference the fact that it's an inappropriate work e-mail or does he acknowledge that he refers to the fact that he should have stopped Kevin? A. I think both. Q. Okay. So he actually Steve told you earlier in the conversation that he didn't read the e-mail in its entirety when he was dealing with Kevin didn't he? A. Yeah, I don't know we didn't discuss that here today but he had told me earlier. I guess how do you do you want me to answer that. Do you want me to tell the story about what he told me? Q. Answer the simple question I'm asking you and we will do this one by one. In your conversation with Steve, Steve told you that he did not read the full e?mail before he dealt with Kevin; correct? A. Yes. Q. Okay. So if he didn't read the entire e-mail before dealing with Kevin how could he have stopped Kevin from sending the e?mail? A. I don't think he could have stopped Merkel's Reporting Services 1?715?387?1247 @01wa 108 Kevin from sending the e?mail. I don't think he could have stopped Kevin from sending the e?mail because it was sent. I think what we were talking about is everything in its entirety. Clearly without reading the whole e?mail you could see that it wasn't a work e-mail, it was nonsense and we acknowledged that he knew the whole thing should have stopped. Q. Steve admits here today and, obviously, the e?mail is not an appropriate work related e?mail. You say in here though you said that, told him he should have stopped Kevin." Clearly, he couldn't have stopped Kevin; correct? A. Well, he said Kevin sends out stuff like that from time to time or things that are not related to work and I think what we were to doing when we were discussing this is talking about everything in its entirety and it should have been probably stopped before it started because Kevin has a habit of sending this stuff out. Q. So you knew Kevin had a habit of sending this stuff out; correct? Merkel's Reporting Services 1-715-387?1247 No, nothing like that, no. I didn't get most of those. I think what he was trying to tell me is Kevin would send them out sometimes me not included necessarily. Q. What is Kevin's job title? A. He is a correctional officer, he is a dispatcher, a jailer. Q. And is Kevin Mayer in Bowers' chain of command? A. Yes. Q. I'm going to ask you to turn to County Exhibit 13, Bate Stamp 65, please. It is the Sheriff's Department Chain of Command. You said that Kevin Mayer is a jailer; correct? A. He is, yes. Q. And that's under the jail division third of the chain of command document in front of you? A. Yes. Q. And Sergeant Bowers is a sergeant detective; correct? A. Yes. Q. And that's in the other third of Merkel's Reporting Services 1?715-387-1247 QUIALAJNH 110 the chain of command documents under field/patrol division; is that correct? A. Yes. Q. 80 according to this document Kevin isn't in Steve's chain of command; correct, according to this document? A. Well, this document is not, I mean, clearly well known that our sergeants--it would be nonsensical to have a sergeant not be able to tell a jailer or correctional or dispatcher how to follow our policies, procedures or if they had questions and didn't answer it. Q. But it's not Steve's primary responsibility to oversee the jailers in the jail; correct? A. I would agree with that. Q. All right. And it's not his job to issue discipline of jailers; correct? A. Well, discipline would probably always fall more on the sheriff's shoulders than even the sergeant. He would make recommendations. Q. And if Bowers became aware of possible misconduct on the part of Mayer Merkel's Reporting Services 1?715?387-1247 .boom 111 after the sheriff did and the sheriff took action on the possible misconduct matter if Bowers did intervene could be cited by the sheriff for abusing his authority? A. Well, that is a nice spin on it, but I would not agree with it. I would agree that if he saw the sheriff took action he should probably then meet with the sheriff and not necessarily do anything with that employee any further. Q. So it's your testimony that it was up to Steve??the e?mail happened on Friday; right? A. I don't know. I have no reason. Q. The sheriff's e-mail and response to that e?mail happened on Sunday; correct? A. I would have to look at the dates. I think that was correct. It was during a SWAT breakfast. Q. So even if it was arguably Detective Sergeant Steve Bowers' job to report up the chain of command possible infraction, do you really expect him to do that on a weekend? A. Well, I mean, he was working SWAT Merkel's Reporting Services 1-715-387-1247 DOOM 112 breakfast that weekend so he was in his role as a department member or a sergeant. But let's face it, if the supervisor sees something that's why we have them in place to take appropriate action. So it would be my personal opinion, I don't know if they are off, on, or anywhere in between if they know of inappropriate action of the department I think they would all agree if they were here they would have to take appropriate action or appropriate notifications. Q. How many other people who received Kevin Mayer's e?mail did exactly what you described and immediately reported it to the sheriff or to you that this inappropriate e-mail occurred and by Kevin Mayer? A. Nobody reported it to me. Q. Oh, okay, so Steve should get disciplined for not doing something that no other supervisor in the department did? A. I don't know who all received that e-mail. I don't know if any other supervisors received it or not because I didn't receive it through the e-mail system. Merkel's Reporting Services 1?715?387?1247 Well, the e-mail will answer itself then we will check that later. Thank you. I'm going to ask you to turn to Bate Stamp 12 in the big binder. For the record I'm going to ask you--well, I will just read for the record "All officers have the authority to release records not normally open to the public to any law enforcement agency within the scope of official business with the exception of incidents involving juveniles." Is that part of the procedures of the department? A. That sounds correct. I'm still trying to find where you are at. Okay I'm with you. Q. And did I just read that section properly into the record? A. I believe you did. I believe you did. Q. Okay. Throughout your dealings with Cold Justice were you treating the investigator and the former prosecutor like another agency? A. Well in terms of that one case? Q. Yeah, in terms of the Monte case, Merkel's Reporting Services 1?715?387?1247 mUlub-UJN terms of dealing with Cold Justice on the Monte case, were you treating Kelly and Steve like you would treat another agency? A. Well, I never thought about that question or been asked that question so I have to give that some thought. But in terms of that one case, they were fully briefed and fully aware of anything I would have been. So in terms of that one case I would have released anything--well, there was no release involved we were working together so we shared the information as it came in. Q. But you did share the entire Monte case with them before they got on the ground? A. The only thing I would say to answer your question accurately is in terms of there still are subtle differences between them and another law enforcement agency. Another law enforcement agency we would probably have more access to different parts of the building or things like that. So they were still limited this to this floor and those types of things. So there Merkel's Reporting Services 1?715-387-1247 @01wa 115 were subtle differences. To say that I treated them exactly like we would another law enforcement agency I would say, no. If you are asking, did we share all that information about that case, yes. Q. Because of this sort of gray area do you think it was reasonable for Steve to have some confusion as to whether or not they would be a law enforcement agency for purposes of A. No, no confusion. He's smarter than I am. Q. Okay. Do you know that Steve Spignola was and is currently a detective with the Village of Lannon in the State of Wisconsin? A. Yes. Q. So he is a law enforcement officer and is an employee of a law enforcement agency; correct? A. Yes. Q. So sharing information with him would not be a violation of correct? A. Well, yeah, he wasn't acting as a Merkel's Reporting Services 1?715?387?1247 (116 part of that agency, number one, he was actually as a private citizen with a private entity and in terms of sharing this case with him that we were all actively working I have no issue. But to say that because he works for a law enforcement agency, has a part-time job or is a teacher whatever he does it is nothing like that. Would I grant him all the access we would a mutual law enforcement agency I would disagree. Q. So Steve Spignola is not in the your opinion a law enforcement officer sworn in the State of Wisconsin? A. What I'm saying is Q. ?-that's my question, please, sir. Is he a law enforcement officer in the State of Wisconsin working for a law enforcement agency? A. I didn't see his credentials. He never produced any law enforcement sworn credentials so I can't accurately answer that. Q. Steve will testify tomorrow and you will be able to see that firsthand. In working with the Cold Justice Merkel's Reporting Services 1-715-387-1247 \Immawm KOCD 117 team as you called it, there were people whose names you don't remember as you sit here today; correct? A. Correct. Q. But information from the Monte case got to those people; correct? A. I don't know who-?in terms of the sound people and the camera people they would have overheard whatever was said around them. Q. So people whose names you don't know associated with the Cold Justice team got to review and even copy information with regard to the Monte case; correct? A. Well, I can't answer that with just a yes or no. I don't know who they would have gave their staff copies to make. I didn't hand it to any of them. Q. That's the whole thing you do know that they used a staff whose names you don't know to do those things; correct? A. Yes. Q. That's my only question. It's not a trick question. A. I can't answer what they did Merkel's Reporting Services 1?715?387-1247 LON 118 because I don't know, but I assume they have a staff that prepares things for them. Q. And in doing that they disseminated the Monte case; correct? A. Yeah. Q. Amongst themselves? A. Yes. Q. Okay. Over time in dealing with the Cold Justice people is it fair to say that you learned that you could trust the Cold Justice team with the Monte case? A. I liked them. They were very professional. Q. Very trustworthy? A. As much as you can know somebody in a week or so time they seemed very trustworthy to me. Q. So that's specifically to Nan, Steve and Kelly but the other people who you were dealing with for months at this point did they all seem professional and trustworthy? A. Everybody I dealt with in terms of that production and that agency to me seemed very trustworthy and professional. Merkel's Reporting Services 1-715?387?1247 U) mooqowtnas And because of that you had no problem sending them the entire Monte file; correct? A. Right, after the permission was given. Q. You received appropriate permission? A. Correct. Q. I'm going to ask you to turn to Sheriff's 43. I'm going to read from the fifth paragraph down on Page 37. First of all, this is all on February 25th; correct, two paragraphs up from where I was. "The first time I suspected that any type of release from sheriff's department information was on February 25, 2017. Kelly Ziegler and the producer, Nan Strait, informed me they felt two cases within Taylor County were very interesting." So let's talk about that conversation first. You then say in your report, "Tr They had been speaking with Steve Bowers earlier in the day when they had been with him and I Merkel's Reporting Services 1?715-387?1247 120 had not been present." Okay. So Kelly Siegler and Nan Strait talked to you about those two cases; correct? A. Yes. Q. At that point they said the cases sound very interesting; correct? A. Correct. Q. At any point did you tell them that you need to get the sheriff's specific approval before you can look at any files regarding those two cases during that conversation? A. There was no talks of files. So I would have to so say, no, I didn't say that. Q. Two paragraphs down, "However, the more I overheard Kelly and Nan talk back and forth amongst themselves, that they found these cases interesting. I became more concerned Steve may have released case information he shouldn't have. I heard Kelly telling Nan she was going to read files tonight in her room and she was interested in reading the case files. They did not specifically state that the case files were from the sheriff's department." Merkel's Reporting Services 1-715?387-1247 121 Two questions about this. First of all, if where else could they have gotten files from? A. I don't know if they were talking about those files. This was just small talk that I was overhearing mostly as I was driving them back. Q. In response to any of that small talk, did you ask them whether or not they had files? A. No, because I knew they were going to talk about a bunch of other agencies that they were going to talk to and other cases that they had coming. So these were just little red flags, nothing that really was indicating that Steve had released any files. It was just something that was gnawing at me that I had hoped they weren't talking about anything from our department. Q. I heard Kelly telling Nan that she was going to read the files tonight in her room and she was interested in reading the case files. MS. GRAFF: I'm sorry I think you Merkel's Reporting Services 1?715?387?1247 122 misread that sentence. You added an article can you just reread it? MR. SCHAUER: Thank you. I appreciate that. I'll start over. Q. Your report says, I heard Kelly telling Nan that she was going to read the files tonight in her room and she was interested in reading the case files. Now- here is my question about that. MS. GRAFF: I'm sorry. I think this is important. The correct sentence is saying that she was going to "files tonight" and I think that is an important clarification for the committee not "the" files. You added an extra article in there. MR. SCHAUER: Again, this is my mother's dyslexia. I'm going to try it one more time see if I can get it right. Q. heard Kelly telling Nan that she was going to read files tonight in her room and she was interested in reading the case files." MS. GRAFF: Thank you. Q. You truly don't believe that she was talking in that situation about the Merkel's Reporting Services l?715-387?1247 (JON 123 Taylor County Sheriff's Department. A. You want me to say yes or no but it's hard for me to do that. This is a conversation that I was overhearing. They asked me very generic questions about, I hear there are these couple of cases, I said I'm sure they would be interesting to you, later on Nan said, what are you doing, Kelly said, I'm going to read files tonight. So I had no evidence or anything to indicate that they had for sure our files. They were just concerning to me. Q. That concern never lead you to warn Kelly or Nan at that point that they shouldn't be reading any other case files from the department other than the Monte case? A. If they told me I had them I would have. They didn't tell me they had any files. Q. The Marathon County Corporation Counsel's office have you dealt with them? A. I don't think I have. Q. Is it fair to say that their Merkel's Reporting Services 1-715-387-1247 0(124 corporation counsel office works and probably covers the same subject matters that the Taylor County Corporation Counsel's office deals with? A. I would have to think so, yes. Q. And are you aware that a corporation counsel's office often deals with Chapter 51 cases, providing advice to law enforcement on how to handle those situations and they deal with child support warrants? A. Yes. Q. Do those statutes and areas deal with criminal violations, can they deal with criminal violations? A. Yes. Q. So in that sense a corporation counsel does enforce law; do they not? A. They enforce law, yes. Q. So if they enforce law it's not a stretch to say that a corporation counsel's office is a law enforcement agency? A. I wouldn't consider it that. Q. So they enforce law enforcement but they are not law enforcement? Merkel's Reporting Services 1-715?387-1247 (JUN You said in direct examination you were asked, did Jaime, talking about Jaime Alberti now, did Jaime ever work any Taylor County case after she left Taylor County and I believe your answer to that was no? A. Correct. Q. If she did would you necessarily know about it? A. No. Q. So it's completely possible that she helped DCI with a Taylor County case or that she did other work she was asked to do other work by law enforcement professionals on other cases since leaving the Taylor County District Attorney's office? A. Law enforcement officers outside of the Taylor County Sheriff's Department I would know if it was through our department I would know. Q. You were talking with the wrap up of the Cold Justice matter leading toward the conversation with the district attorney, do you remember that? A. I do. Merkel's Reporting Services l-715?387-1247 bookWhat was the district attorney's reaction to the presentation Kelly Siegler and the other Cold Justice people gave to the A. I believe it was a positive reaction. She thought we put together a compelling case. Q. Was it a compelling case that she would consider charging once she had the appropriate reports in front of her? A. Yes. Q. Has the D.A. charged that case? A. She has reached out to the attorney general's office for assistance and she is still waiting for that decision to help her with the case. Q. Is she waiting for reports from the investigative interviews that you and Steve did with Cold Justice people? A. All the reports she has received outside of Sergeant Bowers he hasn't been here to do his reports so those are not up there. Q. So the district attorney doesn't have the reports regarding the Monte case Merkel's Reporting Services 1-715-387?1247 (127 because of this disciplinary action? A. I would say that's true. Q. 10 21310 Q. All right. I'm going to ask you to turn turn to Page 515 within Tab 61. The first sentence of the second paragraph says, this is you talking to Sergeant Bowers, "Do I agree with the P.D. policy about Facebook complaints, no, I don't." Do you stand by that today? A. I don't. Q. Meaning that you continue to not agree with the police department's policy in that regard? A. As I'm aware of it. Q. And would it have been appropriate Merkel's Reporting Services 1-715?387?1247 128 for the city officer to make an in?person stop to the alleged harasser in that situation and ask them to stop? A. Well, that's what I would prefer from our department. Q. Is that in fact what happened when Steve sent one of your deputies to do that? A. Yes. MR. SCHAUER: I think I'm done I just got to check my notes one more time, okay. Give me a couple minutes. Sorry I'm not. Q. Does Sheriff Daniels routinely read many of the reports generated by the sheriff's department as well the police department? A. I know he probably reads all of our's. I'm not sure for the police department. Q. So he generally reads all of the reports of the department? A. Well, I can't say all but he reads a lot of them. Q. Sheriff Daniels has said to you that he is sometimes up in the middle of the Merkel's Reporting Services 1-715?387?1247 boom 129 night reviewing reports? A. Yes, he has. Q. Is it common occurrence for Steve to have detectives send reports to you when he is gone? A. Yeah, I would say that is a common practice. Q. Has that evolved into a standard operating procedure between the two of you? A. If he would ask me or let me know he's gone on vacation or whatever I would take up that responsibility. Q. Okay. Have there been occasions such as Sturgis in 2014 where both you and Steve were gone and Steve the detectives send their reports directly to Sheriff Daniels? A. Yes, we were both gone. I can't remember what he set up in terms of reports though. Q. Have you ever heard Sheriff Daniels say that Steve is honest without respect to the current matter? A. Yes. Q. Without respect to the current Merkel's Reporting Services 1?715-387-1247 AWN 130 matter, have you ever heard Sheriff Daniels say that Steve is forthcoming? A. I heard that. Q. Have you ever heard the sheriff say without respect to the current situation that Steve always takes responsibility for his actions or words to that effect? A. I've heard him say that, but he's also been concerned outside of this case about some other issues. Q. I just asked have you heard him say that? A. Can you say that one more time. Q. Without respect to this case, have you ever heard Sheriff Daniels say that Steve takes responsibility for his actions? A. Yes. Q. Without turning to it because you know what it is, remember the organizational chart that I had you turn to earlier? A. I do. Q. Where is the data records manager on it? A. Typically she would fall underneath me as a direct supervisor. Merkel's Reporting Services 1?715-387?1247 QWNH All right. So she reports to you and to the sheriff; correct? A. Yes. Q. She doesn't report to any of the detectives or any of the police officers directly although they can suggest or tell her to do certain things? A. Yeah, she would come to me or the sheriff or request those type of things. She would work close with the officers in terms of getting their reports done or making copies for him or things like that. Q. But she wouldn't answer to them in terms of hierarchy; correct? A. On paper she would. I can't tell you how she would respond. Q. You are her direct report? A. Yes, yes. Q. I'm going to ask you to turn to Tab 32. This is the release form that you signed in order to allow your likeness to be use on Cold Justice; correct? A. Yes. Q. Did you have authority to sign this? Merkel's Reporting Services 1-715-387-1247 Yes. Did Steve have authority to sign 0 his? Yes. And his is Tab 33; correct? Yes. Q. Was Steve with you when he signed that document? A. When I signed mine? Q. No, when he signed his? A. Can't remember if I watched him sign it I remember handing it to him. Q. So you even handed him the document? A. Yes. And said, here sign this? A. Yes. All right. Now I'm going to ask you to turn to Tab 31 real quick. That's the agreement that you signed with and Productions on behalf of the county; correct? A. Yes. Q. And you had authority to sign that document? Merkel's Reporting Services 1?715-387?1247 did. Q. Now I'm going to ask you to turn to Tab 30. That is a law enforcement license agreement signed by you; correct? A. Yes. Q. And did you have authority to sign that document? A. I did. Q. And you never shared Exhibit 30 with Sergeant Bowers in any way; correct? A. I did share one of those with him by mistake because the production company said that's your's not his, but I did give him one of these that I told him to disregard. Q. You never intended and cannot specifically remember showing Exhibit 30 to Sergeant Bowers? A. Correct. Q. Did you ever give Steve anything in writing saying the only thing we are to talk to Cold Justice about is the Monte case? A. No. Q. Did you ever give him that express order verbally? Merkel's Reporting Services 1?715?387-1247 bookDoes the county still have as we sit here access to the TIME system? A. Yes. Q. Has any corrective action been taken by anybody who deals with the TIME system whether they be state or federal against Taylor County in any way because of Steve's actions in this case? A. Not that I'm aware of. Q. Have there been any lawsuits brought against the county with regard to Steve's actions in this case? A. Not that I've been made aware of. Q. I don't have anything else. Thank you for your time. REDIRECT EXAMINATION BY MS. DALE: Q. Exhibit 13, Page 66. This is the sentence at the bottom section at the bottom that Attorney Schauer has referred to a couple of times. "All officers have the authority to release records not normally open to the public any other law enforcement agency within the scope of official business with the exception of incidents involving Merkel's Reporting Services 1-715?387?1247 135 juveniles." Did Cold Justice Steve Spignola and Kelly have any official business related to those other two cases? A. No. Q. Was Kevin Mayer a member of the SWAT team? A. He's a negotiator as a part of the SWAT team. Q. And who has supervisory authority over the SWAT team? A. Sergeant Bowers and myself and obviously the sheriff has authority over everything. Q. You were asked whether you considered the corporation counsel's office a law enforcement agency would you explain? MR. SCHAUER: I'm going to object, asked and answered. We kind of beat that to death already; haven't we? MS. DALE: I would like him to explain a little bit more. MS. GRAFF: I think it can be revisited that's fine if you want to elaborate on it. A. Law enforcement agency in terms of Merkel's Reporting Services 1-715-387-1247 136 policies I believe is referring to an agency, that being the sheriff's department or a police department with sworn officers, arrest powers. Corporation counsel works with us, helps us interpret laws, those types of things, but they are not a law enforcement agency. Q. Attorney Schauer asked whether you had trust in the Cold Justice staff, did you have trust enough in them after knowing them for two days, Kelly and Steve, to have released another homicide case to them? A. No, I didn't, and I mean, obviously, I would not have released another homicide case because this one took forever to get going. In my mind it doesn't have to be answered because we can't release the information but, no, I did not after two days. MS. DALE: I have no further questions. RECROSS-EXAMINATION BY MR. SCHAUER: Q. When two detectives from two different law enforcement offices talk about cases for their professional enlightenment, Merkel's Reporting Services 1-715-387-1247 137 are they engaging in official business of their respective departments? A. So they are just visiting, they are BS-ing in the break room kind of a thing is that what you are asking me? Q. Let me rephrase it. If a detective from one department and a detective from another department meet during the work day on one case and they start talking about other cases and their experience in order to further each of their professional base do you believe that to be official business of each department? MR. SCHAUER: I like how I finally worded that question so I'm going to have her read it back without all the pauses in it. (Last question read into the record). A. If you want a yes or no I would say, yes. Q. Thank you, nothing further, detective. MS. DALE: The only thing I would like to do before we bring in the next Merkel's Reporting Services 1?715?387-1247 138 witness is just to mark the joint stipulations as Joint Exhibit 1 for purposes of the record. MR. SCHAUER: No objection. MS. GRAFF: Bring in the next witness. KEVIN MAYER, After having been first duly sworn to tell the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth, testified as follows: DIRECT EXAMINATION BY MS. DALE: Q. Would you state your full name for the record? A. Kevin F. Mayer, Q. And what is your job title? A. Jailer dispatcher with the sheriff's department. Q. And just briefly what are your job responsibilities? A. Well, the jailing part of course is taking care of the inmates, feeding them and doing everything, care for them on daily shift. Dispatch is taking calls and the assigning them to officers and getting the Merkel's Reporting Services 1-715-387?1247 book139 calls taken care of. Q. Are you also part of the SWAT team? A. I am. Q. And what are your responsibilities on the SWAT team? A. I'm a crisis negotiator for the SWAT team. Q. And you were directed to attend this hearing today by the sheriff; is that correct? A. That's correct. Q. What was your work experience prior to be employed with Taylor County? A. I spent 22 years at Weathershield Manufacturing in town here. Q. And how long have you been employed by Taylor County? A. Almost 19 years, I believe. Q. I want to draw your attention to a document that is in front of you and for the committee it is Exhibit 63, Page 524. On Saturday, February 25, 2017 did you draft a poem about Deputy Dave Kahan? A. I believe so, that's the date, yes. Q. And is that the document that is in Merkel's Reporting Services 1-715?387?1247 waH 140 front of you? A. That appears to be, yes. Q. Who did you distribute this poem to? A. Well, it went to Corey Dassow here. Then I included and Nick Schuld. Q. Did you also forward a copy to Sergeant Bowers? A. I believe I did, yes. Q. Did you forward a copy of this to any other supervisory employee? A. I don't believe so on this page it doesn't say that any way. Q. Look at Page 527? A. I'm there. Q. Any management employees listed A. There is not. Q. And then Page 530 and that's to Sergeant Bowers? A. Oh, yeah at the top there. Q. Anybody else? A. I sent it to my son as well if I remember right. I don't think anybody else in our department, I don't think. Merkel's Reporting Services 1-715-387-1247 DON This e-mail was sent to Sergeant Bowers Saturday afternoon at 1:38 according to the top of the e-mail, did you see Sergeant Bowers later that day on Saturday? A. Yes. Q. Where did you see him? A. I believe, unless I maybe seen him we were setting up for the SWAT breakfast. I may have seen him out there, possibly I know he was filming, but for sure I seen him at his house that evening later on. Q. Did you have any conversations with him regarding the e-mail that evening at his house? A. Well, I guess this e-mail got brought up by someone and all that Steve said to me that I recall was, "That was pretty ballsy." No further conversation that I recall. MS. DALE: I have no further questions. CROSS-EXAMINATION BY MR. SCHAUER: Q. Saturday you sent the e?mail. You said just on direct examination you may have seen him setting up the SWAT breakfast but Merkel's Reporting Services 1?715?387?1247 142 you are certain that you saw Steve at his home that night? A. That's correct. Q. And how many other people were at Steve's home that night? A. How many? Yeah? A. Six maybe. Was it a bunch of people sitting around in a circle kind of talking amongst themselves? A. Yes. Q. And was Steve one of those people? A. He was one of them. Q. And do you remember anybody else that was sitting around there? A. It was Corey Dassow was there and one or both of the that are deputies, and Tony Schuett was there and maybe some of his family I'm not sure exactly. Q. Were anybody's partners or wives or girlfriends there? A. Maybe Schuett's if that is the night I am thinking of. I think Schuett Merkel's Reporting Services 1-715-387?1247 143 might have had family there. I don't think anyone else did. Q. Was Jamie Alberti there? A. No. Q. As you are sitting around at Steve's house, you didn't remember seeing Jaime Alberti? A. I don't know if she was there that night, I mean, there has been several times I've been there. I don't know I guess maybe she was. Q. So it's possible she was there you just don't remember? A. That's correct. Q. Is it also possible that somebody else could have said that this e-mail was ballsy? A. No, I don't think so. Q. Do you remember about how much you had to drink earlier that day? A. No. Q. Did you have a decent amount to drink earlier that day before getting to Steve's house? A. No. Merkel's Reporting Services 1?715-387-1247 (Did you have any amount of alcohol before getting to Steve's house? A. I would say some probably. Q. Tell the committee how much you remember drinking before getting to Steve's house? A. Maybe possibly two beers, three at the most. Q. Two beers, three at the most? A. Maybe. Q. So if other people testify to the fact that you were if not actually intoxicated that you were impaired by the time you got to Steve's house what does that say to you? A. Say to me I don't believe it. Q. Okay. Now this e?mail at first you sent it to Kahan direct??tell me the proper pronunciation of Dave's last name will you? A. Kahan. Q. Kahan, okay. Thank you. So you e?mailed it first to Dave Kahan; right? A. Yes. Q. Did Dave ever send you an e?mail Merkel's Reporting Services 1-715?387-1247 asme 145 regarding it? A. He did, yes, he responded. Q. Okay. What do you remember Dave saying about the e-mail? A. Dave I don't know without being in front of me like these are something on the order of, that is hilarious. Him and Roxie, his wife, are reading it, they were laughing so hard they could hardly read it or something in that order, again, not word for word there. Q. Not word for word, but not Dave Kahan himself said to you that he thought that the e-mail that he and Roxie thought that the e-mail was funny; correct? A. That's the way I took his answer, yes. Q. Did Dave Kahan ever say in that e-mail that he took offense to or thought that you were bullying him in any way? A. No, not that I recall. Q. Did Dave Kahan ever say to you, don't send me any more e-mails like this? A. No. Q. In that e-mail or anywhere else? Merkel's Reporting Services 1?715-387-1247 LUMP Did Dave ever say that that was unwanted communication? A. Not to me he never, not that I recall. Q. So it seems Dave can take a joke, hey? A. You would think. Q. Still you understand that this wasn't appropriate e-mail communication; correct? A. Yeah, I guess not. Q. Have you been disciplined for this e?mail? A. Yes. Q. What discipline did you receive? A. I was counseled by the sheriff and I have a letter in my file. Q. Did any of your supervisors in the jail say anything to you about this e-mail? A. No, not that I recall. Q. Did you hear back from any other officers other than the ones that you sent the e?mail to about the e-mail? A. Other than the ones I sent it to. Merkel's Reporting Services 1-715?387?1247 mmwaIYeah, outside of the boys, Corey Dassow, Nick Schuld, did anybody else get back to you and say, hey, don't do that? A. No, not that I recall. Q. The sheriff indicates that he found a copy of the e-mail under his door when he came in at 7:00 a.m. about 7:00 a.m. the next day, did you put the e?mail under his door? A. No. Q. Sheriff indicates that around 8:00 a.m. he found copy of the e?mail on the copy machine in the records room. Did you happen to leave a copy of the e-mail down there? A. No, wasn't down there. Q. So clearly the e-mail made the rounds; fair to say? A. Fair to say. Q. But no one else except the sheriff got back to you and said, you know, in some terms, hey, knock that off? A. Yeah, nobody that I can recall did, no. Q. Thank you, Kevin, I appreciate your Merkel's Reporting Services 1-715?387?1247 waH KOGDQOXUT 148 testimony. MS. DALE: I have no further questions. MS. GRAFF: Next witness. CHRISTINE After having been first duly sworn to tell the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth, testified as follows: DIRECT EXAMINATION BY MS. DALE: Q. Would you state your full name for the record? A. Christine O'Toole. Q. And what is your job title? A. Data Records Manager. Q. And how long have you been employed with Taylor County? A. I started in December of 2016, so roughly ten months. Q. What was your employment history prior to being employed by Taylor County? A. I was legal assistant for corporation counsel for Taylor County. Q. And how long did you hold that position? Merkel's Reporting Services 1?715?387?1247 ONUWAUJN Just over a year. Q. And prior to that? A. Prior to that I was a stay-at?home mom and cared for my family. Q. Would you briefly describe your job responsibilities? A. I am the gatekeeper for all of the records for the Taylor County Sheriff's Office. Everything that comes in gets organized by me and any requests that go out go through me for documentation. Q. And who held the position prior to you? A. Betty Danon. Q. Did she go through a training period with you? A. Yes, she did for about four weeks. Q. Describe where your work station is? A. I'm at the entrance of the sheriff's office. Q. Do you greet visitors? A. Yes, I do. Q. Do you allow visitors staff access to the sheriff's department office area? Merkel's Reporting Services 1-715-387-1247 Only if they have an appointment or are meeting someone that is being called to the department. Q. And how do you allow them in? A. If they are there to see someone I will check with the person they intend to see and then I will buzz them in through a locked door. Q. Did you ever observe Cold Justice staff entering the sheriff's department offices with use of a door code for a key? A. No. Q. If they came to the office, did you buzz them in? A. Yes. Q. Did you ever observe them using the sheriff's department copy machine or scanner? A. Yes. Q. Do you know what they were copying or scanning? A. I believe they were copying or scanning materials from the Monte case. Q. I want to turn your attention to Exhibit 36. On Monday, February 27th when Merkel's Reporting Services 1?715-387-1247 work, did you have a phone message from Sergeant Bowers? A. Yes, I did. Q. Looking at Exhibit 36, first page, is that a transcript of that voice message? A. Yes, it is. Q. What did you do after receiving this voice mail message? A. I familiarized myself with where the It was on the first floor in a file cabinet and I believe I contacted Steve and let him know that is where the file was located but I did not retrieve it. MR. SCHAUER: She spoke a little too softly for me. The first floor where? THE WITNESS: First floor secured file room. MR. SCHAUER: Thank you. Q. Looking at the next page is this an e?mail string between you and Sergeant Bowers? A. Correct. Q. Would you describe the e-mail string? Merkel's Reporting Services 1-715-387-1247 the bottom of that page you see that I sent Steve a message at 8:47 saying that I found the case files in the upstairs storage room by dispatch, when you walk in the door third cabinet from the right, bottom two drawers, also has a significant amount of documentation on my drive. Steve responded back and said, saw those drawers but didn't find the actual case file. Binders and reports and stuff." I responded again saying that, okay, I will look again. Steve wrote back and said, "The TV guys are going to want to scan it all when I find it." I then contacted Betty the lady that had the position before me if she thought there were any other documents in existence and there were not. So I wrote Steve again and said, I checked with Betty and she said everything was placed in the first floor file room. Those are the documents I shared with Brendan today. I double checked the ground floor file room, nothing additional found. Q. Who is Brendan? A. He was the person with the film Merkel's Reporting Services 1?715-387-1247 DON 153 team that was sort of the behind the scenes leader. And what did you give him? A. He took the Sheriff Bowers file, which was the case file in a box, and then in a smaller box were medical files related to Q. Those are the two boxes that are over here? A. Yes. Q. Did you add anything to the box, were there any A. I retrieved information on the drive -- MR. SCHAUER: Objection, compound. You asked her two questions and I don't know what she is responding to. I don't want to be a dink about it. Which one of those questions were you asking? MS. DALE: Can you read it back? (Last question read into the record). Q. Did you add anything to the box? A. I added that contained data from the drive related to the case. Those Merkel's Reporting Services 1?715-387?1247 (154 were files that existed before my arrival to this position. They were case files related to that particular incident. Q. How many CD's did you add to the box? A. I created two CD's and I believe I was given a third one from Harland, that one was a duplicate of what I had already so we had the same information. Q. Who is Harland? A. Harland Schwartz is a detective in the sheriff's department--investigator, I'm sorry. Q. Who did you give the box and the CD's to? A. I believe I gave them directly to Brendan. Q. Did you see where they took the boxes? A. No, I did not. Q. Did they leave the secured area with the boxes? A. Yes, they did. Q. So you saw them leave? A. Yes. Merkel's Reporting Services 1-715-387-1247 Did you ask the sheriff or the chief deputy permission before sending those files with Brendan? A. I did not ask permission before. Q. Why not? A. I felt that Steve was a superior person in position and he was asking for those documents so I was fulfilling his request with an internal request. Q. Did you have any conversations with Sergeant Bowers with regard to the use of a Dropbox? A. He had mentioned Dropbox. I was not familiar with the county having any Dropbox accounts. Q. Do you remember anything more about your conversation with him? A. Not specifically, no. Q. Did you later have a conversation with the sheriff about the documents in the boxes? A. Yes, I did. Q. Describe that conversation? A. He was just checking in on me. We were just passing--he was passing through my Merkel's Reporting Services 1?715-387?1247 (UNI156 office and asked how things were going and I shared with him that this case files had been requested and had been removed by the film crew. Q. Did you say anything more in this conversation, was there any discussion of another file? A. There was discussion of another open murder case file. I had not really said any information about that one, that was Q. Explain that? A. Dropbox is an external cloud, if you will, for saving data and files. It's supposed to be a secure site. I had used Dropbox with my prior employer so that was the extent of my knowledge. I knew that it existed. I was not familiar with the intrinsic works of Dropbox. It usually needs a password to access it. Q. Were you aware that any of the any discussion regarding that? A. Just the mention by Steve in Merkel's Reporting Services 1?715?387?1247 mmwaH 157 conversation about Dropbox, but I was not actively working with them or knew how to access them._ Q. Will you turn your attention to Exhibit 39. What is that document? A. That is a message to me from Steve indicating that the company would be returning the case records to me that morning that Steve would be out of town and please let the sheriff know when I have the stuff back. I acknowledge receipt of that just saying, sounds good, thank you. Q. Were the boxes and returned to you? A. The boxes were returned to me. Q. I turn your attention to Exhibit 40. What is that document? A. That's an indication that I sent an e?mail to Bruce Daniels, Sheriff Daniels, indicating to him that the boxes of files and CD's just arrived back at my desk and to my knowledge no copies were made. Q. How do you know no copies were made? A. That's what Brendan stated to me Merkel's Reporting Services 1?715-387?1247 UJN 158 that no copies were made. Q. Prior to Sergeant Bowers' investigatory interview, were you asked to retrieve the files, the file boxes for Sheriff Daniels? A. Yes, office. Q. When it was returned to you what did you do with it? A. It stayed in my office under my desk. Q. And then you transferred it? A. Then I transferred it to Sheriff Daniels' office when he asked. Q. Did you subsequently discover or learn that there were four CD's in the box? A. I was not aware of that until the day that I was asked to identify the CD's and that was when a fourth CD??so that was the first time I was reopening the box. It was when it was determined that there were four CD's. The two that I had made one that Harlan Schwartz had made, and another CD that was not written on so it was undeterminable when that was made. Merkel's Reporting Services 1?715-387-1247 That fourth CD what did you do with it? A. I did write on the envelope to indicate that it was related to and we did open it up to see what were the files that were listed on that. Q. And what did you discover? A. That there were on that desk similar to the files that I had provided on the two CD's and then the third CD from Harland it was very similar in the file names. Q. I'm going to hand you a folder with some CD's in it MR. SCHAUER: -- in order to save any of that, is there anything that you would like me to stipulate to that might save some of this and also be able to not have to go through all of this with her? MS. DALE: We can stipulate that there were three CD's that were in the box containing the folders. I would like her to without putting them in the record explain what she found when she accessed the disk. MR. SCHAUER: Didn't she just do Merkel's Reporting Services 1-715-387?1247 (nu160 that? MS. DALE: I think it would be helpful if she just looked at it. MR. SCHAUER: I'm fine with her testimony, but if we are going to be showing her stuff that is not going to be evidentiary. Do you have copies of that? MS. GRAFF: I asked the question too, do you have copies of that? MS. DALE: We don't. We don't want copies of this disk. MS. GRAFF: Perhaps she can testify that if she feels it's incomplete and needs to refresh her memory; is that fair? MR. SCHAUER: Yes. Q. So you found a fourth A. Correct. Q. Did you do analysis to determine when the disk was created? A. I did. Q. And what date was the disk created do you recall? A. Not exactlyhead. It's noted on the top of the paper. Q. I'm going to show this paper to Merkel's Reporting Services 1?715-387-1247 GU1wa 161 refresh your recollection? A. The DVD was created on February 25, 2017. Q. Was there anything else unique about this disk? A. It's not one that I have in the inventory of CD's and DVD's that I use. Mine are labelled with a brand so that's not a CD that would have come from my work station. MS. DALE: I have no further questions. CROSS-EXAMINATION BY MR. SCHAUER: Q. I'm going to ask you to turn to Tab 40 it might still be up? A. Yup. Q. The e?mail specifically states that you sent to the sheriff, "The boxes of files and CD have just arrived back to my desk; no copies were made." Is that correct? A. Yes. Q. And you said in direct testimony that no copies were made that was based on what Brandan from Cold Justice had told you; correct? Merkel's Reporting Services 1-715?387-1247 Correct. Q. Would you have been able to do an analysis on the to determine whether or not they had been copied? A. I can't determine if they've been copied. I can look at one and determine the date was put on it, the date it was created. Q. Got it, okay. Did everything else in the boxes look to be the same documents and information you gave to Brendan when you gave it to him? A. I did not specifically analyze what documents, I had not done an inventory. But to my knowledge what appeared to be the box of materials that left also appeared to be the box of materials that were returned. Q. About the same weight? A. Weight and height internally in the box, and I remember the box of medical records being that, being medical records. Q. Okay. So you opened the box and saw that there were documents in there when you got it back; correct? A. Yes. Q. And it looked to be about the same Merkel's Reporting Services 1?715-387-1247 163 documents as the documents you gave to Brendan when you gave them to him; correct? A. Correct. Q. Again, that does not presume that you have done a specific page by page inventory? A. Correct. Q. You said you ran this whole situation by Betty, your predecessor; correct, at some point? A. I did call her and asked her if she could verify where the files were. Q. Okay. Did she ask you who needs them, did she ask you why you were getting the request from Steve? A. I don't believe that she did. I kept it very brief and to the point. Q. Did she express any concern about you releasing the information to Brendan? A. She did not know I was releasing it to Brendan. Q. You simply asked her where is it and she told you? A. Correct. Q. You said Dropbox was used by your Merkel's Reporting Services 1?715-387-1247 (164 prior employer, who is your prior employer? A. Taylor County Corporation Counsel. Q. Who is your direct report in your position? A. Right now Sheriff Daniels and Chief Deputy Woebbeking. Q. Before turning these documents over to Brendan, did it not occur to you to ask the chief deputy or the sheriff whether or not to do that? A. It did not, no. It was an internal request an internal request amongst a peer I feel is different than an external request going out to the public -- Q. we would agree -- A. -- but that doesn't mean Q. you have answered the question. There isn't a question in front of you. MR. SCHAUER: If I could have one second to confirm. MS. GRAFF: Sure. Q. There is one other thing when Brendan gave the files back to you, did he offer the comment that no copies were made? A. Yes. Merkel's Reporting Services 1?715?387?1247 CUM say anything else, was he apologetic? A. I don't remember. Q. But you do remember him saying that he assured you that no copies were made of any of the documents or CD's that he was returning to you? A. Yes. Q. And it did seem to you from your brief overview that what you got back from him is what you gave him? A. Yes. MR. SCHAUER: I don't have anything else, no further questions. MS. DALE: No. MS. GRAFF: We do. QUESTIONS BY MR. ZENNER: Q. How did you know it was the are they labeled that way? A. They were labeled that way, but I also have the cabinet labeled in the file room. Q. And then did you inventory the box before it left the office? A. I did not. Merkel's Reporting Services 1?715?387?1247 boom ask why not? A. Again, that is an internal request. An internal request I was giving it to a person internally with the expectation that they would not be releasing it externally to somebody else. If they do release it, that does need to come through me. An internal request would be like taking inventory of everything Bruce asks for me. If Bruce asks me for a file. I don't inventory the file unless he asks me to look at something. So I did not inventory those boxes. QUESTIONS BY MS. GRAFF: Q. One followup question. Did you look on the inside to make sure it was inside? A. Yes, I thumbed through them and that is how I knew the one box was medical files for, obviously, before murder but medical files that went back quite extensively and the other box was compilation of materials related to the murder. MS. GRAFF: Does that prompt any Merkel's Reporting Services l-715-387-1247 (167 questions from either side? MR. SCHAUER: It does but it is your turn first. MS. DALE: Yes, it did. REDIRECT BY MS. DALE: Q. You said they were given to an internal person, would you clarify that? A. The request came from Steve Bowers so in my mind that was an internal request. Q. No further questions. RECROSS BY MR. SCHAUER: Q. To followup on that giving the documents to Brendan at Steve's request still was an internal transfer as far as you saw it; correct? A. At that time, I was still very new in the position. Q. At that time? A. Yes, I saw that they were getting the boxes for Steve, Steve was busy with the interviewing and preparing for the film that they were all working on. MR. SCHAUER: Okay. Nothing else. MS. DALE: No further questions. MS. GRAFF: Is there any objection Merkel's Reporting Services 1?715?387-1247 DWN GUT those were not done by stipulation? MR. SCHAUER: I will stipulate to 36, 39 and 40. MS. GRAFF: Thank you. MR. SCHAUER: And just for clarification we already did 37 and 38 earlier; right? MS. GRAFF: We have not. MR. SCHAUER: I have no objection to entering 37 and 38 in the record at this point as well since we addressed those as well. MS. GRAFF: Thank you. MS. DALE: Call Melissa Seavers. MR. SCHAUER: Can we take five? MS. GRAFF: Yes. (Brief break taken). MELISSA SEAVERS, After having been first duly sworn to tell the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth, testified as follows: DIRECT EXAMINATION BY MS. DALE: Q. Would you state your full name for Merkel's Reporting Services 1-715-387?1247 169 the record? A. Melissa J. Seavers. Q. And what is your position with Taylor County? A. IT Director. Q. And how long have you held that position? A. I've been with the county since 2002, but I started as network administrator and I'm not quite sure when that transition took place. Q. But your job involved you have already been in A. Yes, yes. Q. And it evolved to now you are the director? A. Yes. Q. What was your employment history prior to be being employed by Taylor County? A. I was the network administrator for Hurd Millwork, which is now Sierra Pacific. Q. Would you describe briefly your job responsibilities with Taylor County? A. Overseeing the network, making sure everyone's computers were operating Merkel's Reporting Services 1-715-387?1247 nook170 properly, that all departments can do their job, have that they need, managing the servers. We're a small department so we all pitch in and help in various areas. Q. Do you remember ever having any discussions with Sheriff Daniels regarding using cloud storage in the future or any plans to use cloud storage? MR. SCHAUER: Before you answer that, this isn't going towards our stipulation in regard to the fact that the sheriff isn't making an issue regarding the use of cloud storage? MS. DALE: No, it isn't going there. MR. SCHAUER: Okay. Sorry. We stipulated to facts that would save some amount of testimony and I wanted to make sure she wasn't still introducing those facts. I apologize. I will withdraw the objection. MS. GRAFF: Answer the question if you remember what it is, otherwise you can have it read back. A. Yes, we had talked about using Merkel's Reporting Services 1?715-387?1247 boom 171 cloud storage to store video, squad video, because the server fills up quite fast and we had just had a few discussions on if it would even be possible to take some of that video and store it in the cloud so that officers would not run out of space when they try to upload the video. Sometimes they have to contact us and say we can't upload. Well, then we go and look and one video they have is more than what we have for storage right now. So then we have to ask all the officers to go through and clean out the video to free up more space. We had discussed it. Q. I want to ask you to turn to Exhibit 45? A. Okay. Q. In March of this year, were you asked by Sheriff Daniels to assist him in a matter involving a Dropbox that had been set up by Sergeant Bowers? A. Yes. Q. Using Exhibit 45, could you walk us through an explain what happened? A. I had received an e?mail on Merkel's Reporting Services 1?715?387-1247 bum 172 March 2nd regarding a work e-mail account possibly tied to a Dropbox account and that I should take the necessary steps to access those records. Q. And what did you do? A. So the Dropbox was tied to a county e?mail account and because we obviously can have access to everything I had to have that password or do an I forgot password on the Dropbox account and then it sends the link to the county e-mail address and then you follow that link and then you can reset the password and that's how I was able to get in. Q. Turning to the next page what did you discover? A. That was in question was on the root of the Dropbox account and that would be . had three members and that would be Steve Bowers, the owner, Nan Strait had viewing rights and Jaime Henrichs had viewing rights. Q. First, what is a root folder? A. The root of Dropbox is just the initial View when you log in. There can be Merkel's Reporting Services 1-715-387?1247 shook173 several folders right there at the root. So was on that root level, it wasn't hidden within a different folder basically. Q. And what does it mean an owner can view? A. As far as Dropbox goes, if you are the owner, you are the one that has the rights, the full rights to you can log into the web interface of Dropbox and you can actually edit, make changes, delete files or do whatever. If you have view rights, you cannot edit that original file you would have the ability to download. You can download and a file because there is an app for PC's and Mac's that if you install that it will your Dropbox down on your local hard drive and then you could take from that Dropbox link and you can copy anything and put it in a different location on your computer, you could edit that. But if you have only view rights you cannot edit the original contents that resides in Dropbox. Q. So what did you do after seeing Merkel's Reporting Services 1?715-387-1247 ADJN 174 this information? A. Well, I wasn't by myself for one and then just started taking screen shots as requested. Q. So explain what we are seeing? A On these next pages? Q. Yes? A So inside the 3 another folder, namec .nd then these next pages are everything that resided inside that folder. So you can see there are just other files within there and then you can see the little folder icons those are other folder inside there and, yeah. Q. So if we click on a folder, the current report there would be sub folders under that? A. Yeah, there may be. There may be things inside that folder. But where you see things that don't have an icon next to it like that's just a Word document that is there and there is nothing inside or down further. Q. Going on to what is labeled 407, explain what you did at that point? Merkel's Reporting Services l-715?387?1247 LUMP Well, that's where I was instructed to remove access. So when you click the share in Dropbox then you can select member, each member that would have access you can remove access or change access rights at that point. So I had removed access to those members of that Nan and Jaime. Q. So they could no longer go in and View? Shouldn't be able to, yes. Looking at Page 409? I15 0 35 Okay. Q. Let's just walk through those. I think these are better copies than what is in your reports but explain what those are? A. Well, this is just a screen shot of You see the two little people on the folder that just tells us it's shared and then that is just showing how it is laid out, Jaime, Nan Strait can view. And, yup, that is just, okay. So it is just going through and showing some different screen shots and how it shows a few pages farther in that there are three members, three members, three members, just Merkel's Reporting Services 1?715?387?1247 mU'lisNH \176 confirming that that is that shared folder through from the root all the way down. So if you look at the top where it says I .j it is showing a bunch of contents and off to the right is just three members just confirming that. Yeah, I think this is just the contents of that C08 folder through there. Q. What is the last page? A. That is just showing once I removed the two shares then at the top there you will see one member that is just confirming that the share had been taken off. Q. Was it your belief at that time Sergeant Bowers no longer had access to that Dropbox? A. Yes. Q. Explain? A. Well, because the password had gotten changed I thought that that was it then that it would prompt anyone for a new password from that point on. Q. Looking at Exhibit 46 what are those documents? A. So 46 is just an e-mail replying Merkel's Reporting Services l-715-387-1247 @01wa 177 back that I was providing screen shots, that no one else had access to Dropbox. There was just one member and that is a screen shot. That's what 46 is, it is just confirming that there was one member. Q. And then the next two pages? A. Okay. Well, that was just an e-mail saying that on these next few pages just snap shots of the e-mail account and showing these changed colors if you read the messages they're not bolded any more and they just go to regular text and so that proves that there was no access to this e-mail account as far as being able to get in and send e?mails or read e?mails or do anything from that e?mail account there is no access. Q. Or change the password again? A. No, not on the e?mail, no. Q. I'm going to ask you to turn to Exhibit 56. On April 26th, did Sheriff Daniels ask you to access the Dropbox for him? A. Yes. Q. Would you explain why and what you Merkel's Reporting Services 1?715-387-1247 178 found? A. He had requested that I download the contents of nd so with him present again I got into the Dropbox and Q. And what was your reaction? A. Well, I didn't think anyone had access to Dropbox. It was my understanding that when I had removed those members and changed that password that no one would have access to it. So then I went into the deleted files and I found that it had been deleted on April 2, so, yeah, I was shocked because I didn't know who could have access to that. I was shocked. Q. What did you do after that? A. You have the ability to restore stuff in Dropbox I think for up to 30 days if I'm not mistaken and so the attorney had told me to restore that file and download everything to a flash drive and then I was instructed to change that Dropbox password again so that is what I did. Q. Go on and explain the rest of your report here? Merkel's Reporting Services 1-715-387?1247 Okay. So I had restored the folder and all the contents and that is where this little snippet of events comes in it just shows up at the very top you restored, character, you restored it is just showing that things were restored. Then when I went to change the password on that session for the first time I saw a green informational box appear and it doesn't appear for long and so it caught attention but I couldn't read everything it said. So then I changed the password again so that box came up and I was able to--I had my little snippet tool ready so I could try to capture it and that is what is on the following page is up at the top and basically it says that the password was changed but that any existing sessions, devices and apps can still access the Dropbox. MR. SCHAUER: That's on 473? A. 472 and 473. MR. SCHAUER: That's what it says in that really small box you can't read it? I'll stipulate that is what that says it looks close enough to me. Merkel's Reporting Services 1-715?387?1247 anyway that is the first time I, myself, had ever seen that type of a informational box in Dropbox popup and then it made sense that there were still devices that had the Dropbox app, those passwords were just basically kind of in a pash mode type of thing and so you can still have access to any devices that the Dropbox is on and I didn't know that so I learned something new about Dropbox. Q. So what happened next? A. Well, I had to start exploring to figure out if I could I guess if I could locate with devices that were still linked to Dropbox because I wasn't sure and I did I was able to come across a device link and then it showed all the devices that were linked to that particular Dropbox and so, obviously, that's just a print screen that was requested. Yeah, so like an Android phone the most recent activity on that was four years ago that would have been an old phone that had Dropbox but more than likely is out of commission in a box somewhere, you know, that it hadn't been accessed for four Merkel's Reporting Services 1-715-387?1247 #6101wa 181 years but then, obviously, the most recent are up there and so then you can see there is a work device site I guess I'm not positive what that is that would be name work. But I know that SD-02644 that is a county computer it was about a month ago, Bowers as laptop two years ago, that's not our naming convention here so I believe that would be a home computer and then we've got Steve's iPhone, Steve's iPad, Steve's iPhone, Steve's iPad. I believe from having an iPhone myself I know that is just what an iPhone names itself. So I do not believe that he has three iPhones that are functioning or that he is using. I don't believe he is using three iPhones. I believe that these are just upgrades and there is one iPhone. Because every time you get a new phone at least with Apple it just names it usually your name an iPhone whether you get a new iPhone every year and you say you link Dropbox every single year it might show 20 iPhones if you have 20 years of history so. Q. And what is on the next page? Merkel's Reporting Services 1-715-387-1247 UJN Okay. So also with an iPhone and Dropbox you can you can automatically your photos, your iPhone photos will automatically to Dropbox as cloud storage disaster recovery, what not. So then inside camera uploads it showed that into April of 2017 that there were photos that were syncing from that iPhone so that that says that, yes, this iPhone still has access to Dropbox. Q. Turn to the next page and I probably should have done this simultaneously but the next page is a better view of one of the screen shots that you took? MS. GRAFF: Can you identify the page number so it's on the record too? MS. DALE: 476. A. Well, so 476 and 477 I guess is showing deleted files. So you see 4/2/17 the folder in question is that that's in the deleted files and then this is just showing how it goes about the restore. When I went to do a restore, it just says, this was deleted in the past but Merkel's Reporting Services 1?715?387?1247 LON 183 clicking restore will bring back every file that was in it and you would just confirm at that. Q. That's Page 477? A. That's Page 477. Q. Now before you turn to the next page at the bottom it says, Page 1 of 123? A. Yes. Q. What does that mean? A. Well, that just means if I wanted to view, there were 1,221 restorable files. So it begins to list those files and I would have had to take 123 pages of print screens if you wanted to see that entire content but 1,221 files reside inside what would be restored. Q. And the next page, Page 478 what is that? A. These are just different events that had occurred I guess on the Dropbox. So it was just showing that in the events I restored 152 more folders that would be all those folders that are inside that and it just says that I did that 35 minutes ago I restored the cast of Merkel's Reporting Services 1-715-387-1247 WNH 184 characters. If you go down farther it says that the deleted things happened on April 2nd at 5:16 p.m. is when that cast of characters document and 1068 something and then that C08 and 152 more folders were deleted April 2nd 5:16 p.m. So basically it is just showing those things that were recorded as deleted events were now records being restored back. Q. What are the events under that with the purple and blue dots? A. That's showing that a couple people that had access removed their access to that shared folder, Q. In the earlier exhibit doesn't it indicate that Bennett Krueger had access to it can you explain that? A. I can't. I can't. I don't know why he wasn't showing up. I honestly can't figure that out. Q. Okay Page 479 is that a better View of the screen shot showing the devices that were linked? A. Yeah, that looks like just an enlarged View of that. Merkel's Reporting Services 1?715?387-1247 Page 480, is that just a screen shot showing that a camera had been uploaded as recent as April 17th onto that device? A. Yes. Q. Page 481 screen shot showing activity on that Dropbox? A. Yes. Just that's just some activity. Q. 482? A. Okay. Q. What is that? A. That shows that that and then everything in that that CO8 seems to be where the contents were and that just shows that members were deleted. Q. Will you look real quickly at Pages 484 through 488 my belief is that this was an inadvertent copy error and these are duplicate copies of what exists in Exhibit 45? A. Yes. That is the contents it's just screen shots of the contents of that that CO8 folder just a larger view. Merkel's Reporting Services 1-715-387-1247 bookThen I turn your attention now to Exhibit 57? A. Okay. Q. As part of the investigation, were you given a CD and asked to determine when it was created and what the contents were from? A. Yes. Q. Can you explain? A. I was given a CD with this case number, this content that appears to be that was created on the disk itself was burned on 2/25/2017 and then I was asked to look at the network drive, which resides on the server and that case folder did reside on a network drive with that exact same content. Q. And turning to the next page does that explain where? A. All right. So this is a screen shot of the server and this shows the individual network folder, the arrow by Steve Bowers and then you would see Sergeant Bowers' properties that he has access to that folder and then domain admin, which would be the IT department. That's how it Merkel's Reporting Services 1-715-387?1247 \lmUfor everyone. Everyone has their own home folder we call it. That the admin have access to so we can get in and make shared or changes if need be to the access of the folder and then each user gets their own where no one else has access to it. Q. So only Sergeant Bowers and IT had access to what was copied on that disk? A. To the Steve Bowers' folder to everything that was inside there. Q. Just a couple more questions. The parties have stipulated that Sergeant Bowers paid an annual prescription fee for additional storage in the Dropbox. Were you recently asked to facilitate making a copy of the personal items on that Dropbox so he could be given a copy of that? A. Yes. Q. Of the information that was personal versus the information that was work related, can you give just a general estimate of how much was personal? A. Approximately 24 gigs out of 25 gigs roughly. Q. Was personal? Merkel's Reporting Services 1-715-387-1247 bookYes. MS. DALE: I have no further questions? CROSS-EXAMINATION BY MR. SCHAUER: Q. So one of the points of contention in this hearing is that Steve deleted what we are just going to call the the Dropbox when I say that do you follow what I was getting at? A. Yes. Q. According to your testimony when he did that, it isn't like the file was actually removed from Dropbox it was simply put into a deleted items folder; is that correct? A. On Dropbox, yes. Q. On Dropbox. If a person were to delete something in order to hide it because they were ashamed or thought they were doing something improper would a person normally leave it sit in the deleted items folder? A. No. Q. Did he have the ability to delete it off the deleted items folder making it much less accessible? Merkel's Reporting Services 1-715-387-1247 Dropbox? Q. Yes? A. I don't know. All I know about Dropbox is that it will hold your files for 30 days. So that in 15 days if someone really deletes something that they need back you can get it at least for up to 30 days that's what I know. So I guess I don't know, yeah. Q. Whether or not like your trash can on your computer you can go in there-? A. -?right, and permanently delete, yup, I don't know. Q. As I sit here, I truthfully don't know that either? A. I don't either. Okay. Q. We don't know something together. But with all that said Steve did not by putting it in the deleted items folder did not permanently delete file off the Dropbox? A. No. Q. We had already stipulated that Steve had paid for this Dropbox storage; correct? Merkel's Reporting Services 1-715-387-1247 DON Correct. Q. Let me rephrase because you didn't necessarily know the stipulation. It is your understanding that Steve paid for the Dropbox by paying $99.99 per year to Dropbox for that storage; correct? A. It is. Q. And, therefore, does Steve own the Dropbox? A. I don't know who paid for it. I don't know if work paid for it or if Steve paid for it. Q. Got it. All right. I'm going to turn your attention to the small binder Number 7? A. Okay. Q. We stipulated to these documents and just with what you know about computers generally is the first page?-you said you have an iPhone? A. Yes. Q. So do you recognize this first page of Exhibit 7 to be a screen shot of the subscriptions of an iPhone user would have? A. Yes. Merkel's Reporting Services 1?715-387-1247 boom And Dropbox is listed there as an annual one year to renew January 25, 2018; correct? A. Yes. Q. The next page shows that basically again and then it allows him to cancel that subscription at that point if you were to want to; correct? MS. GRAFF: That's Page 3? MR. SCHAUER: Yes. Q. Then if I ask you to turn to Page 4, it is a little tough to read, but there is a charge on January 26 and it says a phone number CA, and then $105.49. You see that there? A. Yes. Q. Considering $99.99 plus tax is there a high degree of probability?-we can ask Steve about this 1ater--that that is his purchase of the Dropbox in question? A. Yes. Q. Let me ask it this way. Is this charge on Steve's credit card consistent with a purchase of $99.99 for the Dropbox in question? Merkel's Reporting Services 1?715?387-1247 .bwm 192 MS. DALE: I believe that's already been stipulated to. MR. SCHAUER: Sorry, you're right.' But it's all there. I'll move onto the next thing. Q. So if Sheriff Daniels came to you and said, we need access to this Dropbox is that basically the gist of his request? A. The sheriff and the D.A. Q. Okay. You were working on both of their instructions at that point? A. Yes, at that point because I think everyone wanted to make sure. Q. You can finish, that what? A. That we were okay to do this. Q. Oh, okay. All right. And at their request you then using Steve's e?mail address asked for the Dropbox for the password to be changed? A. Yes, because it was tied to a work account. Q. Okay. I'm trying to get across to the committee what happened? A. Okay. Q. You never had any direct Merkel's Reporting Services 1-715?387-1247 193 communication with Steve regarding his actions with regard to either of these cases; correct? A. No. MR. SCHAUER: One more second I'm going to confer, quickly. Q. One other thing about that was found in the Dropbox. I know you probably didn't go document by document through it; is that correct? A. Correct. Q. But considering the names of the documents and what it is that you saw, did you have a sense that it was a law enforcement file? A. Yes. Q. And did you, if it was on the Dropbox in that format, is it fair to say that those same documents also continued to exist on the county server? A. Yes. Q. Because that is how they would have been put into dropbox is they would have been copied from the county server onto the Dropbox for his use away from the office, is Merkel's Reporting Services 1-715?387-1247 LON 194 that generally what Dropbox is used for? I asked two questions there let me try again. When Steve copied from the county server to the Dropbox what would be the purpose he would use that for? A. You can use Dropbox to have access across multiple devices, disaster recovery, those are some of the things Dropbox is used for. Q. Putting it on Dropbox and possibly deleting it from Dropbox would do nothing to the file on the county's server that still remained; correct? A. No. MR. SCHAUER: I don't have anything MS. DALE: A couple. REDIRECT EXAMINATION BY MS. DALE: Q. Did you know how the documents had been downloaded to the Dropbox where they came from, you weren't asked to look at that were you, you didn't look to see if they were a mirror image of what was on the county system? A. No. Q. Is there more than one way to Merkel's Reporting Services 1-715-387-1247 (JON 195 download something on the Dropbox? A. You can get anything to Dropbox if you are talking about media, flash drive, CD's, anything you have access to that you can right click and do a copy and paste you can put in Dropbox. As far as our data server to my knowledge any way the sheriff's department keeps all their files in one spot regarding cases I guess but and that could be copied from anywhere if that is what you are asking. Q. No, that's fine, that's fine. But you didn't make the comparison to see what was on that file versus what was in the system? A. No. Q. And the only way you could have made that comparison is to have the information on the Dropbox to compare to what was on the system; correct? A. Correct. Q. Now you said that it's your understanding that Dropbox will hold something in the deleted file for 30 days and then it's automatically deleted. You Merkel's Reporting Services 1-715-387?1247 (JON 196 said this file was deleted on April 2nd and you accessed it on April 27th. If you had waited a week and accessed it on May 3rd it do would have been gone; correct? A. That would be my understanding. MS. DALE: I have no further questions. RECROSS-EXAMINATION BY MR. SCHAUER: Q. You have access to all of the files on the county server that are law enforcement cases; correct? A. Files that are stored on the server but not on the Spillman side. Q. I understand. So like the if it's on the county server you have access to it? A. If we need to get in there and share something or change permission with a new employee starts, yes. Q. Or simply view it if asked by the sheriff? A. Yes. Q. You have access to what is in Dropbox because you restored all those files from a deleted filed? Merkel's Reporting Services 1-715-387-1247 Yes. Q. No one asked you to compare, the sheriff or no one else, asked you to compare on the server versus the the Dropbox did they? A. No. MR. SCHAUER: Nothing further. QUESTIONS BY MR. ZENNER: Q. When you first looked at that file you said there were two people that had access and then later on this Bennett Krueger you had no idea how this person got on there. Do persons that have access can they get permission from other people to access this? A. If you give them full rights I believe they could, but those other two have view rights and so that's all the rights they have. So, yeah, I'm puzzled about that Bennett Krueger why he didn't show up here but then it showed that he removed his access. I'm stumped on that. MR. SCHAUER: Can I ask a question to followup on that? MS. GRAFF: Sure. Merkel's Reporting Services 1?715-387?1247 198 RECROSS BY MR. SCHAUER: Q. Is it possible that Bennett Krueger was added to the list of people that can view after you looked for it and then deleted it and then took off that deleted his access on his own after he was asked to by the department? A. Yeah, actually that is possible. Now that we know that other devices stay linked. At first I didn't think that was possible because the minute we got in there and removed the access I was under the impression that that was it. But now that you know down the road when we realized that there was still some linked devices, yes, he could have been added after I looked at it and then removed his own access. Q. And to followup on that once the county asked everyone in Cold Justice to remove their access to this file they did so; correct? A. Yes. MS. DALE: There's been no testimony that the county asked Cold Justice to remove their access from that Dropbox. Merkel's Reporting Services 1?715-387-1247 LION 199 MR. SCHAUER: There was testimony that the county -- MS. DALE: the county told them to remove files. The county didn't know that there was a Dropbox and who had been given access until they found it. MR. SCHAUER: Got it. Let me ask this then. Attorney Dale, can you help me with which one of these exhibits has the events on it, you know what I mean by that? Here it is Page 478. Q. (By Mr. Schauer) Do you have Page 478 in front of you? A. Yes. Q. It says there on 2/28/2017 that Nan Strait removed her access on 3/1, that would be two days after, Bennett Krueger removed his access. Did I read that correctly? A. Yes. Q. And was that all shortly after the county or the sheriff's department asked the Cold Justice people to return the files, the physical files? MS. DALE: She wasn't part of that investigation at that point. Merkel's Reporting Services 1?715-387-1247 I'll ask that of them. Nothing further, thank you. I'm glad we were able to clarify that. MS. GRAFF: I just have a clarification question. When Attorney Schauer was asking you questions you all ready would answer so there are two where actually the answer is not what intended you intended so I just want to revisit them to make sure we have clear testimony. MR. SCHAUER: I want a clear record as well. MS. GRAFF: There was one question, and I'm going to paraphrase so feel free to correct me. Attorney Schauer asked you whether or not you had communications with the sheriff regarding the incident going on with Bowers, is that a correct recitation? MR. SCHAUER: Close enough. MS. GRAFF: And then he said, correct, and you said, no. So that answer to me means that you did have communications is that what you meant to answer? THE WITNESS: That I had Merkel's Reporting Services 1-715?387-1247 tut/201 communication with the sheriff or with Steve? MS. GRAFF: I apologize. That it was with Steve. Did you ever communicate with Steve about what was going on in with his Dropbox? THE WITNESS: No. MR. SCHAUER: That's a clearer question and answer. Thank you. MS. GRAFF: There was one more. I think you were thinking, yes, that's a correct statement. The other one was even if something is manipulated on Dropbox that doesn't do anything to the integrity of files held on the county server. THE WITNESS: Correct. That is a true statement. MS. GRAFF: Thank you. I just want to make that clear. Any followup from that anyone? MS. DALE: No. MR. SCHAUER: Absolutely not. Thank you for clarifying the record. MS. GRAFF: You are excused. Merkel's Reporting Services 1-715-387?1247 202 (Brief break taken). MS. DALE: Our next witness is going to be Kristi Tlusty. MR. SCHAUER: Did you want to move any of the exhibits from the last witness? MS. GRAFF: 45, 46, 56, 57 any objection? MS. DALE: Say the numbers again? MS. GRAFF: 45, 46, 56, 57. MR. SCHAUER: We're not going to object. We're not going to stipulate but we are not going to object. MS. GRAFF: Number 7 from the respondent's binder was referenced but that is in by stipulation. KRISTI TLUSTY, ESQ, After having been first duly sworn to tell the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth, testified as follows: DIRECT EXAMINATION BY MS. DALE: Q. Would you state your full name for the record? A. Kristi Tlusty, Q. And what is your position? Merkel's Reporting Services 1?715-387-1247 the Taylor County District Attorney. Q. And how long have you been in that position? A. I was elected in 2012 and I started in January of 2013. Q. And what did you do prior to becoming the Taylor County district attorney? A. I was in private practice as an attorney here at Schmiege Law office. I did private work for individuals so divorce work, family law, things like that, estate work, but I also did the some corporation counsel duties so I did the human services work for the department for the county and I also did child support enforcement. Q. When did you first learn that Cold Justice was interested in a cold case from Taylor County? A. I think it was about a year ago October of 2016 that I was made aware that they were specifically interested in the Monte case. I think it may be had been brought up previously in the past before Merkel's Reporting Services 1-715-387-1247 (JUN 204 that but in October of 2016 is I think when there was more definite movement and interest on that case. Q. Were you consulted about the release of information to Cold Justice on the Monte case? A. Yes, I was. I think initially the first communications that I had came from Chief Deputy Woebbeking and then I also had discussions with the sheriff about whether or not we wanted to proceed with this Cold Justice filming, what would be the pros and cons of that. I think I may have even sent out an e-mail to the attorney general's office asking if they had any opinions on working with any of these television agencies. I know that I had expressed considerable reservations about going ahead with it and I know that I had a phone conversation with some of the at least one of the producers on a couple of occasions and then at one point they even scheduled a phone conference so that I could talk with their legal counsel to address some of those questions that I had. Merkel's Reporting Services 1?715?387-1247 \lmUW Did you give the sheriff's office permission to release records? A. Yes. Q. Did you have any interaction with Cold Justice before they came to film? A. Yes, so as I said before, they came to film I would have had telephone conversations with it was one with the producers. I can't remember her name. I would have an e?mail that would have her name on it but I had conversations with her. I believe I also had a telephone conference with Kelly who would be the prosecutor on the show and as I said I also had a conversation with somebody from their legal department. I don?t remember his last name but his first name was Al. Q. During the filming did you have any interaction with them? A. During the filming my interaction was pretty limited. When they came here, I was introduced to them. They, you know, kind of gave me an overview as to what their timeline was going to be, how they were going to conduct things, where they were Merkel's Reporting Services 1?715-387?1247 (JUN 206 going to be set up. They invited me to ask questions at any point and come up and watch them and participate in their process if I wanted to I was always welcome to do that. Then at the end of the case they also sat down with myself and Kelly, the prosecutor, sat down and went over like a case summary. So we kind of walked through what they had concluded as a summary and put that all together in a final format for me. The other contact I would have had with them would have been my communications with I think it was Nan regarding the disclosure of those records. Q. Before we go into that let me ask a questionAre you waiting on any reports from Sergeant Bowers before you proceed? A. I'm not waiting on any of those Merkel's Reporting Services 1?715-387-1247 book207 reports. I believe that any of the interviews that Sergeant Bowers did was transcribed by a transcription service. I'm not waiting for his reports. Q. Now you mentioned you had some interaction with Cold Justice regarding a release of other documents can you describe what happened? A. I received a copy of an e?mail from the sheriff indicating that he had been advised or learned that records from some of our other files may have been shared with the Cold Justice team. I think he was at that point just trying to determine who made that disclosure, what was the extent of the disclosures. When I learned of that, I immediately came up here to the third floor which was where the crew was filming. I asked if Nan was around so I could speak with her she wasn't here but the crew took my name and number. I explained what I had concerns about that I had heard there was a disclosure of some other case files and that I didn't believe that those disclosures had been authorized so they did relay the Merkel's Reporting Services 1-715?387?1247 nwa \Imm 208 message to her. She then called me by telephone, I'm guessing that she was in the Milwaukee area doing interviews when she called me, she was very apologetic about what had happened and she proceeded to give me information about the records that she did have. Q. And what did she tell you she had? A. She said that Sergeant Bowers had given her some hard copies of one case file which I believe to have been case. She also said that there was, and I don't know how this Dropbox works, but I think they were invited to have access to a Dropbox for the other case, which I believe is She indicated that they would return any hard copies of documents immediately to, I think they were going to give them to Larry Woebbeking because he was with them, and that they would delete the invitation to the Dropbox, they weren't going to communicate any further information. Again, she was very apologetic, did not want this in any way, shape, or form to jeopardize what they had Merkel's Reporting Services 1?715-387-1247 AWNH 209 all ready done in the Monte case. So she kept asking me what can they do to make it right. Q. What happened after that? A. I think I communicated that information to the sheriff. This was the first time we had heard about Dropbox. I didn't know what Dropbox was. I didn't know it had been set up in any of our cases. 80 the sheriff and I had discussed that. He was not aware of a Dropbox being set up for any of the cases so then I think that he followed up on the Dropbox issue from there. Q. Did you have any conversations with any other agencies regarding this disclosure? A. Yes, because and because the Division of Criminal Investigation or DCI is assisting us we were concerned that because they are in different locations maybe they were aware of this Dropbox or maybe it had been set up for the ease of sharing information with them. But Merkel's Reporting Services 1?715?387?1247 didn't really know anything about it so we needed to call and find out. The sheriff and I had initiated a telephone call to Cindy Devie who I believe is the supervisor of DCI in this area. We simply asked her if she was aware that there was a Dropbox account set up for she said, no. We then briefly explained what we knew at that point, which was not much. We just knew that there had been a Dropbox set up and that the Cold Justice people had been invited to view it. At some point then we also had a telephone conversation with as I said is the attorney general who is appointed to be prosecuting and asked her if she was aware of this Dropbox and she said, no. Again, we felt we needed to explain to her what had happened. As the prosecutor responsible for that homicide case, she certainly needs to be aware that this incident had occurred so that she knows how to deal with it if it has an impact on the case when she finally gets ready to charge it. Merkel's Reporting Services 1?715?387?1247 AWN What concerns did she express? MR. SCHAUER: Objection, assumes facts not in evidence. She didn't say anything that she expressed any concern. Q. What did she say in regards to the disclosure? A. She was upset. We apologized to her and she expressed to us that she didn't hold it against us that it was not our fault. She felt, I guess I don't want to put words in her mouth, but she was clearly upset. She did not like the fact that there had been a disclosure of these records and that she wasn't aware of it. Q. Did you have any immediate concerns about the disclosure? A. Yes, my immediate concerns about the disclosure were for one I was concerned that it would somehow have a negative impact on those potential uncharged cases. I didn't know what the extent of the disclosure was, I mean, we didn't really know how far reaching this was, what had been disclosed, to whom it had been disclosed, why had it been disclosed, could Merkel's Reporting Services 1-715?38791247 AWNH have been disseminated further from there, was that going to have some sort of negative impact on these cases. I was also concerned that it would have a negative impact on our working relationships with both DCI and the attorney general's office since both of those agencies were involved in I was very concerned that they would somehow be hesitant to assist us in the future if we needed their help. Q. Were you subsequently informed Sergeant Bowers had also given access to the Dropbox containing the -- faime Alberti also known as Jaime Henrichs who is in the Marathon County Corporation Counsel's office? A. Yes. Q. Explain your concerns? A. Ms. Henrichs is not a law enforcement officer as far as I know. She is not a Taylor County employee. We don't have any control over what she does with that information. So there is no supervision or control any ability for us to Merkel's Reporting Services 1?715-387?1247 213 prohibit her or restrict what she does with that information after it's been turned over to her. Q. Do you View the corporation counsel as an extension of law enforcement? A. No. Q. Why not? A. They aren't a prosecutor of criminal offenses. Corporation counsel may give legal advice to the sheriff's department or to officers but they aren't an extension of law enforcement. They, you know, aren't involved in criminal investigations or prosecutions. They are more involved on the civil aspects of things, civil liability as opposed to the criminal aspect of cases. Q. You know now the extent of the disclosure; is that correct? A. I believe that the disclosures were to Cold Justice and to Jaime Henrichs. Q. Is there any potential impact you see of disclosure on those cases? A. The potential impact I guess their area a couple of concerns I have. First of Merkel's Reporting Services 1?715-387?1247 214 all, in a criminal case the prosecutor is required to disclose to the defense attorney or the defense any information that is considered impeachment evidence. So we refer to that as Brady Giglio evidence, it's regarding some court cases that's where that name came from. So if I'm aware of any instances of untruthfulness by any of the state's witnesses I have an obligation, an ethical obligation, to turn that information over to the defense so they can use that as possible impeachment to a attack the credibility of the state's witnesses. I'm not aware of all of the proceedings here against Sergeant Bowers. I know some of the information and I certainly don't know any of the other information that is being held in this closed session. If it is determined that Sergeant Bowers has been dishonest or untruthful in any aspect, I'm required to disclose that in any case in which he is a witness. That then has the effect of undermining his credibility in my potential cases. These cases that we are talking about here are the Merkel's Reporting Services 1?715-387-1247 DWN \lmt215 most serious cases that any of us as prosecutors deal with. They are homicide cases. We certainly treat those with a lot more caution and care than something less serious, you know, traffic offenses. If an officer has disciplinary action in his past it is maybe something that is not relevant in a traffic offense but certainly when you are talking about the most significant type of a case as a homicide it may be relevant and the defense is certainly going to argue to bring that in. So that is my first primary concern about the possible effect to two cases that credibility could be attacked. When we're talking about an officer's credibility it is also very important to--we expect officers to live by a very high standard so that their creditability is not able to be impeached and not able to be attacked. To explain that further many of my witnesses who are average citizen witnesses may have some reason to be attacked. So what they are telling a jury they may have some sort of a bias or maybe Merkel's Reporting Services 1?715?387-1247 (JUN 0(1)216 they have a relationship with the person they are testifying against and some sort of motive to give false testimony or maybe they themselves have been involved in criminal activity so they are making up this story to get some consideration from the prosecutor that if they work with us they'll get a better deal. We expect law enforcement officers to be clean from that any kind of shadow of that. So if there is any indication that Sergeant Bowers was involved in an incident that was dishonest, that is going to have an impact on every single case in which he is a witness in. Q. Aside from that is there potential impact on your case due to the disclosure of the evidence? A. The disclosure itself I think then that has to be again the defense attorney has to be made aware of that, that that in fact was disclosed, that it was done without any authorization. It would be something that the defense would likely try to bring up to say that somehow then evidence is Merkel's Reporting Services 1?715?387?1247 (JUN 217 tainted, that there is some sort of bias on behalf of Sergeant Bowers. Again, I don't know exactly what they would allege, but it would be something that I believe I would have a duty to disclose to the other side. Whether or not the judge would allow that information in that the disclosure happened I don't know I can't control what the judge will do but it's something I would have to take the step of disclosing and then I would have to fight about it in every single case and certainly in these cases to try to prove that none of the evidence was tainted, that this disclosure?-I guess I feel like the burden would be on me to try to explain that this happened and I have to tell you about it. Now I'm under an obligation to not only prove this case but to prove that it's okay, there wasn't any damage done when how can I prove that I don't know what damage was done, I don't know how far information went or what happened with that information. Q. Are there certain facts that you hold back during an investigation? A. Absolutely. So in cases where the Merkel's Reporting Services 1?715?387?1247 (no-Iasz 218 investigation is ongoing there is certainly information that is most of the time withheld from witnesses and certainly that is a bunch of reasons why we don't disclose certain information to the public, you know, we have ethical obligations that we can only disclose certain information to certain people at certain times and this disclosure didn't comply with those obligations. Q. What impact of this disclosure have on your ability to work with Sergeant Bowers in the future? MR. SCHAUER: Objection, asks for speculation because she doesn't know how this case is going to turn out and she doesn't know what has been proven or not proven during this case so there is no way with good conscious answer that question about the future until after the case. MS. DALE: She knows there has been a disclosure of this information to Cold Justice and to Jaime Henrichs. She can testify about the impact to her of that knowledge and her ability to work with him in the future. Merkel's Reporting Services 1-715-387-1247 LION 219 MR. SCHAUER: Her ability to work with him in the future, I mean. MS. GRAFF: I'll interject. I think this has already been asked. I think she actually already addressed the impact this is going to have on future cases so maybe you can go to the next question. MS. DALE: I have no further questions. CROSS-EXAMINATION BY MR. SCHAUER: Q. Good afternoon? A. Hi. Q. Hi. I'm Andrew Schauer, I'm the attorney that is representing Steve Bowers in this matter. You have said in direct testimony you were asked, did you give the sheriff's office permission to release records and your answer to that was, yes, I believe that was in reference to the Monte case; is that correct? A. Correct. Q. Do you actually have the authority to give and not give the sheriff's office permission to release records, isn't that Merkel's Reporting Services 1-715?387?1247 athwa 220 the prerogative of the sheriff, I can understand you might have an opinion as to whether or not that is legally a good idea but you truly don't have the authority to give the sheriff permission or not permission to release anything do you? A. I believe what happened is that Cold Justice did not want to proceed forward unless there was actual approval by both the sheriff and the district attorney and so that's why I was involved and they asked for my permission, my authority. Q. So you gave your approval of the release of the information in the Monte file to Cold Justice? A. Yes. Q. But strictly speaking you did not give permission to the sheriff for him to release that information did you, that's a decision him and his counsel would have to make; correct, as a separate constitutional officer? MS. GRAFF: Ask one question, please, I'm confused. Q. Let me rephrase the question? Merkel's Reporting Services 1-715-387?1247 boom don't control the sheriff so certainly he has control over his records so I'm not telling him what he can and cannot do with records. I'm telling you that Cold Justice did not want to proceed nor did--and I guess as a common professional courteous the sheriff and the chief deputy didn't want to proceed unless I was on board with it and I gave my blessing so?to-speak with it so that's why I was involved. Q. Again, I'm not questioning your involvement I think your involvement was appropriate as well. I'm just clarifying the fact that you like you just said don't have the ability to give the sheriff permission to release records in a given case; correct? A. No. Q. All right. You said that you had concern about whether or not the allegedly improper disclosure would have an impact on the prosecute ability of th is that fair to say? A. Right, and, again, you may be asking me to speculate I don't know all of Merkel's Reporting Services 1-715?387?1247 222 the ramifications because I don't know how far or what exactly was disseminated and how far that went. Q. So as we sit here you are talking about possible concerns not actual concerns with regard to itself because that is not a case that is in front of you that's in front of this attorney general; correct? A. Right. Q. The attorney general's office or DCI never told you that because of Sergeant Bowers' actions they are not going to work with the sheriff's department or with your office any more; correct? A. No. Q. They never said to you in any words close to this is going to harm our relationship, that was simply a concern that you had that it might; correct? A. Exactlyfact as we sit here today harmed those relationships in any way; correct? A. I haven't had any reason to contact Merkel's Reporting Services 1?715-387?1247 AWN 223 DCI since that incident occurred and I haven't had any anybody from the attorney general's office tell me that they would not help me. Q. Good. You mentioned Jaime Alberti in your direct examination. As we sit here now are you familiar with her? A. Yes. Q. Do you know her? A. Yes. Q. If she walked in the room you recognize her as compared to another person? A. Probably. Q. And are you familiar with her work? A. I know that she was a paralegal in the district attorney's office before I took office. Q. And do you have any reason to think that her work was subpar in that role? A. I never worked with her so I don't have any ability to answer that question. Q. Did you have any indication that her work was subpar? A. Again, I never saw her work, I didn't supervisor her, I didn't work with Merkel's Reporting Services 1-715-387-1247 don't have any foundation to answer that I never worked with her. Q. Accordingly, you have never got any negative feedback if you didn't get any feedback at all? A. Well, I believe she was subject to some disciplinary action here when she worked for the county. I don't know the details of that but. Q. You don't know that for a fact though? A. No, I don't know exactly Q. -- we won't go -- A. I don't know what the basis of the disciplinary action was, but I know that it was her and another employee from the district attorney's office I believe had been placed on some sort of suspension or some sort of leave. I don't know exactly what that was about. Q. You don't know if that was served or sustained? A. If it was what? Q. Served or sustained at all; correct, simply something you heard Merkel's Reporting Services 1?715-387?1247 225 secondhand? A. Right. Q. In your dealings with corporation counsel's offices you are aware they deal with Chapter 51 cases? A. Yes. Q. You are aware they deal with child support issues? A. Yes. Q. And in both of those situations criminal penalties can apply to cases in those areas; correct? A. I don't think in Chapter 51 cases there are criminal penalties. Q. Taking Chapter 51's aside, child support cases can turn into criminal violations? A. Sure, but those criminal violations are not prosecuted by corporation counsel they are prosecuted by the district attorney not corporation counsel. Q. Okay. They do provide advice to sheriff's offices with regard to their law enforcement dealings; correct? A. They do in some aspects. Merkel's Reporting Services 1?715?387?1247 $01.5me Okay. You talked about there being a lot of or you mentioned the phrase "potential impact" with regard to Steve's Bowers' involvement in the releasing of the you know of no actual impact to those cases because of Steve's sharing of that information with Cold Justice do you? A. I would say that what the actual impact here is that my ability to work with him is shaken because I don't believe that he made this disclosure unintentionally and didn't intend to violate policies I think that it was an intentional thing. He was a supervisor, he's very intelligent. He knows the law very well and his supervisor, Chief Deputy Woebbeking, was with him during this whole process. He knew the extent that we went through to get the approvals and to consider whether or not we should release information in the Monte case and yet he intentionally disclosed these records without bothering to ask the chief deputy, the sheriff, myself, the attorney general's office or DCI. Q. All right so do you believe that Merkel's Reporting Services 1?715-387-1247 227 the Cold Justice team to which he gave those files to are??let me ask it this way. You gave the sheriff your blessing as you put it to give the Cold Justice the Monte case; correct? A. Yes. Q. They were trustworthy enough to be able to handle the Monte case? A. There was a difference in that case and the consideration that we put into the Monte case Q. Ask to strike as nonresponsive. I simply asked whether or not you trusted them to deal with the Monte case? A. It was a different situation. Q. Did you trust them to deal with the Monte case? A. Under those circumstances, yes, it's a different case. Q. I'm going to ask you to turn to Page 12 of the large binder in front of you, it's in Tab 1, Bate Stamp 12. A. I didn't bring my reading glasses with me. Q. I'll end up reading to you any way Merkel's Reporting Services 1?715?387-1247 have to get everybody else on the same page? A. Is it something that says Appendix Q. You got it. This for your reference is a copy of some of the policies and procedures of the sheriff's department. First of all as background, you don't have any direct say over what the policies and procedures are of the sheriff's department; right? A. No. Q. If the sheriff's department policy provided for Steve to give these documents, Justice people, your opinion would not trump the sheriff's department policy would it? A. You are asking me to speculate if the policy allowed him to just disclose to whoever he wanted? Q. No, no. I'm asking you if the policy is allowed for Steve to give the as an exam to the Cold Justice people it's the sheriff's department policies and not your opinion that are Merkel's Reporting Services 1?715?387-1247 001wa 229 empowered in that situation; correct? A. I think there might be other regulations that might apply to that. Q. Okay. With regard to the disciplinary matter that we're here on it's the sheriff's department policy that Steve has to follow; right? A. Sure. Q. Procedure 100-3-1 in front of you 1-D says, "All officers have the authority to release records not normally open to the public to any other law enforcement agency within the scope of official business with the exception incidents involving juveniles. (The juvenile officer has a separate area for the juvenile do you see that, did I read that right from what you can tell? A. From what I can tell. Q. Are you aware of all of the people on the Cold Justice team as we have called them? A. I don't know all of them, no. Q. Are you familiar with a person by the name of Steve Spignola? Merkel's Reporting Services 1?715-387?1247 waIknow the name. I believe he's an investigator. Q. He's a retired investigator with the Milwaukee Police Department and he's also a current detective with the Village of Lannon Police Department here in Wisconsin, he's a sworn law enforcement officer. MS. GRAFF: Is that a question or is that testimony? Q. So with that as background, assuming those things to be the case, does that change your opinion as to whether or not Steve violated this policy? A. I would assume that Mr. Spignola is considered a law enforcement officer, but I don't know if there are other provisions that it would trump this. So I'm not familiar with all of the policies of the sheriff's department there may be more. I mean, well--go ahead. Q. I understand that. But taking it back to what you have to deal with if this committee were to find that Steve followed policy there wouldn't necessarily be a Brady Giglio issue with regard to Steve and cases Merkel's Reporting Services 1-715-387?1247 (JON 231 going forward would there? A. Well, I don't think that Ms. Alberti or Ms. Henrichs is a law enforcement officer or law enforcement agency. Q. With regard to Ms. Alberti it's Steve's contention that because she works for the corporation counsel's office -- A. in a different county Q. yes -- A. not on criminal cases. She's not a sworn law enforcement officer, she is not an attorney, why would she be allowed to give him advice on an open criminal homicide. Q. Okay. Have you ever contracted out copying services to people outside of the four corners of your office? A. Not copying services. We do transcription services for some interviews. Q. In those cases are the people who do those transcriptions law enforcement? A. No, we have contracts that we enter into with those people. Q. And if the contracts that the county provided for provided for their Merkel's Reporting Services 1-715?387?1247 \lmU232 ability to review those documents would that change your opinion in the matter? A. I guess could you rephrase that? Q. I'll withdraw the question and stop. That's fine. I'll bring this up through another witness. Thank you. Nothing further. MS. GRAFF: Any redirect? REDIRECT EXAMINATION BY MS. DALE: Q. You were asked, I don't know if I'm paraphrasing this correctly, did you trust Cold Justice to deal with the Monte case and then started to answer that the Monte case was different than the other cases, would you explain? A. Yes. This goes back again to the considerable amount that myself, the sheriff and Larry Woebbeking put into talking about the pros and cons, should we disclose these records to the Cold Justice team and if we do, you know, what are the consequences of us proceeding and allowing them to do this filming. When we went through that analysis, this was a case that was 19 years old, there really weren't any active leads Merkel's Reporting Services 1?715-387?1247 boom 233 that we could pursue, we felt that we had exhausted all avenues. We felt that we had basically nothing to lose by allowing them to come in and help us with the Monte case because what was helpful in the Monte case was that they had additional forensic resources I guess I would say. There was some gun analysis that they paid for and that they had an expert do for us. That is different from I mean, I don't want to get into a bunch of details, although I know this is a Closed venue, I certainly don't want there to be any information be leaked but there are still leads being followed in that The DCI agents I believe are still continuing to work on investigating certain avenues and I would not want the family members of those victims to find out that that there has been this breach of information that is going to have potentially devastating impact on those victims, they are going to wonder then??they are just going to have a lot of questions and it's hard to answer as to how this could Merkel's Reporting Services 1-715-387-1247 234 have happened. And so in distinguishing the two cases or the three cases for that matter, 2, I don't know much about the but for there is an active investigation that is going on and we would not want to jeopardize any potential leads that are being followed up on. So there is something to lose in the by having this type of incident to happen. Q. Attorney Schauer asked you about the sheriff's department policies and procedures but aren't there also state and federal laws that dictate what information can be released from a file? A. There are certain rules about other certain information so I know that like with MR. SCHAUER: objection, broad, over broad, I mean, you are asking her the question is over broad and lacks foundation. I don't know what you are talking about when you asked that question. MS. DALE: She can explain that I Merkel's Reporting Services 1-715?387-1247 235 mean there are the policies. MR. SCHAUER: You haven't listed any specific laws that she has violated in the charges. So to ask her about random laws that you are thinking Steve might have violated at this point is also not relevant to the charges. MS. DALE: It is relevant that there are laws that dictate what can be released from a file independent of department policy and she can answer that question. MS. GRAFF: Is the objection based on relevancy or what is your objection? MR. SCHAUER: Relevancy, lack of foundation. MS. GRAFF: I would like her to answer I think it's relevant, she is an attorney. A. I am aware that there are regulations regarding the disclosure of certain records that would relate to say a person's criminal history and other personal identifying information. So, for instance, there is a system that we call the TIME Merkel's Reporting Services 1?715-387-1247 236 system we in my office I know personally that we have to read certain rules, we have to abide by those rules, we have to sign off on a certification that says we're not going to disclose somebody's personal criminal history to anybody else, and we have to sign that and promise and it says that if you do that it's against the law to violate that disclosure so that is one instance, there may be others. MS. DALE: No further questions. RECROSS-EXAMINATION BY MR. SCHAUER: Q. There is no accusation in front of Steve with regard to this whole matter with regard to him releasing a criminal history of anybody is there? A. My understanding that attached in the Dropbox that there was information contained about CIB time records that would have criminal history information in them. Q. It's your understanding that you don't have any direct -- A. well, I didn't have access to the Dropbox because nobody invited me to join the Dropbox. Merkel's Reporting Services 1?715-387?1247 (JON Got it. Thank you. With regard to sharing things with Ms. Jaime Alberti would it change your opinion if DCI brought Ms. Jaime Alberti in her current position in order to discuss a criminal case? A. Does it change my opinion if DCI did that? Q. Yeah, if DCI thought that Ms. Alberti was trustworthy and had information regarding a case that she could help with would that change your opinion with regard to whether or not a disclosure of information to her would necessarily be appropriate or inappropriate? A. That doesn't change my opinion. I think that the sheriff's department still has to follow their policies. I don't understand what relevance it has what DCI does and she still is not a law enforcement officer so. Q. Do you have any knowledge of whether the sharing of this information with Ms. Jaime Alberti would actually compromise is to say, do you have any knowledge with regard to Ms. Merkel's Reporting Services 1-715-387-1247 anN \10?301 238 Jaime Alberti sharing the information shared with her to other people publicizing it otherwise, that type of thing? A. I don't know whether she has done that or not. Q. Do you have any reason to believe that she has? A. No, I don't know whether she has or not. Q. So you have no concrete evidence as to any of her actions actually compromising correct? A. I don't know. Q. Nothing further. MS. DALE: I have no further questions. MS. GRAFF: We're done. You're excused. She has an obligation so we are going to conclude for today. (Whereby the hearing adjourned for the day). Merkel's Reporting Services 1-715-387-1247 239 STATE OF WISCONSIN SS. COUNTY OF WOOD Be it known that I wrote the above hearing on the 3rd day of October 2017, at Medford, Wisconsin; That I was then and there a Notary Public in and for the State of Wisconsin, and that by virtue thereof I was authorized to administer an oath; That the witness, before testifying, was by me first duly sworn to testify to the whole truth and nothing but the truth relative to said cause; That the testimony of said witness was recorded in stenotype by myself and reduced to print by means of Computer?Assisted Transcription under my direction, and that the deposition is a true record of the testimony given by the witness to the best of my ability; That I am not related to any of the parties hereto nor interested in the outcome of the action. Dated this 22nd day of October 2017. MERKEL Professional Reporter Notary Public State of Wisconsin My commission expires 4-21?2020 Merkel's Reporting Services 1-715-387-1247 BEFORE THE PERSONNEL COMMITTEE OF TAYLOR COUNTY, WISCONSIN In the Matter of: Sheriff Bruce Daniels, Complainant, Det. Sgt. Steven Bowers, Respondent. Hearing held on the 4th day of October 2017 at the Medford County Courthouse, Third Floor, Old Courtroom, Medford, Wisconsin. Court Reporter, Mariann Merkel. Merkel's Reporting Services 1?715?387?1247 BEFORE THE PERSONNEL COMMITTEE OF TAYLOR COUNTY, WISCONSIN In the Matter of: Sheriff Bruce Daniels, Complainant, Sgt. Det. Steven Bowers, Respondent. Hearing held before Board Members, Rollie Thums, Scott Mildbrand, Lester Lewis, Charles Zenner, and Corporation Counsel Ken Schmiege in the a.m. and Corporation Counsel Courtney Graff in the p.m. on the 4th day of October 2017. Merkel's Reporting Services 1?715?387?1247 Appearances FOR THE COMPLAINANT: Mindy K. Dale, Esq. Weld, Riley, S.C. 3624 Oakwood Hills Parkway P.O. Box 1030 Claire, WI 54702-1030 FOR THE RESPONDENT: Andrew D. Schauer, Esq. Wisconsin Professional Police Association 660 John Nolen Dr., Ste 300 Madison, WI 53713 FOR THE COMMITTEE: Ken Schmiege, Esq. In a.m. Courtney Graff, Esq. In p.m. Schmiege Graff Law Office, Ltd. 123 W. State Street Medford, Wisconsin 54451 Also present: Marie Koerner Rich Burghaus Merkel's Reporting Services 1?715?387?1247 (JUN INDEX Witness Page Steven Spingola DIRECT EXAMINATION BY MR. SCHAUER . . . . . ..241 CROSS-EXAMINATION BY MS. DALE . . . . . . . . . ..266 QUESTIONS BY MR. LEWIS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . ..273 Witness Page Nan Strait DIRECT EXAMINATION BY MR. SCHAUER . . . . . ..275 QUESTIONS BY MR. LEWIS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . ..280 CROSS-EXAMINATION BY MS. DALE . . . . . . . . . ..301 REDIRECT EXAMINATION BY MR. RECROSS-EXAMINATION BY MS. DALE . . . . . . . ..313 REDIRECT EXAMINATION BY SCHAUER . . . . . . . ..318 QUESTIONS BY MR. LEWIS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . ..319 Witness Page Kelly Siegler DIRECT EXAMINATION BY MR. CROSS-EXAMINATION BY MS. DALE . . . . . . . ..350 QUESTIONS BY MR. LEWIS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . ..358 VOIR DIRE BY MR. SCHAUER . . . . . . . . . . . . ..371 RECROSS-EXAMINATION BY MS. DALE . . . . . ..381 Witness Page Bruce Daniels DIRECT EXAMINATION BY MS. DALE . . . . . . ..359 VOIR DIRE BY MR. SCHAUER . . . . . . . . . . . . ..371 CONTINUING DIRECT BY MS. DALE . . . . . . . ..372 Merkel's Reporting Services 1?715?387-1247 240 MR. SCHMIEGE: As far as appearances rather than noting the appearances I think everybody agrees these are the same people in the courtroom that were here at the last hearing yesterday. MR. SCHAUER: With the exception of yourself, sir, you may want to introduce yourself for the record. MR. SCHMIEGE: My name is Ken Schmiege I'm in the corporation counsel's office in Medford here and Ms. Graff wasn't able to be here this morning so she asked me to come and preside over the hearing today, which is what I'm going to be doing. I'm certainty not very familiar with what the issues are here but I'm relying on both the attorneys to fill me in on that in the event that you need to have any motions or any other consideration that might be important for me to make any decisions if I have to make any decisions. 80 with that you have a witness here, Mr. Schauer, and you want to go ahead and call your first witness. MR. SCHAUER: Yes, for the purposes Merkel's Reporting Services 1?715-387?1247 clarity of the record, we are taking three of the respondent's witnesses out of order in order to accommodate travel schedules. The sheriff still has not rested his case but has graciously agreed to allow us to have these three witnesses testify at this time; is that correct, Mindy? MS. DALE: Correct. MR. SCHAUER: With that I would call Steve Spingola. STEVEN SPINGOLA, After having been first duly sworn to tell the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth, testified as follows: DIRECT EXAMINATION BY MR. SCHAUER: Q. Can you state your name and spell it for the record? A. Steven Spingola. First name is last name is Q. And are you here voluntarily or under subpoena? A. Voluntarily. Q. And are you here at your own cost? Merkel's Reporting Services 1?715-387?1247 4sz Yes, sir. Q. I'm going to ask you to open the small binder in front It's been marked as Respondent's Exhibit 2 and tell me if you recognize that document? A. Yes, sir, I do. It is basically a five page copy of my resume, my curriculum vitae. Q. Do you have any law enforcement experience prior to your current position? A. Yes, I worked for the Milwaukee Police Department. I retired as a Lieutenant Detective in 2005. I supervised the homicide unit. I currently am a detective in the Village of Lannon and I also do investigative work for the Arena Football League right now. So I've been in law enforcement for about, hate to say it, 39 1/2 years. Q. You sort of mixed your prior experience with your current experience and that's fine. With regard to your prior experience, can you tell us a little bit more about your work with the Milwaukee Merkel's Reporting Services 1-715-387-1247 243 Police Department? A. I started off out of high school, I became a police officer became a detective and at age of 38 I became the Lieutenant of Detectives. I supervised the homicide unit. I was fortunate enough to attend the FBI Academy. I have a master's degree from Marquette University that I went through in management and public service and I'm currently working on my doctorate at the University of Wisconsin Administrative Leadership. I am also the Chair of Criminal Justice program right now at Gateway Technical College. Q. Okay. Can you tell us about any major cases you had while working for the Milwaukee Police Department? A. I had a number. I was fortunate enough to work on a number of larger cases. Probably the biggest one would be from people from Wisconsin but the Jeff Dahmer case. But I've been fortunate enough to work on a lot of cases with other law enforcement cases that involved drug Merkel's Reporting Services 1?715?387-1247 244 trafficking, serial killers, human trafficking, large fraud investigation and I'm still currently a detective and I do that and I share information with other officers as I still continue to work on those major cases. Q. You say you still continue to work on these major cases is that through the Village of Lannon Police Department? A. Yes, sir. Q. And through your position with the Village of Lannon Police Department, do you work with a larger interdepartmental unit? A. Yes, so I supervise their, we call it the Lakes country so it includes areas like Delafield, Hartford. I'm the supervisor of the major investigative unit. So if something happens, a shooting, a bank robbery, I get called out to supervise those crimes. MR. SCHAUER: Can we move Respondent's 2 into the record? MS. DALE: No objection. MR. SCHMIEGE: Received. Q. So with regard to your work with Merkel's Reporting Services 1?715-387?1247 AWN 245 the Village of Lannon and the major investigative unit is it fair to say you are currently an active and sworn Wisconsin law enforcement officer? A. Yes. Do you have your badge with you? A. I do. Can you show it to the committee. Do you have your identification card with you? A. Yes, I do. Q. Can you show that. We have dispensed with making copies of any of that. We with believe that is sufficient for the record. MR. SCHMIEGE: That's fine. MR. SCHAUER: Thank you. Q. Now in addition to the three current jobs that you listed in terms of Arena Football League, Village of Lannon Police Department and Gateway-~oh, let's talk about Gateway Technical College what do you do for them? A. Well, I'm basically a Chair the Criminal Justice Board. So instruct half Merkel's Reporting Services 1?715-387?1247 246 time, part?time there, then I run the Inservice Program and I also work on the recruiting. So I train law enforcement officers and I make sure that we maintain our credentials with the Department of Justice and with the State of Wisconsin. So we have to have certain training standards and objectives we need in order to serve by our officers to become police officers in other departments in the State of Wisconsin. Q. In addition to all of that, you have a fourth current gig with the television show Cold Justice? A. Yes, sir, I do. Q. And how many cases do you believe you worked, what was your job with them first of all? A. Well, I basically investigate the cases. In other words, I take a look at the case as to go on to determine if we have solvability factors and we have a timeline and obviously a budget that we work in. But we receive cases from all over the country. I work with National Center for Missing and Exploited Children, Amber Alert and we get Merkel's Reporting Services 1-715-387?1247 ubme 247 calls from all of those agencies that ask us to come and try to do some type of work where we have missing kids, missing adults, cold case homicides. So I basically review those cases and determine if we have solvability factors and if those are the cases that we can go and work on within the time span that we are allotted by the network because they pay for everything. Q. How many cases do you believe you have worked for Cold Justice? A. At least 30 I reviewed. I get cases sent to my house from family members that I forward back. Sometimes I review them but it's amazing how many people in America watch any type of a television show and send you cases. I'm the only Steve Spingola in American and I'm not that hard to find on Facebook or something like that and I get calls from people all over about missing relatives, missing kids, and cases that they would just like some closure too. Q. Do you and other people on the Cold Justice team decide which cases you will Merkel's Reporting Services 1?715-387-1247 248 work for purposes of creating a television episode? A. Yes, we do. Q. Can you tell us about that process? A. Well, there are obviously people that review the cases and determine, and again, it is within the budgets which I don't handle the budget aspect of the television show. But basically what will happen is a case is sent to us, I review it along with Kelly Siegler does the actual legal because she's a lawyer she'll take a look at the actual prosecutorial merits of the case and I'll take a look at the law enforcement investigative cases and then at some point if we are going to work that case we involve the detectives in that region or in that local that have the knowledge of the case. So we work with those officer closely to try to solve those cases. Q. You mentioned Kelly Siegler is it fair to say you and Kelly Siegler act as some of on?air talent for purposes of not using that term dereistically Merkel's Reporting Services 1-715?387?1247 anyway?~but you are the people that are on the TV show in various episodes of the show Cold Justice in case they haven't seen it themselves? A. Yes, sir. Q. And can you vouch for Kelly Siegler's bona fide status as a prosecutor? A. Yes, I can, in fact before I came on the show I checked that out to make sure because I get calls from all kinds of people John Walsh calls me because when I had Dahmer his son was murdered in Florida. He wanted me to do some work with him, obviously, John Walsh is very creditable. I get calls from peOple who are that want to go out and touchy feely so I clearly??I have a name to protect too not that I'm talent as you would say but I certainly don't want my name associated with some of the with people that are out here trying to solve cases in ways that are just not law enforcement permissible. Q. So before you decided to work with Kelly Siegler you decided to check her out? A. Found out that she was a very Merkel's Reporting Services 1?715?387-1247 250 highly rated attorney in the State of Texas that prosecuted a number of cases and also had worked with Forensic Files where they checked her out and also found her to be very creditable. MR. SCHMIEGE: Can I??do you have her last name? THE REPORTER: Yes. Q. for purposes of the record. So you have worked with Kelly now how many years? A. Four and a half years. Q. In that time have you had any reason to not trust her ability to keep confidential information confidential? A. Never. Q. Have you had any reason to distrust any of the people other people working with her and the rest of the Cold Justice team with regard to the confidentiality of law enforcement documents? A. Never. Q. Have you shared information from other law enforcement cases with Kelly and Merkel's Reporting Services 1-715-387-1247 boom 251 with the other people in Cold Justice? A. All the time, sir. Q. Have you ever asked supervisory approval to do that? A. No, sir. Q. And why not? A. Law enforcement's job is to solve these cases. We work?-law enforcement is the most noble organization I can think of. Working with Sergeant Bowers that just fortified my belief that we worked together. We work for you, the people. What crime would you not want law enforcement to solve. People call the police because they want law enforcement to solve those cases. In this particular case, the cold cases we work on those should be at the highest prior, somebody is actually dead. This doesn't involve just the theft of a television set. The stakeholders of the community should want those cases solved. So we work together to try to solve them and sometimes it just doesn't involve me. I refer cases I get all the time--I went through the FBI Merkel's Reporting Services 1-715-387-1247 252 Academy so I have contacts with the behavioral analysis unit. We work at a place called the Vidocq Society which are a bunch of and retired college professors who get together and take a look at some of the-?they test for free. So what we do is we pool our researches. We come to a small town like Medford where the DNA costs of some of these cases would be prohibitive from sending these to some of the labs that have expertise. So these places like the FBI Academy and Vidocq Society, we have VCAP, which is the Violent Crime Analysis Profiles, but this is what we do in law enforcement in an a every day basis. Q. So suffice it to say you work with you in your position as investigator with Cold Justice work with law enforcement officers across the country as a colleague of theirs? A. Absolutely, every day. Q. If this case didn't happen in Wisconsin, it happened in Illinois, do colleagues talk about cases in their Merkel's Reporting Services 1-715?387-1247 tom 253 experience amongst each other? A. All the time. In fact you mentioned Illinois Tuesday, I'm going to the Illinois Association of Homicide Investigators because they want to give us cases. All the cases that are cold that we have given them some criteria they are going to present those to me after I give a presentation on some of the cold cases that I worked on. So we get information from law enforcement agencies requesting our assistance daily. Q. So does the sharing of experiences add to your ability to get good resolutions in other cases? A. Absolutely, it's like doctors sharing information about treatments. Every profession, and I consider law enforcement to be a profession, we share information to try to solve those cases and that's what we do we take an oath to uphold the laws and arrest those people. Q. So let's talk about other cases other than the Taylor County case that you worked for Cold Justice in states all across Merkel's Reporting Services 1?715?387?1247 254 the country? A. Yes. Q. In those cases, have other detectives working the case with you asked you about other cold cases in their reSpective department? A. All the time. Q. Has that happened without issue? A. Yes. Q. Can you think of an example recently? A. We were just in Flint, Michigan, Flint, Michigan again the community is basically very low socioeconomic level right now. They presented--we worked on a case there we wound up solving from starting one we solved five homicides with the same two individuals and they presented other cases that they want us to take a look because again we pay for that. Q. So while you are working on one case it is commonplace for another case to come up? A. All the time, just talk about your expertise or run something by you as far as Merkel's Reporting Services 1-715?387?1247 255 another case. Q. If that investigators in that department ran another case by you does that obligate the department in any way to necessitate that Cold Justice will further investigate that case? A. No, but again, every department we work for they try to solve those cases and so they will come to us just as an avenue to try to solve that and sometimes we are fortunate enough to be able to solve those cases and other times we refer them to the investigative agencies we worked with in the past, the FBI, the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children, again, there are different agencies within almost every state that want to help. Q. Was there an example of this in Green Bay recently? A. After we did this case, I received a telephone call from the Green Bay Police Department. They wanted us to review a case with a female named Amber Wilson. She was about actually 18--actually closer to 19 but she was pregnant, she worked at a Denny's or Merkel's Reporting Services 1-715-387?1247 256 some type of a fast food restaurant, became pregnant, went to meet the guy that got her pregnant and she's never been seen again. The Green Bay Police Department, which is a major police department, has had difficulty finding the body. So they asked us to take a look at it with some of our expertise and some of the people we use, again, a cadaver dogs. Again, we have people that offer us expertise all the time and we refer those to these departments to save money for those departments to try to solve those cases. Q. Do other detectives in these other departments have they shown you information in case files in relation to those other cases separate from the one you were specifically there to investigate? A. Yes, sir. Q. And has that happened without issue or discipline to those officers to your knowledge? A. Absolutely. Q. Absolutely it has happened without discipline? A. They were not disciplined because Merkel's Reporting Services 1-715-387-1247 continue to work on those cases. In fact, we receive letters from the sheriff's, the undersheriff's, thanking us for helping to try to solve those cases. We have been offered to come back and try to help solve those cases because of the success we have had with some of the other cases. Q. Let's talk a little bit now about how you normally go about dealing with a specific case through the Cold Justice paradigm. Is there a schedule that gets set? A. There is and I'm not privy to it, again, we pick about ten cases a year and they are the ones again with the highest solvability but sometimes they are also the ones that some of the communities that call us they generate the most??the citizens want those cases solved. Q. With regard to the schedule, does that move very quickly from interview to interview? A. It does. Q. Can you tell us a little bit about that? Merkel's Reporting Services 1-715?387-1247 LUMP When a case is picked I'll get a hold of the detectives or the sheriff's involved with those cases initially like a phone call the week before. We then travel to the location and then we are paired up with different detectives or sheriffs for that week almost by each day we travel around looking at witnesses, looking at the crime scene, determining if we need evidence sent to the crime lab or analyzed. The solvability factor that's basically what we try to go out there and find. Q. All right. And so you end up, having a conference call between you, Kelly and the law enforcement officers with which you two will be working for that case? A. Yes, sir. Q. And in the Taylor County case, was that Chief Deputy Woebbeking and Detective Steve Bowers? A. Yes, it was. Q. And when you are working are you working in teams of two? A. Yes, sir. Q. Tell us a little bit about how that Merkel's Reporting Services 1-715-387?1247 259 works logistically? A. Well, depending upon what we are going to do that particular day if we are going to go out and look for a witness, if we're going to the crime scene, if we're going to confront the suspect, we are paired up based on our expertise. We are paired up to go out and look at ways of approaching witnesses, ways of interviewing with interrogation tactics, things of that nature. Q. And when you are paired up is somebody from Cold Justice always paired with somebody from the department? A. Yes, sir. Q. Then is there a chase vehicle that goes behind the car carrying each pair? A. Yes, sir. Q. And the chase vehicle has what in it? A. Basically camera crew, usually a lawyer that Cold Justice supplies to make sure we are doing something following local laws, procedures, things of that nature. Q. Is sometimes the producer, Merkel's Reporting Services 1-715-387-1247 (260 executive producers in there as well? A. Yes, sir. Q. And are the sound techs able to hear all the conversations of the people in the lead car with the investigators? A. Yes, sir. Q. So it would be you with either?-for this case it was either you with Larry or Steve and then Kelly with the other person? A. Correct, yes, sir. Q. And you worked with this production team and their sound techs for the same four plus years? A. Yes, sir. Q. Do you know them to be honest, trustworthy, and completely able to keep sensitive law enforcement information private? A. In fact, they have all passed background checks when they go to other departments. Some fingerprint us and run FBI checks because of the nature of what we do and everyone has always passed every one of those checks. Q. So let's talk now about the morning Merkel's Reporting Services 1?715-387?1247 February 25, 2017. Were you working with Detective Bowers that morning? A. Yes, sir, I was. Q. And what were you doing with him generally? A. We were basically out looking for witnesses in the Eugene Monte homicide, which occurred here, and we were talking as we normally do about investigative procedures, strategies for locating witnesses, getting them to come and be cooperative and other people that may be able to add that the witnesses that we had talked to wouldn't be able to add. Q. So you had a schedule where you had to go from witness to witness and the drives between those witness here in Taylor County are a little long; right? A. They are, yes, sir. Q. So you had a little bit of down time during the drive then; right? A. Absolutely. Q. During that driving, did you have occasion to talk to Steve about any other any cases other than the Monte case? Merkel's Reporting Services 1?715-387-1247 did. Q. Tell us about that? A. Well, again, we talked a little bit about our expertise. I remember we talked about the drug problem, how they approach it here and some of the successes that we have had because Steve wanted to help solve some of the drug cases. Then we talked a little bit about the cold cases and there were two cases that were specifically mentioned by Steve that basically said that they were still cold and then wanted to know if we could help solve those cases. Q. A. Yes. Q. During that car ride was there a producer by the name of Brendan Dahl in the chase vehicle? A. Yes. Q. And what do you remember him saying about overhearing A. He stated that we would be willing to take a look at those and consider those Merkel's Reporting Services 1?715?387?1247 cam 263 along with all the other cases that are submitted to us in an effort to solve those cases. Q. Did he say anything about Steve sharing files with Kelly and the rest of the Cold Justice regarding those two cases? A. It was asked if he could locate those cases I remember but I don't remember anything else as far as that conversation. Q. Did he have any problem or objection as a sworn law enforcement officer in the State of Wisconsin with Steve doing that, sharing those cases, files with other people on Cold Justice? A. He was doing his job, no. He's doing his job? A. Absolutely. What would you expect from a law enforcement officer to not solve a homicide, how does that reflect on your department. You people are stakeholders here, how does that reflect on what you put your trust and your integrity in your police department if they don't go out and try and solve a homicide. Q. Did Detective Bowers ever seem Merkel's Reporting Services 1?715-387?1247 (JUN 264 interested in getting these cases on the show for his own benefit? A. Never. Q. Did Detective Bowers ever mention or act as though he was looking to be the lead investigator in any upcoming episode? A. Never. Q. How do you rate Steve Bowers' actions and involvement in the Cold Justice case that you were for? A. You know I brought something for Steve Bowers today. I give these out to my best cops and my best students. It's says, "Serve with Distinction." I want something that you can have. That's what we do in law enforcement and that's what Steve Bowers is. I would work Steve Bowers anywhere and I still have hiring capabilities in Milwaukee. If Steve Bowers is let go here, I will personally write a letter to the Milwaukee Police Department and the Milwaukee Sheriff's Department asking them to hire Steve Bowers. MR. SCHMIEGE: Mr. Schauer, are you going to be asking to put this into Merkel's Reporting Services 1?715-387-1247 265 evidence? MR. SCHAUER: No, I think he made his point. I appreciate the point he is making. We're not going to put that challenge coin into the record. Thank you for that though. Q. In dealing with this Monte case, did you ever deal with Sheriff Daniels? A. Never. Q. In the years of doing these types of cases is that abnormal to have not dealt with the lead law enforcement officer of the department you are trying to help? A. You know this is the first case we took in Wisconsin and they asked me to look for some cases in Wisconsin. Every place we have gone police chief's, sheriff's have come out, shook our hands, given us T?shirt, wanted pictures taken with us. I was embarrassed, I was personally embarrassed with the State of Wisconsin, this gentleman I don't even know who he is, I don't know if he's in this room. He never came out and said, thank you, he never came out and introduced himself and these are the people Merkel's Reporting Services 1?715?387?1247 ALUN ONUW 266 that I represent in the State of Wisconsin. They asked is this the way your people treat us and I was like I don't know this is the most rude I have ever been treated. Q. Has any case that Cold Justice touched and worked on or not worked on or not worked on but simply reviewed ever been compromised from a law enforcement or a prosecutorial standpoint? A. Never. In fact, we ask departments before we go there to call other departments that we worked with to make sure that our references that we even show the cases to those departments before they are aired if they want to take anything out so there is no embarrassment so they know exactly what we have done we try to put everybody in their best light. Q. Nothing further thank you, Steve. BY MS. DALE: Q. When you worked on the case here were you working in the capacity of an officer of the Village of Lannon? A. No, I was working as an investigator for Cold Justice. However, by Merkel's Reporting Services 1-715?387-1247 267 networking with Detective Bowers I now have a source of information up here. That's what law enforcement does we network. So I guess to answer your question, no, but I'm still consider him to be a resource now when I go back to my department to use up here. Q. If you were injured while filming or anything occurred that would be on Cold Justice; correct? A. Correct. Q. This wasn't a mutual aid situation with the Village of Lannon? A. Correct. Q. You said you reviewed about 30 files a year? A. Probably more. Those are the ones that the television show sends me. I get e-mails, ma'am, every day from people, family members usually, sometimes other police officers discussing cases. So I don't have all the police reports so I refer those people back to Cold Justice because we need the police reports and then they forward those to me for review. Q. Were you aware of the approval Merkel's Reporting Services 1-715?387-1247 n-bbdN 00268 process that Taylor County went through before the Monte case was released to you? A. All I can tell you is I'm sure it was fairly extensive. Q. You talked about this meeting in Illinois where people bring their cases to you, would those officers have received permission do you know from their supervisors before bringing those cases to you? A. I've never had this come up and those law enforcement officers that work those cases are expected to solve those cases, ma'am. So one of the things that we do every day in law enforcement, I don't know much about being an attorney or a doctor, but when we bring those cases with other people with expertise every day to try to expand the solvability factors and sometimes we in law enforcement we have lacked introspection, we haven't talked to other people, 911 is a classic example of the FBI withheld information. One of the worst disasters we have ever had. So what we do on a regular basis is we talk and we Merkel's Reporting Services 1-715?387-1247 269 share information. In fact, we network with like I said VCAP, Violent Crime Analysis Profiling program, we fill out forms that are sent to the FBI and they put us in contact with other departments that have had similar crimes so we can get together and again determine things like DNA, suspect pools, things of that nature. But that's how we solve crimes, that's what we do every day. Q. Do you have the authority to go into the TIME record system and look at cases that you are not investigating? A. Yes. Now what is in the TIME system is some times just a synopsis, ma'am, so we will look at the cold cases. I'm still a police officer I can go in and run, which case and I'm looking for a suspect I run a name and then depending upon what is in there sometimes they will be a linked to other crimes. I can call departments, some of that information is shared with the FBI, with local jurisdictions but you can obtain that information. Merkel's Reporting Services 1?715?387?1247 4300K270 MR. SCHMIEGE: Ms. Dale, can you speak up a little. Q. On the case you are working on? A. Correct. Q. If you see a newspaper article about a murder in Illinois can you go into the TIME system and research that? A. I could. Q. Do you have the authority to do that? A. Yes, the TIME system we enter, in fact we have it a distinctive I call it an employee identification number. So when you enter something like a license plate you have to enter your name or your identification number and that information then comes back to you. Now we do that again because we are trying to link cases, again, solvability factors. Some of the information is readily available. Normally what would happen there will be some information about a murder or a missing child and it will just have a reference number and tell us to contact a local agency who has all of the files. I Merkel's Reporting Services 1?715?387?1247 271 don't know if that answers the question but, yes, I have the capability of going into the TIME system and researching that, that's what we do. Q. But any case that you want to, anywhere? A. Well, I think it would have to pertain to something that you are trying to solve. I wouldn't just--this isn't like surfing the internet, ma'am, a TIME system is specific. So you would have to have a name or a location but there are programs like one I would ask you to go look at is NAMUS, So if somebody has a deceased body that is not identified you can go in there and search because we're looking for missing persons from my department in the Milwaukee area and their remains are found in Arizona or someplace else. So that identification that we would employ somebody anthropologist or forensic odontologist to try to help us link our body, a missing female in Wisconsin with the person that is found. But that is a typical database I search every day along Merkel's Reporting Services 1?715?387?1247 DUN 272 with the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children that has all the missing children in it. MR. SCHMIEGE: May I interrupt here, please. This TIME system that you have can you give more information to the committee so that they know exactly what we are talking about. A. Sure. I don't know why it's called a TIME system I don't know what it stands for. But basically what it is, ladies and gentlemen, it's just a database. So every time we in law enforcement make an arrest, a traffic citation, it's recorded somewhere into the NCIC system, the National Center for Investigation and it's our database, it's our life line. Everything that we need so let's say today you went home and your television was stolen from your house if you had a serial number it would be entered into the TIME system. Although the crime occurred here in Medford if I recovered a television set is I could run the serial number and it would pop up that it was stolen in a burglary in Medford so then I Merkel's Reporting Services 1-715?387?1247 273 would contact Detective Bowers and try to figure out if we have a suspect in my area. But the TIME system contains all types of information stolen cars, missing persons, human remains, unidentified human remains that are found, obviously wanted suspects, but it's something that we search every day much like I think people can search bank records, things of that nature can be used in certain industries like that. MR. SCHMIEGE: Thank you. MS. DALE: I have no further questions. MR. SCHAUER: No redirect. MR. SCHMIEGE: Does the committee at this time have any questions for the witness? MR. LEWIS: I have a couple. MR. SCHMIEGE: Mr. Lewis. QUESTIONS BY MR. LEWIS: Q. First, I should tell that you I have never seen the program Cold Justice at all, never knew anything about it until it came to Taylor County to help with this investigation. Merkel's Reporting Services 1-715?387?1247 boom 274 You stated that many cases are sent to you directly. My question is do you investigate in depth any of those cases that are not going to be on the TV show? A. Yes, sir. Q. Then my other question is, because someone doesn't take time out of their schedule to meet you based on some statements you made you consider that rude? A. I'm a little lost. Is it the witnesses we're talking about, Mr. Lewis? Q. No. You stated that you were treated rudely and I'm asking you if because say I didn't take time out of my schedule to meet you would you consider that rude? A. I can tell you this, sir, that every department we have gone to at least one of the chief executives has come down to meet us. We were here for ten days. I understand I have a busy schedule too, but if you owned a business and somebody came to your business, sir, to offer you assistance could you find five minutes in your day to come down and shake somebody's hand. Q. Did you meet Chief Deputy Larry Merkel's Reporting Services 1?715-387?1247 awm 275 Woebbeking? A. Yes, sir, we did. MR. SCHMIEGE: Any other committee members have questions? If there are no other questions the witness is excused. MR. SCHAUER: Five minutes, please. MR. SCHMIEGE: Let's take a ten-minute break. (Brief break taken). MR. SCHMIEGE: Mr. Schauer, call your next witness. MR. SCHAUER: I call Nan Strait. NAN STRAIT, After having been first duly sworn to tell the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth, testified as follows: DIRECT EXAMINATION BY MR. SCHAUER: Q. Can you state your name and spell it for the record, please? A. Nancy, Strait. I go by Nan short for Nancy. Q. Is it okay if I call you Nan today? A. Yes, please. Q. Are you here voluntarily and not Merkel's Reporting Services 1-715-387-1247 (JUN 276 under subpoena? A. Yes. Q. Are you here at your own costs? A. Yes, sir. Q. What is your current occupation? A. Not by my own cost, my company paid for us to come here. Q. Yes. But nobody from this side of the isle paid any of your costs or any amount of money to be here? A. No. Q. Can you state your current occupation for the record? A. I'm the executive produce of Cold Justice. I have been for about two seasons now. Q. And Cold Justice is a television showyou have a production company through which you do that? A. We have Cold Justice is approved by and Productions, the parent company is Magical Elves which I have worked for approximately ten years or so. Merkel's Reporting Services 1-715-387-1247 \lmUOkay. And so those are the two companies one underneath the other that produce the show? A. Yes, sir. Q. And you say you have been an executive producer for the specific show Cold Justice for about two years, about how many episodes would you say? A. Two years we have done approximately I've done approximately 25 episodes. Q. The show has gone longer than for two years? A. The show has been on for four seasons as we call them. I have done approximately 60 episodes. I've basically been on for about half of it. Q. And earlier I asked you how many arrests, indictments, and convictions that Cold Justice has procured through their work and in my opening statement I might have said there were 28 arrests, l6 indictments and 10 convictions. Have you updated those numbers since we talked? A. Yes, over the course of the four Merkel's Reporting Services 1?715?387-1247 (JUN 278 seasons the program assisted local law enforcement agencies across the country and those agencies--the cases that we've assisted are now at 34 arrests, 31 indictments and 17 convictions. Q. Now I also asked you in preparation for being here today for an episode for a copy of what is called a master of an episode that would be indicative of the work Cold Justice does. Did you provide me that? A. Yes, sir, I believe I sent two episodes to you. One that was just a good example or one of the episodes we have done with a different agency out of Vego, Indiana, and then a second one I sent was the episode in the case that we worked here in Taylor County. Q. I'm going to ask you to turn to the very back of the small binder in front of you and there is a piece of paper in the back pocket of that marked Respondent's Exhibits 31 and 32. Do you see that there? A. Yes. Q. Are those the links that you provided to me that are the episodes that Merkel's Reporting Services 1-715?387-1247 279 you just described? A. Yes. Q. So if the committee wanted to on its own gone to that first link up would simply pop up the show and hit play and it would play; correct? A. Yes, sir. Q. And for Exhibit 32 if they were to go to that link it would then ask them for a password; correct? A. Yes. Q. And is that password that the committee would need to enter to see the episode? A. Yes, sir. Q. And do those masters have any commercials in them? A. They do not. Q. So you would be able to see the episode without any amount of commercial interruption? A. Yes. Q. And you said Exhibit 32 is the actual episode that resulted from Cold Justice's work in Taylor County; is that Merkel's Reporting Services 1?715?387-1247 280 right? A. Yes, sir. MR. LEWIS: Excuse me, I need a clarification. MR. SCHAUER: Please. QUESTIONS BY MR. LEWIS: Q. I'm seeing it aired December 23, 2014, but they weren't in Taylor County is that a typo? MR. SCHAUER: Thank you for the catch, Mr. Lewis. Q. That should be September 23, 2017; should it not? A. Yes, sir. MR. SCHAUER: Can we agree on that correction to Exhibit 32? MS. DALE: Yes, and we have agreed that we are going to have some further discussions about the ability of the committee to View those after the witnesses are done presenting. MR. SCHAUER: We're not going to move admissibility. I simply wanted her to identify them for the record. So now they are presented to you but they are not yet Merkel's Reporting Services 1-715-387-1247 281 moved into evidence we're going to do that when Courtney is back. MR. LEWIS: Thank you. Q. Now let's talk about your specific work in what you do day to day for Cold Justice. When you work a case, what oversee a team that documents former Prosecutor Kelly Siegler and I believe you have met Steve Spingola, Detective Steve Spingola, who joins local law enforcement, different agencies across the country, and assists them in solving a cold case or trying to investigate a cold case. Our job is to document that investigation for our program. I lead my small team in doing that. Our number one goal in doing so is to basically not have anything to do with the investigation and strictly document what the investigators do and keep our hands off of the investigation. Q. Is there a lot of work that goes into producing any one episode of Cold Justice? Merkel's Reporting Services 1?715-387?1247 0801 Yes, for the investigators definitely. They have?-approximately we're in town investigating the investigators are for six to eight days. So they open up the cold case and do all the work that they see and that needs to be done on that case in six to eight days. So it takes extremely efficient production to keep up with them and the amount of witnesses they need to interview in that amount of time. Q. Is there a lot of preparatory work that goes in before the investigators get on site for that six to eight day period? A. Definitely. The investigators, obviously, read the entire case file and commit it to memory so they are completely up to speed on what they have to do. They speak with the local law enforcement agency about what witnesses they want to interview and then my team is preparing to move as fast as possible in what they need to do as far as the investigation and on the ground. Q. We keep talking about the Cold Justice team that generally refers to the people that work with you and for you in Merkel's Reporting Services 1-715?387?1247 .283 producing the show; is that fair to say? A. Yes. Q. Do you trust the people on the Cold Justice team? A. I trust my team implicitly or this wouldn't work. It was a program that Kelly Siegler came up back, you know, years ago to go into small agencies and try to assist on cold cases. If my team ever made mistakes it could potentially hurt a case or hurt a victim's family so we have a policy where we try not to at all cost make mistakes. If anything ever got out or was publicized from my team it could harm a case and there is nothing more important to us than trying to solve murder cases so I trust them implicitly or none of this works for us. Q. Do you have the people that work for you under confidentiality agreements? A. They are. Q. Have you ever had a situation where any of the sensitive law enforcement information you provided to your staff where that information has gone public except through the airing of the show? Merkel's Reporting Services 1?715-387-1247 No, again, to us there is nothing more important than protecting a case and protecting the victim's family and protecting the law enforcement agency we're working with. All we want to do is make sure they are happy with us, the prosecutor is happy with us and, hopefully, the victim's family gets good news at the end of our time working a case. If anything ever leaked, it would prevent us from doing our jobs so, no, that has never happened unless the show aired and, obviously, the agency gets to review it before it airs. Q. That's in the contract that the agency gets to review the episode before it airs and suggest any changes that type of thing? A. Yes. Q. When you are on the ground during that six to eight day period how are do the investigators and the Cold Justice on air investigators work in teams? A. They do. They will typically meet in the morning. The Cold Justice Merkel's Reporting Services 1-715-387-1247 285 investigator force and local law enforcement investigators and decide how they want to split up the day. So one of the Cold Justice team members joins up with one of the local law enforcement investigators and they split into two teams so they can conquer more in one day. They typically divide up witnesses and they decide how they want to divide up based on what witnesses they want to see. So, for example, Steve Spingola will go with Sergeant Bowers and Kelly would go with Chief Deputy Woebbeking or vice versa. Q. And so for every single interview that Cold Justice did either Detective Bowers or Chief Deputy Woebbeking was either conducting the interview or in the room as it was occurring? A. Of course, that is a standard policy for our program. Q. So they would drive from interview to interview in a car? A. Yeah, so basically they would divide up two and two and my team will follow them in a mini van. So one mini van Merkel's Reporting Services 1-715?387?1247 286 will go with Sergeant Bowers and Steve Spingola if they were together and one mini van would go can with Kelly Siegler and Deputy Chief Woebbeking. Those mini vans would follow the two teams, they could communicate via walkie talkie. The mini van could communicate with the investigators in their cars in their SUV's by walkie talkie if they needed to talk with each other and we do that as a TV produce to stay out of their way and be kind of nondescript. Q. So are we calling them the chase car but that's actually a chase van is that a fair way to put it? A. Yes, that's fair. Q. And in the chase van who is in that van? A. The chase van if, for example, if Detective Bowers was with Kelly the chase van would be me, a driver, and a camera man, and audio and another producer. Q. Got it. Okay. A. If Kelly is not in the vehicle the other van consists of the same exact crew but a lawyer as well. Kelly is a lawyer, we Merkel's Reporting Services 1-715?387?1247 287 always make sure there is a lawyer with every team that goes out. Q. Let's talk now about the Cold Justice work in Taylor County on the weekend of February 24th and February 25 of 2017, okay? A. Okay. Q. Were Bowers and Spingola in a car that day? A. They were. Q. And was there a production assistant in the chase van behind them? A. There was a Brendan Dahl who was a producer he was in the mini van behind them. Q. All right. I said production he was a producer? A. He is a producer. Q. And he works for you? A. Yes. Q. He's part of the Cold Justice team along with all the other people that were in the chase van? A. We're about 25 total but typically in a chase van there is anywhere from four to five people. Merkel's Reporting Services 1-715-387?1247 Got it. And you said the producer's name was what again? A. Brendan Dahl. Q. Did Brendan Dahl tell you anything about what happened in that van that day with regard to other cases? A. He did. He told me that Mr. Spingola and Sergeant Bowers were exchanging war stories, talking about old cases that they had and Brendan thought a few of those sounded like case that were--some of them were cold and unsolved and Brendan thought they sounded like they were good cases that could potentially if all worked out maybe help with and come back and assist on another case. It sounded like a good case. Q. Did you talk to Kelly Siegler about that? A. I did. I told her the same thing Brendan told me. Q. And on the next day in which chase van were you riding? A. I was behind Kelly and Sergeant Bowers. Q. Was there a lot of downtime between Merkel's Reporting Services 1-715-387?1247 289 interviews that day in terms of going place to place? A. There was. I'm sure people you all know around here that people live far apart so we were I feel like we had a good hour between witnesses where we were. Following Kelly and Steve as they drove from witness to witness and when we come into a new town and a new agency we meet a lot of new people and we work with a lot of different agencies and if we feel we have a good relationship and a good working relationship and everything is going well our second job is to always find good cases to work. So we're always talking to local law enforcement about what other cases they may have, can we come back, it seems to be going well, would you guys work with us again in the future. So that was the kind of the conversation we were having that day and I asked Steve and Kelly if they wanted to talk about his other cold cases to see if it was potentially something Kelly would be interested in working on. Q. Were those other cold cases the Merkel's Reporting Services 1?715-387-1247 They were. Q. All right. Go back you said earlier that things were going well at that point. Did you base that on just the one day of knowing them from yesterday on the ground or through your team's work with them going back? A. Just the whole process. It was, you know, we start talking to agencies obviously weeks and weeks and weeks sometimes months in advance before everything kind of comes together, being available to arrive here and work on the case so, you know, it's been a great experience. Q. To that point? A. Yeah, the whole time was a great experience. Q. So you radioed to Kelly through the walkie talkie that A. ask Steve about those cases. Q. And did Steve then talk to Kelly about some of the details regarding the Merkel's Reporting Services 1-715-387?1247 Yeah, so I had already previously told Kelly that they sounded like they could be good cases and so she asked him about them and he kind of gave her the top lines on those cases and details and she asked followup questions, you know, trying to figure out if it is a potential case that sounded like something she could lend assistance to if it worked out. Q. Did Kelly show any interest in getting reports from those cases? A. Yes. It was a Saturday I believe we were driving around, and Sunday nobody works it's an off day, and Kelly was intrigued by the cases they sounded like very good cases to her and she wanted to read them. She was excited about them, excited about the potential opportunity to try to solve another murder case, which is her number one priority. So when that happens she wants to read a case to see if she feels like she can help in any way possible. So she requested a case and, therefore, I was also eager to try to get the case for her to read. Merkel's Reporting Services 1-715?387-1247 (JON And with regard to the two cases, familiar with which format in terms of paper or electronic? A. Yeah, 7v Q. Explain to the committee-?well, the committee already has received evidence as to what Dropbox is. But in order to receive information regarding Dropbox how did that occur? A. You are invited, and I'm not a super tech person, but we received a Dropbox link, myself and one of our other production assistance/producers Bennett Krueger who handles case files for my team and copies and distribution of important information. So I asked Ben to help me get these files for Kelly for her to read and we got a link from Bowers to Dropbox link and I also asked Ben to get a for Kelly to read on Sunday. Q. So Bowers provided access to you and your production assistant, Brendan Merkel's Reporting Services 1-715?387-1247 awn) OWUT 293 Krueger, to the information regarding the A. Yes, sir. Q. Is Ben Krueger part of the Cold Justice team we just talked about earlier? A. Yes, he's been a part of this entire season this entire run of Cold Justice. Q. Is he a trusted employee of your's? A. He is, and he signed the confidentiality as well and I plan to bring him back for the next season. He's a great employee, hard worker, never done anything to not be trustworthy. Q. Have you ever had a situation where the sensitive law enforcement information provided to you and your team has gone public except through airing of the show? A. No, sir, I mean, obviously Kelly does press interviews but no sensitive information has been released we won't have a job. Local law enforcement trusting us is the only way we can continue working cold cases. If they didn't trust us or if we ever made a mistake and released any Merkel's Reporting Services 1-715-387?1247 294 information that they didn't want released it would not work. Q. So did you instruct then Ben to get the information on from the sheriff's department to make a digital copy? A. I did. I instructed him to make Kelly reads paper, I instructed him to copy and give her a copy of the case file so she could read it on Sunday and he did that. Q. Was all of this pretty normal with regard to how you work other cold cases in the years you have been associated with the show? A. What is extremely normal for us is we are always trying to find workable cold cases that Kelly feels and the investigators feel they can help bring a good resolution to. Once we have worked with an agency and start working with an agency and feel like they liked the process and they like working with Kelly and her team, then we immediately start asking if they have other cases. Q. And in those situations have they shared, have law enforcement officers shared Merkel's Reporting Services 1-715?387?1247 atom 001 295 documentations from other cases other than the case you are there specifically to work on? A. Yes, sir. Q. On February 28th, the Tuesday, what happened with regard to these other investigations? A. I was out following Kelly and Woebbeking as they were doing interviews on the case and I got a text from Krueger who told me he had received a text from Steve that we needed to return the case files immediately and I got a message from my team that the prosecutor wanted to talk to me. I called her back immediately and she explained the situation they wanted the case files back. I apologized profusely that we were sorry that we asked for them and, obviously, would get them back to her as soon as I got back to Taylor County. Q. You were sorry that you asked for them, but up until that point did you think there was anything wrong? A. No, not until we were told by--Steve told Ben that he was in trouble Merkel's Reporting Services 1?715?387?1247 LONH give them back and I called the prosecutor when I heard she was looking for me. So we hustled to get them back. Q. When the prosecutor talked to you, did she say that anybody was in trouble or did she simply discuss wanting to get the files back? A. Her tone was urgent, her tone was urgent. She didn't talk to me obviously about Mr. Bowers she just said we shouldn't have them and to return them. MR. SCHMIEGE: I just want to interject. When you are talking about "the prosecutor", are you talking about county prosecutor? THE WITNESS: No, I was talking about Ms. Tlusty. Q. Kelly Tlusty is the district attorney -- A. -- Kristi Q. Kristi Tlusty, the district attorney for Taylor County, is that who you were talking about? A. Yes, sir, and she said she would like us to return them, that we shouldn't Merkel's Reporting Services 1?715?387-1247 @01wa 297 have them and, again, I said, yes, ma'am, and got them back to her as soon as we possibly could that day. Q. Did any copies of any cases that got to Kelly, the hard copies that got to Kelly Siegler, get returned to you? A. They did. As soon as we got back to Kelly's belongings she returned the case file to me, I returned it to Deputy Chief Woebbeking. Q. And then did you immediately delete your permission to View files on Dropbox? A. As soon as I hung up with Ms. Tlusty, I ordered Ben to delete all Dropbox files and he did or deleted it from access, mine as well and we returned the one hard copy that we had that Kelly was reading we returned that. Q. Did Ben Krueger also return the hard copy of boxes of A. Yes, everything was turned over immediately. It is not like he ever actually had the boxes, kept the boxes. Once the file was made, he gave it to me, I gave it to Kelly, Kelly returned it to me Merkel's Reporting Services 1-715?387-1247 returned it to the chief deputy. Q. Did you ever deal with Sheriff Bruce Daniels personally during the entire time at the Taylor County Sheriff's Office? A. No. Obviously, we get permission to come from the sheriff from early on but I personally never met the sheriff. Q. Who then from the sheriff?s office were you dealing with primarily? A. Deputy Chief Woebbeking. Q. Did you talk to Chief Deputy Woebbeking about the situation regarding the A. Yeah, as soon as the next time we stopped after I had talked to Ms. Tlusty, I obviously jumped out of my car and talked to Larry and told him how sorry we were, we obviously didn't want to cause any disruptions and that was not our intention. Our intention is come here and just help and try to, you know, our goal is to leave and make sure everybody is really happy and if we're lucky help them solve a murder case so we can come back and hopefully work another one or if we, you know, if we work down the Merkel's Reporting Services 1-715-387?1247 299 road in Wisconsin give that agency a phone call and let them know that we're good people. So I was extremely apologetic that we caused any disruption in his world. Q. Do you know whether or not Ben Krueger kept any of the information regarding A. Absolutely not. Q. Can you get an affidavit from him if the committee required it? A. Yes. Q. Have you ever had a leak in the hundreds of files you have dealt with? MS. DALE: Asked and answered. Q. Is there any reason in your mind that the sheriff's department would allow you to not only review but investigate the Monte case but wouldn't let you even review the documents of cases? A. Sorry, what was with the question? MR. SCHAUER: Can you read it back. (Last question and answer read into the record). A. I guess I don't know how to answer Merkel's Reporting Services 1-715?387?1247 LON 300 that. I think Kelly could answer that because I don't review the cases or make decisions on what cases to work. In other instances in other agencies we have done that but I can't speak for this one per se. Q. So you dealt with Detective Bowers over that six to eight day period? A. I did. Q. How do you believe he did? A. Detective Bowers was a joy to work with. He's passionate about his murder case. He was passionate about his work and, you know, we really enjoyed being here. Q. Did you have the impression from him at any point that he was pushing those cases on you? A. No, absolutely not. We asked him, we asked if we could copy the case files. We asked if we would come back if he thought that the agency would be willing to work with us again. You know, all of these detectives and investigators they just want to work on murder cases and try to help victims' families and that is across the board here everybody that is what the goal Merkel's Reporting Services 1?715-387-1247 @01wa 301 was. Q. And Steve in particular? A. Yes. Q. And did Steve ever give you the impression that he was giving you those cases so that he could be the lead investigator in another future episode or anything? A. Absolutely not. It was all just cop talk and trying to find potentially get assistance so they could solve more cases. Q. I don't have anything else, thank you. CROSS-EXAMINATION BY MS. DALE: Q. Are you aware of the approval process before the case files were released to your production team? A. No, you mean internal here at the sheriff's office? Q. Internal her at the sheriff's office? A. No, I was not aware of the process. Who is Robyn? A. Robyn works on a team that is based out of the Los Angeles that helps find these Merkel's Reporting Services 1?715?387-1247 LION 302 cases. So she is the lead of that team calling agencies all across the country to see if they have cold cases and will be willing to work with us or talk to Kelly about their cases. Q. Were you aware that before the Monte case file could be given to you that both the district attorney and the sheriff had to approve that release to you? I A. I wasn't aware of the release, but I will say before we go anywhere or work any case that the sheriff or chief is on board and that the district attorney is on board with our participation and Kelly talks to the district attorney before we arrive as well. Q. Did you ask Sergeant Bowers if he had permission to release those files to you? A. No. Q. Now you said that you wanted a paper copy for Kelly to read? A. Yes. Q. You said you wanted a paper copy? A. Yes. Merkel's Reporting Services 1?715?387-1247 AWN 001 And you had access to the Dropbox on Saturday? A. Yes, ma'am. Q. And it was Sunday that she wanted to review the file? A. Correct. Q. Did she review the file from a printed copy of - A. that she reviewed on Sunday. That was to my knowledge that was the one that was not a digital copy it was copied from paper and delivered to her on paper. Q. Do you know how that paper copy was made? A. Ben made it. Q. Ben made the paper copy? A. Yes, ma'am, I believe he was introduced to a woman that kind of handles the case files, the box of case files, and I believe he was working with her to get that doneSunday to read? A. Yes, ma'am. Merkel's Reporting Services 1-715?387?1247 304 MRJ SCHAUER: I need to clarify the last question. MS. DALE: You can ask on your redirect but not now. MR. SCHAUER: I need to know what you meant by "it" in the last question. MR. SCHMIEGE: Can you just clarify the question that you were asking? MS. DALE: Now I lost my train of thought. Can you repeat that question? (Last question read into the record). Q. She had the paper file from the A. Yes, ma'am. Q. If Ben was not given documents from the physical file until Monday, do you know how he would have gotten a paper copy of A. No, but I'm pretty certain she read Sunday. So however that transaction happened Saturday where he was able to copy part of it on Saturday but she had the paper copy on Sunday. Q. Do you know what date Ben went in Merkel's Reporting Services 1-715?387-1247 305 and deleted his access to the Dropbox? A. I believe we found out on Tuesday, I don't know the date, I apologize. We found out on Tuesday from Steve that there was a problem and that is the same day the prosecutor called me and said, please delete everything, and it would have been immediately that day as soon as he got back to his computer or whatever that is when we knew there was a problem so we tried to get it done as fast as possible. Q. Kelly and Steve Spingola are compensated with their work with Cold Justice? A. Yes. MR. SCHMIEGE: Can you repeat the question? MS. DALE: I'm sorry. Q. I just asked if Kelly and Steve Spingola were compensated for the work they do for Cold Justice? A. They are. Q. And are they compensated per episode or per hour? MR. SCHAUER: Objection, relevance. Merkel's Reporting Services 1-715-387?1247 306 MS. DALE: Shows their stake in what they are doing. MR. SCHMIEGE: Overruled. A. Steve is compensated by episode. I'm not privy to the terms of Ms. Siegler. Q. While riding in a car with the chief deputy to Milwaukee on Monday, February 27th, did you make a remark to one of your coworkers that, don't like receiving things on Dropbox. I don't feel it is secure. I feel like anyone can look at what is being sent to me?" MR. SCHAUER: Objection. We have stipulated to the fact that the use of Dropbox is not at issue in this case. I thought that is stipulation, a joint stipulation 13 E-2, isn't it, is that where you are going with this? I mean the whole point of the Dropbox being secure or not secure is not at issue in this case. The stipulation says, the sheriff is not taking issue with the fact that Bowers utilized Dropbox for personal work without prior authorization by the IT director. Is that where this is going, if so, it is not Merkel's Reporting Services 1?715-387-1247 book307 relevant. MS. DALE: That stipulation just relates to the fact that we aren't taking issue with the fact he violated any IT policies by setting that up on his own. It has nothing to do with that stipulation has nothing to do with putting the file itself on there. MR. SCHAUER: It doesn't say that. It says, it says personal and work use without prior authorization. This would be work use. MR. SCHMIEGE: If you would like to have that make the decision on that I need to see what the stipulation is, otherwise if you want to talk about it amongst yourselves. MS. DALE: That was testimony that. MR. SCHAUER: I'll withdraw the objection for now with the possibility that I may refute it. MR. SCHMIEGE: Okay. A. Sorry. Can you ask the question again. Q. While you were riding in a car with Merkel's Reporting Services 1-715?387?1247 308 the chief deputy in Milwaukee on Monday February 27th, did you remark to one of your coworkers, don't like receiving things from Dropbox. I don't feel it is secure. I feel like anybody can look at what is sent to me?" A. I know we went to Milwaukee, but I have no recollection of talking about Dropbox I really don't. Q. What steps do you take to protect the confidentiality of agency records once you receive them? A. Basically, when we work with an agency or even if we don't because we have a system that Robyn heads us when we get case files from all over the country and we get case files from all over the country. While we are working we have multiple copies of that case file. When we are done working and when the case in our minds, the episode has aired and everything is complete, everything is shredded except for one copy of the case file and that case file is in a locked file cabinet in my office. We have one case file for every case that we ever Merkel's Reporting Services 1?715?387?1247 .waH 309 worked. Our experience is it never hurts, we have had other agencies call in the past and ask us to send them things so we always keep one paper copy in a locked file. Everything else is shredded. Q. Does the production crew bring any of those copies here? A. Yes, ma'am. Q. And do you collect the copies that they bring here? A. Yes, so basically I had one member on my team that is Ben he makes the copies of the case file if we're working the case here, the Monte case, there is probably three binders that we bring with us that are copies of the case file. He makes those copies, he checks those binders out at the end of our time here. So he's the keeper of our case file binders and he shreds everything but one. Q. Would he have brought with him the original disk that was sent? A. He would not have brought that here. That would have stayed in the office Merkel's Reporting Services 1?715-387-1247 actually sometimes agencies will ask us to leave a copy with them. Like we bring a very organized copy of the case file and would you leave that for us for our records. So there are instances where the detective who we are working will leave a copy of the file. Q. Would you return the original back to them? A. We never ever take an original case file. We ask the agency to either makes a DVD that is sent to us or make a copy of their original and send it to us. We never want to be responsible for an original in the mail or Fed Ex or something like that. Q. And once you receive that CD you safeguard it? A. It is in the file cabinet. Q. Locked? A. Yes, ma'am. Unless sometimes the agency asks us to return it or destroy it. That's our process security with them most of our cases or all of our cases. MS. DALE: I have no further questions. Merkel's Reporting Services 1-715?387?1247 book311 REDIRECT EXAMINATION BY MR. SCHAUER: Q. Two, three quick things on redirect. You were asked on cross, did you ask Sergeant Bowers if he had permission to provide these files to you speaking of the why did it ever not occur to you to ask him that? A. I guess I made the assumption if they were his cases and we were already here that he could provide them. I was probably too excited and too eager to really think that all the way through but he was already working with us and working on a case and, therefore, I felt like he could provide one of his murder cases. Q. To you? A. To me or to Kelly to read. Q. With regard to is it possible that or even probable that Ben copied part but not all of the entire Kelly to read? A. It's entirely possible. It is rare that we get an entire case file all at once, Merkel's Reporting Services 1-715?387?1247 312 they are typically--especially cold cases they are typically spread out in different places. So I'm not exactly sure what he copied but it's definitely possible. Q. And does Brendan know basically what Kelly is looking for a file in order to review it for purposes of determining whether that case is one that would be good for the show? A. Ben would know, I don't know the exact situation from which he was copying. He would know what would be more important than other things, sure. Q. But let's say for sake of argument that there were medical records that didn't have to do with the A. he would know not to -- Q. please let me finish the question. For sake of argument let's say there were medical records and he didn't have to go to the solvability factors that Kelly would be interested in in determining whether or not a case was workable he probably would not have copied those medical Merkel's Reporting Services 1-715?387?1247 313 records then; right? A. Correct, something like medical records or, you know, we will get case files of phone records he would never copy that. Q. Nothing further. Thank you. MR. SCHMIEGE: Any recross? RECROSS-EXAMINATION BY MS. DALE: Q. Is he given originals, in Taylor County was he given the original files? A. Q. Yes? A. He was sent to make a copy of the original. Q. Would it surprise you to learn that he was given two full boxes of originals to take with him outside of the sheriff's department office upstairs in your office? A. Outside this building or? Q. Onto this floor? A. To copy? Q. Yes? A. No, it doesn't surprise me. I told them to ask to copy so if that's how he was going to copy it. Q. Did you have your own copy machine? Merkel's Reporting Services 1-715-387-1247 don't know how he did it. MS. DALE: Okay. I have no further questions. MR. SCHAUER: No redirect. MR. SCHMIEGE: Ms. Strait, I'm corporation counsel for Taylor County, these gentleman over here are part of the committee that are the decision making group for what we are doing here today. I do have a couple of questions. When your organization comes into jurisdictions such as Taylor County, are you aware of any documents that need to be signed, released documents that need to be signed by your company and by the sheriff's department or the district attorney before any records are supplied to you? THE WITNESS: Yes, sir. You know a big part of our process obviously is getting a sheriff or a chief on board, district attorney on board and their lawyers or whoever their approval process is for us to come and air what we shot here. So we have two important releases, a location release that allows us to be on your property and Merkel's Reporting Services 1?715?387-1247 315 shoot here and allow us to show whatever we document in the building, and also what we call it's called a materials release or kind of like a licensing agreement that allows us to broadcast the details in the case file as well as I think it also includes like the mark of the sheriff's office so we can show the logo of the sheriff's office and signs around the office and that is for the Monte case and for the sheriff's office kind of visual logos. MR. SCHMIEGE: In this case we're looking at three files I believe the one file would be the file that you brought in for and that was the focus of your investigation? THE WITNESS: Yes, sir, the Monte file. MR. SCHMIEGE: And then there were two other files that were provided to you in addition to that one file; is that correct? THE WITNESS: Yes, sir. MR. SCHMIEGE: The first was the Monte file? THE WITNESS: Yes, sir, that is the Merkel's Reporting Services 1?715?387-1247 boom worked. MR. SCHMIEGE: And you received the material release for that file; is that correct? THE WITNESS: Yes, sir. MR. SCHMIEGE: Did you receive a material release for the other two files? THE WITNESS: No, sir. The way we work in finding the cases this team I have in Los Angeles and we're out on the road agencies submit cases to us, probably a couple hundred a year, before this paperwork process starts and then Kelly, our lawyer and the one that is on the show, she reads those files and determines which ones she feels like she could potentially help with. For example, this one, the Monte file she thought she could help with and that's when we went through and started the paperwork process for that case. So ones that we don't work on for whatever reason don't go through that paperwork process. MR. SCHMIEGE: And is that something that you make clear to law enforcement before the files are released? Merkel's Reporting Services 1?715?387-1247 .bwm GUI 317 THE WITNESS: Which part? MR. SCHMIEGE: As far as the release of these other two files that I'm talking about? THE WITNESS: Yes, sir. MR. SCHMIEGE: You don't get a written release on those files? THE WITNESS: Correct. If we're just going to read them or if Kelly is just going to read them we do not have a release for those. MR. SCHMIEGE: And so you don't believe that you need to have a release for that apparently? THE WITNESS: That's how we have been. MR. SCHAUER: Can I ask a followup question for that? MR. SCHMIEGE: Sure. QUESTIONS BY MR. SCHAUER: Q. When you reviewed the Monte case before doing the entire episode about the Monte case was certain documents from the Monte case shared by Chief Deputy Woebbeking to Kelly and your team? Merkel's Reporting Services 1?715-387?1247 mmawm Kelly read the entire Monte case before we ever signed any paperwork. That's how it always works. Before paperwork is signed, she has to read it to see if we can come work it. Q. Thank you. MR. SCHMIEGE: In other words, for your organization to look at the files you don't normally have a materials release but the materials release is made if you decide or determine that you may be taking further action on those files? THE WITNESS: Yes, sir. Sometimes there are agencies that require a confidentiality agreement but I don't believe that was the case in this instance. I would have to check but basically we don't sign any paperwork until after the case file has been sent to us, Kelly has read it, the district attorney is on board, everyone is on board for us to work it and we all agree that we're going to do this together then we do the paperwork and that's how it works for every case. REDIRECT BY MR. SCHAUER: Merkel's Reporting Services 1-715-387-1247 And when you say "the paperwork" you are including the material releases that he just asked about; correct? A. Yes. MS. DALE: Just a followup question. RECROSS-EXAMINATION BY MS. DALE: Q. In the Monte case you did not work to secure the case file for Kelly to review Robyn did? A. Yes, Robyn's team, which they work under me, yes. MR. SCHMIEGE: In the event that the sheriff himself or the district attorney isn't the one that is signing the release, do you have any documents or paperwork from the sheriff or the district attorney that gives you the ability to get materials without the release of the sheriff or the district attorney's approval? THE WITNESS: Every department is different. Some people have their city counsel sign the releases, some people have their sheriff sign those releases. Our policy is we never go to an agency that Merkel's Reporting Services 1-715-387-1247 nut/320 didn't have the district attorney on board and the sheriff or chief because if they're not on board the most important thing is the case. If they're not on board it can't go anywhere in the justice system. So we don't go anywhere with out them on board, period, and then after all in agreement and that's when the paperwork gets signed after we have read the file, Kelly has read the file and they are all on board. MR. SCHMIEGE: In this particular case here in Taylor County, did you have the approval of the sheriff and the district attorney to release those files? THE WITNESS: For them to be the two new ones? MR. SCHAUER: To release those files or review those files? MR. SCHMIEGE: I should have said review. THE WITNESS: I think that's why we were here. To my knowledge they were not asked by anyone to let us see those files. MR. SCHMIEGE: Didn't you say that it's usually your procedure to get paperwork Merkel's Reporting Services 1?715?387?1247 that some kind of a release on that or is that something that the extra two files that you normally don't do? THE WITNESS: If we are just reading a file we don't do any paperwork, agencies just send us the file, we read it, and if it feels like we can all work together that's when we go about securing paperwork. MR. SCHMIEGE: Have you ever done that as a matter of general procedure, gotten permission from the sheriff or the district attorney to View those files? THE WITNESS: Sure, yes, sir, that's happened before. Every agency is different. Some agencies they can release their files without having to get every single person to sign up, some agencies need multiple approvals without paperwork being signed but internally they have their own approval process. Every agency is different that we work with. MR. SCHMIEGE: I don't know if the attorneys have any further questions after my questioning otherwise I'm going to ask Merkel's Reporting Services 1?715?387-1247 322 the committee if they have any questions that they want to ask. MR. LEWIS: I have one. MR. SCHMIEGE: Go ahead, Mr. Lewis. QUESTIONS BY MR. LEWIS: Q. Do you normally receive files from a Dropbox? A. We have in the past. It's always different. We get them sometimes on a DVD, sometimes we get copies and send them, sometimes we have flown people out to an agency and made copies. Q. I'm talking specifically about downloading information from a Dropbox is that normal, average, how often does that happen on average, I guess? A. Below average. QUESTIONS BY MR. SCHAUER: Q. Below average but it has happened numerous times? A. It has happened numerous times. QUESTIONS BY MR. ZENNER: Q. Now you said you have given access to this Dropbox? A. Yes, sir. Merkel's Reporting Services 1-715-387?1247 (JUN Can you give access to anyone else in your team or does that stay with you? A. To my knowledge, and I'm not a tech person, to my knowledge it works like this, you have to get a specific invitation. In this case it was Mr. Bowers to join. So I can't ask anybody to join he would have to ask me to join. He asked me and he asked Ben. I can't then ask other people. It has to be an invitation to him specifically. To my knowledge that's how it works. MR. SCHMIEGE: Any other questions from the committee? As far as the Dropbox getting the permission, do you ask for permission from Taylor County here would you ask permission from either the sheriff or the district attorney? THE WITNESS: I didn't ask permission from the sheriff or the district attorney. MR. SCHMIEGE: Is that something that you would normally ask for permission? THE WITNESS: No, sir, probably not. I mean, if I was already here, Merkel's Reporting Services 1-715?387?1247 324 obviously, I didn't but if I was already here working and seemed like it was a good working relationship and that was the way Kelly could read the file so that's the way Steve gave it to us. MR. SCHMIEGE: You mentioned that you have an attorney that comes with you when you are doing the investigation to make sure you are doing everything properly, etc., have you ever been advised that getting releases from all these people would be necessary or preferred? THE WITNESS: No, sir, I have Kelly is a lawyer. We have a second lawyer that travels with us and we also have three or four lawyers that supervise our program and have since the beginning and set up this structure and set up this process and have never advised that. It wouldn't work, it would be impossible for us to get signed paperwork to be able to review. We review hundreds and hundreds of cases a year to get them in it would slow the process down to be unworkable. MR. SCHMIEGE: That's standard Merkel's Reporting Services 1-715?387?1247 325 within your organization? THE WITNESS: Within this program, yes, sir. MR. SCHMIEGE: I don't have any more questions. Does the committee or the attorneys any more questions? MR. SCHAUER: No. MS. DALE: No MR. SCHMIEGE: You are excused. THE WITNESS: Thank you. MR. SCHAUER: Five minutes while we get the next person in, please? MR. SCHMIEGE: You got it. (Brief break taken). MR. SCHMIEGE: We're back on the record now and, Mr. Schauer, you have another witness now that you are going to present. MR. SCHAUER: Yes, I call Kelly Siegler. KELLY SIEGLER, After having been first duly sworn to tell the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth, Merkel's Reporting Services 1?715-387-1247 326 testified as follows: DIRECT EXAMINATION BY MR. SCHAUER: Q. Can you state and spell your name for the record? A. My name is Kelly Siegler. Q. Are you here voluntarily today or under subpoena? A. Voluntarily. Q. Has the association or Steve Bowers paid any cost regarding your being here today? A. No, sir. Q. What is your occupation? A. I'm a lawyer. Q. And are you licensed to practice? A. I'm licensed and practicing in the State of Texas. Q. Do you know your bar number off the top of your head? A. I do. It is 10533450. Q. And I'm going to ask you to turn to Tab 1 in the small binder in front of you that is a five page document under Tab 1, can you tell us what that is? Merkel's Reporting Services 1?715?387-1247 OWDWN printout from my website for my law firm. Q. Does it include a biography of you and the list of accomplishments? A. Yes, sir. Q. Is it a true and accurate copy of your website and biography and accomplishments? A. Yes, sir. MR. SCHAUER: Move Exhibit 1? MS. DALE: No objection. MR. SCHMIEGE: Exhibit Number 1 is received. Q. Can you tell us generally about your law enforcement experience? A. I started working at the Harris County D.A.'s office in Houston, Texas, when I was still in law school I was 23. I worked there for 21 years. I started working on murder cases in my 20's. I've tried approximately 200 jury trials, 60 of those were murders 20 of those were death penalty cases. In the last four years at the D.A.'s office, I was the bureau chief of what we call the special crimes division Merkel's Reporting Services 1-715?387?1247 328 which is the part of the office that deals with death penalty cases, the complicated high profile complex casescall 24 hours a day 365 days a year for 72 different law enforcement agencies in Harris County and even outside of Harris County for any question they might have on any case they got called out for. At 3:00 in the morning if there was a murder and they didn't know if they had the right to go into the house without a warrant I was the person they called. I stay on my pager. I supervised 40 lawyers, 20 investigators at that time. It was the best job in the world. In 2007 and 2008 my boss kind of imploded the D.A., like a dummy I decided to run for district attorney in Harris County and I lost. When I lost, I then quit my job and didn't know what to do as a lawyer because I didn't want to be a defense lawyer and I didn't want to run for job and I wasn't very good at politics. From working on cold cases, which I did in the last ten years at the office, the thing that I liked to do the most was work on cold cases and I Merkel's Reporting Services 1?715?387-1247 boom 329 worked on a lot of them. I tried a lot of them and many of those were on death row after they got convicted. I realized working on those cold cases that there are all these cold cases out there that are really close to be solved they just needed concentrated effort and expertise and time spent on them and I had the idea -- Q. let me ask I question to lead in where you are going just for sake of the record if anything else this will be transcribed later on. Can you tell us how the show Cold Justice came to be? A. Because I liked working on cold cases I realized there was a lot out there that could be solved and I had the idea to work on the cases and do it in the guise of a TV show and I was lucky enough to know people to have a conversation late one Friday night with Dick Wolf who does a lot of TV shows and I told him this idea and he immediately liked the idea and got it sold. So that's how Cold Justice started as my ideaall together Merkel's Reporting Services 1-715?387?1247 330 and got the team together and taught the people from man's world how to understand how our world works. We started doing that in 2012 we shot a pilot and then it got picked up and we've been doing it now for five years. We've been doing it through four seasons and I think we worked on about 60 cases. Q. When you were putting the show together at first what did you think the toughest part was going to be? A. In my head, I didn't admit this to the TV people back then, but I always thought if the idea didn't work it would be because cops wouldn't admit that they needed the help, that they would be hesitate to say, hey, come look at my case, I want a fresh set of eyes. Because I know cops and know how it works and I know I probably wouldn't want to be that open either. But I found out in the last five years about that that's not been a problem at all that most cops working on their murder case all they want to do is solve their case, give me whatever help you have, give me your fresh Merkel's Reporting Services 1-715?387?1247 eyes, tell me about your experience, anything that you have I'll take it because I just want to solve my case and everywhere we go that's the kind of thing what we run into so it hasn't been a problem at all. Q. So departments all across the country sent you case files after you reviewed them? A. Yes, sir. Q. And when you review them what are you specifically looking for? A. It kind of works like this I'm the point of the spear and there are other people that work with me. I have a retired homicide cold case guy from HPD that reads with me and a couple of lawyers that read too but I'm the main reader. Q. A. Houston Police Department. Through e-mail, phone calls and word of mouth, cops from all over the country call and they will say, Kelly, this is what my case is all about and I'll tell you there are a lot of cases that I know from my experience and the sheriff and Steve would Merkel's Reporting Services 1?715?387-1247 LION 332 know we're never going to solve. We're never going to solve a gang shooting in our time spent in a town, we're never going to solve a drive?by shooting. And when a baby gets killed and it's a big case like the Amber case or Jonbenet Ramsey we're not going to solve those cases. But there are a lot of unknown cases out there like this one, like the ones we have worked on, where they can be solved. So a cop will call me and we will talk for 30 minutes or an hour and he'll tell me his case. That's what happened with Larry Woebbeking, he told me his case. Because there are a lot where I know right away, we're not going to solve your case, I wish you the best, call me if you ever need anything and I'll call you if I can ever do anything to help you. But they start with a phone call and then I say, well, can I read your case and some of them are big and some of them are huge and they send me their cases to read and I sit in my house and I read and I read and I read. Merkel's Reporting Services 1-715-387-1247 Now when that occurs let's talk specifically about the Monte case for a second who contacted who with regard to the Monte case at the very beginning to your recollection? A. The first person that I talked to was Larry Woebbeking. Q. Did he call you? A. I got his phone number or he got mine. I'm not sure how we first hooked up but the conversation was just Larry and me. Q. Do you remember the families involved with you guys before Larry Woebbeking? A. We never talk to a family first. I get a lot of e-mails but I never talk to a family about the case because they don't know the facts. They just know what they want to happen, and I don't want to get a family's hopes up before I talk to the cop about the facts of the case and know if he can even work on it or solve. So we never start with the family. We always talk with the detective whose case it is. Q. So Larry Woebbeking talked to you Merkel's Reporting Services 1-715-387?1247 334 about the Monte case; right? A. Yes. Q. And after he did that did he send you part or all of the Monte case to review physically? A. He sent it to the team. One of my partners another reader, Kevin Keding, actually read the case before I did. Q. And when that occurred was this well before any release or paperwork was signed between the show and the Taylor County Sheriff's Department? A. Oh, yeahall this way early on before we even get into those discussions, yes. Q. So the Monte case was shared with you with your team who then shared it with you before any specifically a licensed agreement was signed? A. Yes, because we're not going to go down that road until I say this is the case because I'm the one who says it. This is the case we can work, I think we can solve it. They even ask me to grade them 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, what grade do you give this case Merkel's Reporting Services 1-715-387?1247 335 before we ever get into those discussions. Q. Got it. Do you work with the production team to create the show? A. Say that again. Q. Do you work with the production team to create the show? A. Yes. Q. Does that include Nan Strait and Ben Krueger? A. Yes. Q. And do they have a lot of people working under them? A. They do. Q. For your show, do you also work with Steve Spingola? A. Yes. Q. And are you familiar with his background in law enforcementpart of the Cold Justice team? A. He is. He's one of our main detectives if not the main detective. Q. So the production people I talked about and Steve are all part of your team in Merkel's Reporting Services 1?715-387-1247 OUT 336 charge of the show; is that fair to sayyou trust the people on your team? A. Completely. Q. And why? A. Because we have two goals everywhere we go. The first is to solve a murder case, we don't want to let those family members down. The second thing is I worked in the law enforcement world and have my whole life the last thing we would ever want to do, and I know Steve feels the same way, is to walk away from a town and leave the sheriff or Steve or Larry disappointed in regretting that they invited us to look at their cases. There is no way we want to do that. We don't want to let them down. Q. Is this any case that you either worked or simply reviewed that because of you and the Cold Justice team's involvement the case was compromised in any way? A. No, sir. Q. In terms of responsibilities is it fair to say that you and Steve Spingola Merkel's Reporting Services 1-715?387?1247 337 investigate the case and Nan and Brendan their team do the logistics? A. We're in charge of trying to help people like Steve and Larry and the sheriff solve their murder case, Nan and her team are in charge of putting together a TV show. I don't worry about that and they let me focus us on what we know what to do. Q. Greet. How much time do you actually spend on the ground in a given caseask the question a different way for sake of clarity of the record. Once you have made the decision after reviewing the file and talking to the investigator to take on a case for an episode, how much time do you then spend on the ground? A. The process works like this. So in this case I talked to Larry Woebbeking for almost an hour on the phone. We talked about the case, we talked about Kristi and her resources, we talked about everything Merkel's Reporting Services 1-715-387-1247 (JON 338 that we could think of. I read the file after Kevin Keding read the file. I read it one time through and make a list of every witness I can think of, every to?do I can think of, every technological thing we can do to advance the case like here to retest the gun if there is anything to test for DNA, all those to?do's and witnesses and things to brainstorm I write down. Then I read the case again and I write down questions for every single witness on that list of people. In the Monte case, Larry was very worried because he was right all these towns are far apart from each other and this case had a lot of witnesses. Typically to answer your question, we try to do every case that we work on in seven working days and that means seven pretty long miserable days. In this case, we did it for eight because Larry was so worried we weren't going to be able to get it all done we added an extra day to this case. Q. Go back to the team you are Merkel's Reporting Services 1?715?387?1247 339 surrounded with and with regard to the files that have been shared with them. Have any sensitive law enforcement information provided to you or your staff gone public except through the airing of the show? A. No, sir. We're very, very careful about that because we understand what that would do. Q. Were you in Taylor County to investigate the Monte case February 17th? A. Yes. Q. Do you remember what day you arrived at Medford? A. Yes, I got here Thursday, February the 23rd. Q. And where did you guys set up? A. We stayed at the Boarder's Hotel and we worked out of that room right down the hall while we were here. Q. On the third floor of this very building? A. We lived on this floor when we were talking to witnesses. I locked myself in that bathroom three different times. Q. In working a normal Cold Justice Merkel's Reporting Services 1?715-387-1247 340 case you usually have two investigators from the department that you are working with? A. Local law always has the main detective and we also ask him to get a partner whether it's his normal partner or somebody else so that we can get more done, so that we can split up and divide and conquer. I come with at least one other detective, sometimes we've brought more, but usually it is just one. The way we work is at the beginning of every day the detective from local law, in this case it would have been Larry Woebbeking, at the beginning of the day, Larry would say, today these are the witnesses that Larry wants geographically efficient. Like if they are in a certain area we try to be efficient. So Larry picks who Larry wants and then Larry would give who he doesn't want to do to Steve and then my Steve Spingola and I would divide up according to kind of the way Woebbeking had already divided them up. I usually do the more lawyer boring witness that's any easy way to Merkel's Reporting Services 1?715-387?1247 341 put it, the DNA people. Steve, my Steve, would do the suspect because he's a copkind of common sense I think. Q. For those investigative interviews there is always somebody from Taylor County in each one of them? A. Oh, yeah, it's your case. We're just there, honestly, I'm there to take notes and be the nerdy lawyer in the room to make sure that we cover anything that I can imagine Kristi Tlusty would wish we would cover. Q. Got it. On Saturday, February 25th were you riding with Detective Bowers that day? A. Yes. Q. And was Nan following behind in the chase van? A. Yes. Q. At any point did Nan talk to you through the radio about cases other than the Monte case? A. I remember that day. It was the beginning of the witnesses. It was snow and Merkel's Reporting Services 1-715-387-1247 342 you all have to understand I never see snow. So we were driving around in the snow, the sun was shining, it was a beautiful day. I was with Steve because Larry decided what he wanted to do. It was our first day of witnesses and everywhere we go we talk about the weather, the food, and, hey, do you have any other cold cases. That's what we talk about because those are the things that we always have in common everywhere we go. I ask every cop I work with what other cases do you have and I had already heard from Spingola and Nan that Steve and Larry had other old cold cases. So we're riding around and I say tell me about your other cold cases and that's how the other cold cases came up because that is a normal conversation we have everywhere we go. Q. And when you did that, did they talk to you about that A. That day, that Saturday, February the 25th. Q. He told you some of the specifics about those cases? Merkel's Reporting Services 1?715?387?1247 did. Q. Were you interested in possibly pursuing either or both of those cases for purposes of the show? A. Well, I remember the cases. Steve was very excited to talk about them because those were his cases. He told me some cool little things about the cases. They sounded like very workable cases they were the kinds that could be solved. He is almost there solving them now. He just needs a little luck and a little focus and hard work he almost has them solved now. So it was an exiting conversation and it was a Saturday, Sunday is our only day off. Q. Before we get into Sunday let me ask you a couple more questions about Saturday. Did you ask Bowers to get you reports on those two cases to go over? A. I did. Q. And at some point on Saturday did you break for lunch? A. We did. Q. And did you talk about that again? Merkel's Reporting Services 1?715?387-1247 (JON did. Q. And during that conversation did you ask Steve again if he could get copies of the cases to you? A. It came up because this was a Saturday, Sunday is the only day off I have and that is when I read other cases. I wanted if the cases were potentially good we were?~it was a great time here, the case was good, Larry and Steve were awesome, the sheriff's department was great, we are enthusiastic and I can tell you right now this is all my fault. I was the one driving around on Saturday, I was so excited to hear about Steve's case, I was the one saying can I read it, can I read it, can you show me the file. I was the one that made him hurry up because I wanted him to have it for Sunday when I was sitting in my hotel room with nothing to do so that I could read it. I was the one that made him hurry. It was my fault. Q. Did you ever ask Steve if he had gotten specific permission to have you review Merkel's Reporting Services 1?715-387?1247 @01wa never dawned on me to ask him that. I felt like Q. -- why didn't it dawn on you to ask him that? A. Because we're invited here out of mutual trust and respect. They wouldn't ask me to work on a murder case with them unless we respected and trusted each other. In my mind I didn't see the difference between the case we were there for or any other case. We all know what we are doing, we're all there to solve murder cases, we're pretty good at it. He wants to solve his murder cases. I didn't think to draw a distinction. I just excited that he had a case that was so close to being solved, that he was so up on, and fired up about, and I wanted to read it. Q. Let's ask a little bit about that as well. At any time did Detective Bowers act like he was pushing those cases on you for any reason? A. Not at all, not the all. I was the nosey one. Q. Did he ever give you the impression Merkel's Reporting Services 1?715?387?1247 AWN 346 that he was giving you those files so that he could be the lead in a future episode? A. No. Q. What was your impression of Steve Bowers' involvement not only in the Monte case but in other matters you talked about? A. In every interview that we did in the room or when we were separate or even at the crime scene or even in the war room during our discussions, Steve always deferred to Larry. It was Larry's case. That was clear to all of us every we went. I don't think Steve ever he didn't even really talk that much. When he and I were together alone doing interviews he was in charge but as a group in the room, he never stepped on Larry. It was Larry's case in all of our eyes and that was the way it was the whole time through. Q. Why didn't you believe that you have a right to discuss and to review the A. Say that again. Q. I'll withdraw it I think you already answered it. Merkel's Reporting Services 1-715?387-1247 ONUWAUJN the sheriff didn't like the outcome of the Monte case or didn't like your program's treatment of that case for television, would he be obligated to have Cold Justice investigate A. Not at all. The sheriff is in complete control. He gets to see a cut of the show. If there is anything about the show and the investigation pertaining to the show that the sheriff didn't like we take it out. He has final say over the show that comes out on TV. Actually, he can even say I don't want you to air it. He has that much say. As far as the other cases, it's his department. All these cases are his we never, ever forget that fact. Q. Did you watch Steve do some of the interviews with regard to the Monte case? A. Yes, I was with him. Q. What was your opinion of his skills as an interviewer? A. Steve is a very good cop. We all know he's a marine, you can tell he's a marine. But I saw him interview women, I Merkel's Reporting Services 1-715?387-1247 LON 348 saw him interview a young lady. He's a very good interview. He's more technologically savvy than most cops that I run into. He is way more savvy technologically than I am. He knows a lot about crime scenes. He taught me something new when we were discussing one of the cases about crime scenes. He's a really good cop. Q. As a former prosecutor, are you familiar with the Brady Giglio case? A. Yes. Q. And those being Supreme Court they apply to your former job as a Texas prosecutor; correct? A. Yes, sir, and today. Q. Can you describe what the Brady case is and its instructions to prosecutors to turn over exculpatory information? A. It is the prosecutor's responsibility in every case they handle under the Brady case if there is any evidence that becomes apparent at any time in the investigation from the minute the crime happens up until even after the trial happens if any evidence arises that makes it Merkel's Reporting Services 1-715?387?1247 349 look like the defendant maybe didn't commit the crime and isn't guilty you have to disclose that information to the defense. If in the evidence it would come up to make you believe that it would mitigate punishment, something that would make the defendant's punishment be less than he might have been, maybe it was because he was abused as a child, it is the prosecutor's duty to turn that over to the defense. And it is also the prosecutor's duty if they get any evidence having to do with any of the witnesses involved in the crime itself if there is any impeachable evidence you have to turn that over to the defense. So those three areas pretty much cover the Brady obligation. Q. With regard to Steve's disclosure to you and your team of is the Brady Giglio line of cases ever implicated? A. I can't imagine how. If it's all about the defendant may be not commit the crime in those murder cases, could a defendant?s punishment possibly be less than Merkel's Reporting Services 1?715?387?1247 nwa ($those murder cases, could any of the witnesses involved have impeachable material on them, even Steve as a witness, turning over a file has nothing to do with any of that. I don't think it has anything to do with Brady, no, sir. MR. SCHAUER: That's all I have, thank you. MR. SCHMIEGE: Cross-examination. CROSS-EXAMINATION BY MS. DALE: Q. What files were you given??you were given a file to read on Sunday? A. Yes, ma'am. Were you given just one file? Yes, ma'am. What file? 35103510 Q. How did you come about obtaining those copies? A. It would have been Ben Krueger from my team. Q. Do you know where he got those copies? A. I don't know for sure. Nan would Merkel's Reporting Services 1-715?387-1247 351 know that better than I would. MR. SCHMIEGE: Ms. Dale, I'm going to ask you to speak up again. One of the problems that our committee is here. MS. DALE: And I'm speaking this way, okay. Q. Were you aware that before the Monte case file was given to you that Robyn Kamia communicated with Larry Woebbeking? A. That would make sense. Q. And he had to get permission from both the sheriff and the D.A. before he gave you that file? A. I would not know that because every department is a little different. So I don't know what happened between Robyn and Larry. Q. So some departments do have rules and regulation that their sheriff or D.A. have to review files before they are released? A. I'm sure they do. Not all, but, yes, I'm sure some do. MS. DALE: I have no further questions. Merkel's Reporting Services 1-715?387-1247 DON 352 MR. SCHAUER: Nothing on redirect. MR. SCHMIEGE: Okay. MR. SCHAUER: Actually??no, I don't nothing on redirect. MR. SCHMIEGE: Just to let you know who I am and the other people here I'm corporation counsel for Taylor County. Our office represents the county and this is a committee that is going to be making the decision on what is decided here. I'm going to ask you a couple of questions and the committee then may ask you some questions too and after that procedure then the attorneys may want to ask you some further questions. You a fairly large organization that has been put together for the cold cases I'm guessing that you most likely have a team of attorneys that are helping you with all of these things and certainly you have a legal background also; am I correct about that? THE WITNESS: Yes, sir. MR. SCHMIEGE: As far as releases are concerned, do you have a standard procedure in your organization as far as Merkel's Reporting Services 1-715-387-1247 353 obtaining releases for any information that is provided to you? THE WITNESS: When I said team of attorneys from my point of view my half of the duties where it's about the solving the murder cases, I bring one lawyer with me whose job it is to go with the other detective to follow in the follow car in case a legal questions comes up and take all the notes because we're hoping to build probable cause at the end of our time there. All of the lawyers that deal with the releases those are all lawyers that Nan deals with. I have actually never even seen the release or read the release that you all deal with, that is their world. So I can't answer the release questions or the paperwork that is addressed before we come to town. MR. SCHMIEGE: With that being said, are you aware of any releases, written releases, that were provided in Taylor County for any of these cases, there was one case that you were focussing on and then there were two other cases that you got Merkel's Reporting Services 1?715-387?1247 a.th (BUT 354 information from? THE WITNESS: All I know is that before we can come here there were certain things that had to be signed that Nan is in charge of getting signed before we come to town those are the only signed documents that I know about. MR. SCHMIEGE: Do you know can you tell me about those documents who signed the releases? THE WITNESS: No, sir, that's not mine. I don't pay attention to that to be honest with you, that's Nan's job. MR. SCHAUER: I hate to interrupt you, Mr. Schmiege, but I just if I can refer you to the record of the case of the documents that have already been brought in and admitted as evidence yesterday there are four documents here with regard to Cold Justice and and Productions dealing with the sheriff's department and its employees and they are Exhibits 30, 31, 32 and 33. They have already been admitted into the record and they speak for themselves pretty well. I didn't want to have you waste your Merkel's Reporting Services 1?715-387-1247 @01wa 355 time going further down that if we have already talked about that and it's in the record. MR. SCHMIEGE: Obviously, I'm not aware of what happened here yesterday. So I thank you for that information. Ms. Siegler, as far as the people that you talk to in different venues and it sounds like you go out in the field and you are talking to different organizations from different states and different counties the whole thing, do you find that there is different rules and regulations about release of information from these several different venues that you go to? THE WITNESS: The releases that I'm thinking of is the paperwork that is signed about the building and the documents that Nan knows about I think there are three. To me are distinguished from any release that is required before I can even talk about a case with a given detective. It's my experience in the many hundreds of conversations I have had with detectives where we just talk about a case that Merkel's Reporting Services 1?715-387-1247 356 releases are hardly ever required just to talk about a case to see if we can even go down this road. So I'm not use to releases in that respect. If it happens it is very rare. The paperwork that is at the front of your exhibit that Nan knows about and I understand what you are talking about. MR. SCHMIEGE: As you are a very long term and successful prosecutor, was it your position as a prosecutor that you would allow any documents of this type, you know, criminal documents to be released without your approval? THE WITNESS: I think it would depend on the reason. I remember getting phone calls when I was the bureau chief of special crimes like that show Cops wanted to come to town and film them and I think our answer was, that is your department, you do what you want, sheriff, chief, we're the D.A.'s office that is your decision. So I remember getting those kinds of phone calls but never got more detailed than that. MR. SCHMIEGE: And you said this morning you indicated that you take full Merkel's Reporting Services 1-715?387?1247 (JON 357 responsibility for the procedures that were followed here and you didn't feel that -- THE WITNESS: I feel like this is my fault. I feel because it was a Saturday and I was excited to read Steve's file the very next day on Sunday, I rushed it and I pushed him, and I feel like this is all my fault, yes, sir. MR. SCHMIEGEover, would you talk to some additional people before you gathered that information? THE WITNESS: Well, we would not have been moving so fast and whatever the steps might have been or whatever I don't know what is supposed to happen, I mean, we were working on one murder case I didn't draw a distinction between the one we were there and on and any other one, trust is trust, respect is respect, one murder is not different than the other one as far as respecting each other. So I thought the discussion would be just as fair whatever case were talking about. MR. SCHMIEGE: Thank you. Does the committee have any questions? Merkel's Reporting Services 1?715?387?1247 LON 358 MR. LEWIS: I didn't before, but I do now thanks to you. QUESTIONS BY MR. LEWIS: Q. Following up on Ken's line when you were a prosecutor if one of your investigators did not follow the procedure would you find that needed at least some looking into? A. Well, I think it would depend on the situation, the motivation, the investigator and all those things and I was a supervisor so I dealt with that kind of thing all the time. Q. Thank you. MR. SCHMIEGE: Do the attorneys have any further questions? MR. SCHAUER: NO. MS. DALE: No. MR. SCHMIEGE: Ms. Siegler, you can leave. MR. SCHAUER: As we discussed prior I know it is a little early but I think the parties agree that it is best to break for lunch now because the next two witnesses will be rather long. Is that agreeable to Merkel's Reporting Services 1?715-387?1247 359 the committee? MR. SCHMIEGE: I think that -- MR. SCHAUER: Even if we take a longer lunch we will not go through the entire day on Thursday by any stretch. MR. SCHMIEGE: But you have witnesses that you plan to bring in? MR. SCHAUER: Should we go off the record? MR. SCHMIEGE: Let's go off the record. (Lunch break taken). MR. ZENNER: Back in session. MS. GRAFF: I would note for the record the appearances are the same except for me Mr. Schmiege. BRUCE DANIELS, After having been first duly sworn to tell the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth, testified as follows: DIRECT EXAMINATION BY MS. DALE: Q. Okay would you state your full name and spell it for the record? A. Bruce Daniels, B-R-U-C-E, Merkel's Reporting Services 1-715-387?1247 DON 360 D-A-N-I-E-L-S. Q. What is your position with Taylor County? A. I'm the sheriff. Q. Would you explain your employment history with Taylor County? A. I began my employment in Taylor County in 1987 as a jailer dispatcher/deputy worked in the jail in dispatch for about a year then worked the road. I was ultimately promoted to detective I think in 1992 and in 1996 I was promoted to chief deputy and then was elected for my first term as sheriff in 2007. Q. Did you have any law enforcement experience prior to coming to Taylor County? A. Yes, ma'am, I was a member of the Military Police Corps with the U.S. Army for two years. Q. Did you file formal charges with the personnel committee chair recommending that Steven Bowers' employment with Taylor County be terminated? A. Yes, ma'am. Q. I would like to ask you a series of Merkel's Reporting Services 1-715-387-1247 361 questions regarding events leading up to the filing of those charges and then I'll be asking you the basis for your recommendation. To start, asking some questions regarding some policies. It's already been stipulated that Exhibit 13 contains portions of a Taylor County Sheriff's Office policies and procedures. Turning your attention to Exhibit 14 outside of these policies and procedures, have you had any e-mail communications with department staff and particularly Sergeant Bowers regarding the dissemination of information outside of the Taylor County Sheriff's Office? A. Yes. Q. Would you explain the documents in Exhibit 14? A. First document is an e?mail that I sent on December 12th of 2014 to our entire staff and it is basically?-the gist of it is that I'm reminding our staff that we have got records release policies and that they need to be followed. Q. Okay. And does it indicate Merkel's Reporting Services 1?715?387-1247 362 anything regarding the approval process before release? A. I specifically say in the first line of the second paragraph, remind everyone that release of information is done either by me or someone I designate." Q. What is the second document in that Page 95 at the bottom? A. A couple of years ago, well, this is an e?mail that I sent out on June 6th of 2016. There was a case that impacted records release that I was working with corporation counsel to get clarification on and this is actually towards the end of that process. There had been some additional changes and I was telling, particularly, I wrote officers and detectives that when they??if I could just take a second. Basically, I was telling them that they don't need to check a certain box in the is a software program that officers use to write their crash reports, citations now via computer as compared to doing it by hand in that program. Within that program there is a box that Merkel's Reporting Services 1-715?387?1247 ADJN 363 they can check and it would automatically redact privileged information, things like date of birth and Social Security numbers, driver's license, those types of things. We would automatically redact those so they were marking that as a redacted in the computer program and then also printing off a copy of a crash report and providing it to data records so she didn't have to go through and redact it by hand. Q. And why was it they didn't have to check the box? A. There had been a clarification on the decision that we have been trying to deal with where they provided that it didn't need to be done any more. Q. Turning to the next page, what is that communication? A. It's an e-mail that I sent out just two case days later kind of giving further clarification to the officers. I would have to read it again here. The gist of this is that privileged information to be released on a crash report but not on a narrative report that went along with it. Merkel's Reporting Services 1?715?387?1247 OJN theory an officer could respond to a crash report. I'll tell you a specific situation that I had. We had a crash report that articulated charge information, citation information, for a certain individual that was documented on the crash report itself, however, the local media contacted me and wanted a copy of the citation that went with that and that's privileged information, driver's license's number, same information that was on the crash report was not releasable. So we used DOT records to identify somebody in the body of a narrative report. That information needs to be redacted before it is disseminated outside. Q. Looking at the next page is that, and it is an e?mail communication that starts on Page 99 and goes through reverse order indicates to Page 97, would you explain that communication? A. The beginning of that communication deals specifically with a response I received from corporation counsel with regard to a?-we had been asked to do a Merkel's Reporting Services 1?715?387-1247 365 mutual aid investigation in another county. Subsequent to Sergeant Bowers completing that investigation one of the individuals involved in that incident made a records request for those reports. I was very concerned that it may not be our record to give because we were actually doing it for another county. So I asked for clarification from corporation counsel and ultimately what they the decision that came back was that we generated the report so it was our's and Sergeant Bowers sent me this??the end message is, put the case file on your desk as I figured you would want to look at it and direct Betty to fill the request, if you want me to do something else let me know." So he was indicating that he had gotten that information and he was understanding that I needed to be aware of what happened with that file. Q. And ultimately decided what went out? A. That's correct. MS. DALE: You want to move for exhibits now or at the end? Merkel's Reporting Services 1-715?387?1247 boom GUI 366 MR. SCHAUER: You can move 14. I'm going to state a relevance concern and then let it in. But I do have a relevance objection to this document, these three documents, because they are not dealing with law enforcement information being shared with other law enforcement agencies and not an investigator, such as, those employed by Cold Justice and sharing of law enforcement information with professionals trying to do paralegal work by the department so I don't think it's absolutely relevant but. MS. GRAFF: Are you moving for the admission, is that the objection? MR. SCHAUER: Yes. MS. GRAFF: I find you are arguing your case in making that objection. This is a communication regarding the authority to release information and what information can be released. MR. SCHAUER: Yes. MS. DALE: I believe it's relevant. MR. SCHAUER: I'm simply not stipulating to it. MS. GRAFF: I do like that you move Merkel's Reporting Services 1-715-387?1247 001wa 367 for the admission while we go through the documents. But at the end of the witness just to do it consistently I would like you to proceed and offer it. MR. SCHAUER: So it's received. MS. GRAFF: Yes. MR. SCHAUER: I just didn't want to stipulate to it that's all. MS. GRAFF: I understand. Q. (By Ms. Dale) I will turn your attention to Exhibit 20. Can you explain the department's policy on department issued phones, in other words, do certain sheriff's department employees have a personal cell phone and a department or do they just have one and if you could explain that in the context of these exhibits? A. Well, back in 2011 that's exactly what it was we had, for example, myself I would carry a personal cell phone and a work cell phone and ultimately we went to the Board and asked for approval to allow certain individuals within the agency that needed to be contacted pretty much all hours of the day and night which would have been Merkel's Reporting Services 1-715-387?1247 @01wa 368 myself and the chief deputy and at that time three detectives and ask for approval for us to pay $10 a month to use the device and just only have to carry one cell phone. MS. DALE: I move for the admission of Exhibit 20. MR. SCHAUER: No objection. Q. Turning your attention to Exhibit 21 can you explain what the TIME system is? A. It is the transaction information for the management of enforcement. It is basically a portal or a gateway for an officer to get onto the records management system so they can get driver's license records, run potential a serial numbers you could run a serial number, I think it was asserted to this morning, to identify whether an item is stolen. It's got huge access really internationally through the TIME system to gather information and it's considered confidential. In many cases, it is confidential information and has information people would be considered to be protected. Merkel's Reporting Services 1-715-387-1247 LION Going back to Exhibit 21??well, loo look at Exhibit 23 and explain what that is? A. You want me to describe what 23 is? Q. Yes? A. Exhibit 23 is an agency agreement that I signed with the Wisconsin Department of Justice Bureau back in 2011. MR. SCHAUER: We will stipulate to 23. Q. Now going back to Exhibit 21 what is that document? A. Exhibit 21 is our policy related to the TIME system and the use of it and basically that policy articulates, I don't know if I'm saying this right. This policy articulates the parameters of the agreement I signed in 2011 with the Department of Justice Information Bureau. Q. Now it says, jail policy, is this applicable only in the jail? A. No. Q. Would you explain that? A. So anybody that uses the TIME system is obligated to follow this policy. The purpose is to secure that information Merkel's Reporting Services 1-715-387-1247 (JUN mean, actually even the district attorney referred to that her staff has to sign an agreement. The maintenance staff that comes through the dispatch has to sign that agreement as well. Q. Who has access to the records under the TIME system within the sheriff's department? A. Law enforcement officers that have legitimate need and I think that it is law enforcement that have a legitimate need. Q. Does dispatch access it? Yes. And the jail? Yes. And detectives? 0 0 Yes, ma'am. MS. DALE: Move for the admission of Exhibit 21. MR. SCHAUER: Can I voir dire the witness with regard to information regarding it? MS. GRAFF: Regarding Exhibit 21? MR. SCHAUER: Yes. MS. GRAFF: Yes. Merkel's Reporting Services 1?715-387-1247 371 VOIR DIRE BY MR. SCHAUER: Q. Because this is labeled a jail policy, can you state for the record whether or not you can state with 100 percent surety that this policy was ever disseminated to Steve Bowers being a detective? A. Yes. Q. How? A. The policy went out as a whole and, well Q. but was it given to everyone in the department including all of the detectives, those people that don't work in the jail on a regular basis? A. It would have been given to them any time it changed, it hasn't changed since 2010. Q. What I'm saying is when it was made effective, would this policy have been??can you state with 100 percent certainty that this policy was given to Sergeant Bowers and signed off by him as received? A. I would not say that because I personally didn't do it. MR. SCHAUER: For that reason, and Merkel's Reporting Services 1?715?387?1247 book372 that reason alone, I object to this. I'm not objecting to the veracity of the document to be what it says, but we would object to its relevance if the county cannot show that it wasn't shown to Steve. MS. GRAFF: I'm going to accept that and you can flush that out in cross-examination. MR. SCHAUER: Or the brief/closing? MS. GRAFF: Yes, thank you. CONTINUING DIRECT EXAMINATION BY MS. DALE: Q. (By Ms. Dale) Are the jail policies included in the general policy and procedure manual? A. Yes, ma'am. Q. And that document is given to all department employees? A. Yes, ma'am. Q. Turning your attention to Exhibit 22 can you describe these records? MR. ZENNER: Which one is that? MS. DALE: 22. MR. SCHAUER: I can save you some time, no objection to 22. Q. Would you explain what these Merkel's Reporting Services 1?715-387?1247 373 documents are, you don't have to go through a lot of detail because they've been stipulated to. A. The first letter or page of the memo or the first document is just an communication about the TIME system certification training. The second is a letter to then Sheriff Bill Breneman, dated December 7th of 1993, indicating that it was a pleasure to provide certificates to certain officers that had completed the training. The next is a copy of the certificate issued to Steven W. Bowers name. The next is a certificate for Sergeant Bowers' successful completion of operator online. ETIME is like the online version or the version that you will see an officer is running out on the car on the mobile data computer or in Sergeant Bowers' case it would be essentially from his desk. They have to complete the same training that a TIME system operator would have to complete and he completed that in 2004. Merkel's Reporting Services 1-715-387-1247 374 The small Page 148 is a training document from the sheriff's office indicating that Sergeant Bowers had done his recertification in 2012. Q. The next page is actually a three page document. It just articulates the different dates that from I believe I want to say between 2004 to present, the TIME system training that Sergeant Bowers completed. Would you please look at Exhibits 24 through 27 and explain what those exhibits are? A. Exhibit 24 is an e-mail communication to Mr. Angie Becker who is our training coordinator for time for the sheriff's office basically indicating the personnel who are going to use that system have to complete security awareness training. Q. And the next document Exhibit 25? A. This is training materials for TIME system security awareness handout for secure area access only. I believe this is a document like somebody like a maintenance worker would review and sign off on. Merkel's Reporting Services 1-715?387-1247 Exhibit 26? A. Same kind of a manual, also dealing with access, people that can access that information. I think inadvertently indicating that they understand and follow the confidentiality. Q. And Exhibit 27? A. Training materials for inservice training for the TIME system. Q. So is it your understanding that these documents are what the state uses to train individuals on the TIME system? A. That's correct. MS. DALE: Move for the admission of Exhibits 24 through 27. MR. SCHAUER: With regard to your last question with Attorney Dale you said that the state uses? MS. DALE: Right. MR. SCHAUER: To train officers. MS. DALE: The state would use these documents in any training programs on the local level. So if somebody utilized the computer training these are the documents that that computer training is Merkel's Reporting Services 1?715-387?1247 376 based off of. MR. SCHAUER: Exhibits 25 and 26 aren't signed by Bowers even though there is a certification page at the end of both of them those are blank. Are their copies of that are given to Sergeant Bowers to sign by Sergeant Bowers that there is record that he actually received this training? MS. DALE: We do not have sign offs. But they Show the seriousness of this information and the extent to which they safeguard the information. MR. SCHAUER: Wouldn't it have been serious that they didn't sign?~we object to 25 and 26 and 27 until we can have some sort of an understanding as to when the training that 27 references and that was given to Sergeant Bowers and 24 we will stipulate to because that just says that that's what underscores your seriousness. So we have no objection and stipulate to Exhibit 24. Exhibits, 25, 26, 27 we don't think there is proper foundation and relevance to the immediate case. MS. GRAFF: I would like to hear Merkel's Reporting Services 1-715-387?1247 377 some more foundation so, Attorney Dale, I'll give you that opportunity. You guys aren't going to be able to talk about these unless you have gotten testimony about the relevance of these documents. If you could talk about them a little bit more ask, him more foundation questions it would be appreciated by the committee. Q. Let's talk about Exhibit 25 the maintenance staff and anyone who has access to secured areas of the sheriff's department have to be trained; correct? A. Yes. Q. Exhibit 25 does this illustrate the training that they would receive to have access to the sheriff's department offices? A. I believe it does. MR. SCHAUER: Can I voir dire? MS. GRAFF: You want to call it voir dire or cross-examination, I mean? MR. SCHAUER: It's just simply in regards to the document. We can call it voir dire. MS. GRAFF: Go ahead. VOIR DIRE BY MR. SCHAUER: Merkel's Reporting Services 1-715-387-1247 (JUN Sheriff, as we sit here, you don't know if this was the specific training that was given to Steve because this isn't what was signed off on; is that right? A. I believe in order to be certified he had to have completed this training. And in order to participate in the recertification training he would have also had to completed that. As I sit here, I know that they come every three years and audit. I can't say that Steve Bowers ever signed. I can't speak for him. You can't say that he saw this specific document and you can't say that he went through this specific training because this is marked 2012 and if he received different training in 2014 we don't know in what way that might be different; is that correct, because that document isn't here? MS. DALE: The next document shows that he went through TIME system training in 2014 and 2012, 2014 and 2016. The computer program that was put on a certification modules, those modules and information are Merkel's Reporting Services 1?715?387-1247 O?xU379 based on these training materials that the state provided to the county that this is what we train officers on. MR. SCHAUER: There is room for his signature for his receipt of this training and that simply isn't here that has to mean something. If he did this training-~the online training that would have been based on this still would have had a place where he would check a box or electronically you can sign documents saying he had gone through that. That isn't what is in front of us. What is in front of us is something different because it's not signed. I renew the objection. MS. GRAFF: I'm going to ask a clarifying question of the witness because I think the issues are being confused. I think it is relevant to the argument. I think it is going to become relevant to the argument you are going to make at the end. Sheriff, are these documents, 25 26, and 27, reflective or indicative of the training that law enforcement officers receive on the TIME system? Merkel's Reporting Services 1?715?387?1247 380 THE WITNESS: Yes. MS. GRAFF: Is this an accurate reflection of the training they receive? THE WITNESS: Yes. MS. GRAFF: And is it a requirement that all personnel who use the TIME system take this training? THE WITNESS: I believe that is what the focus of the audit is. MS. GRAFF: And when was the last time an audit was completed. THE WITNESS: I believe it was 2013. MS. GRAFF: And at that time what was the result of the audit? THE WITNESS: They didn't shut us off. MS. GRAFF: So is it fair to say that everyone completed that training? THE WITNESS: Yes. Everybody that was there at that time. MS. GRAFF: Is it possible for somebody to utilize the TIME system without taking this training? THE WITNESS: I can't log into it Merkel's Reporting Services 1-715-387-1247 AWN 381 because I haven't completed the training. MR. SCHAUER: Can I ask one followup to that? MS. GRAFF: Go ahead. MR. SCHAUER: We're not arguing that Steve didn't go through necessary training in order to remain part of the TIME system in order do everything he needed to be fully certified and do his job. I'm just arguing this isn't necessary the training he took. MS. GRAFF: And I think you can make that argument but for what it is and what has been testified to we're going to let that in but you can certainly make that point and highlight it for the committee. MR. SCHAUER: So 25, 26, 27 is received over my objection? MS. GRAFF: That is correct. CONTINUING CROSS-EXAMINATION BY MS. DALE: Q. Turn to Exhibit 28. Would you explain what these records are and how you obtain them? A. When I contacted the Division of Merkel's Reporting Services 1?715-387-1247 382 Law Enforcement Services, the bureau that is responsibile for the TIME system to inform them that there was potential issue. I also asked for training records related to Sergeant Bowers, specifically, what training had he completed in order to be certified, ultimately those are the records that I received back. Q. Okay. MR. SCHAUER: Before you continue, can I have one second to confer with my client? MS. GRAFF: Yes. MR. SCHAUER: Is there more foundation you wanted to lay or can I stipulate to this? MS. DALE: There is just one followup a question I want to ask on the documents themselves. Q. (By Ms. Dale). Was this the order of the documents that they were sent to you to the best of your knowledge? It appears to me that there is a page that's out of order that's why I asked that. It appears that Page 204 should come after 224? Merkel's Reporting Services 1-715?387?1247 can't answer that question, I mean, it's entirely possible. I got them out of order so I would not want to say how they sent them to me. Q. Okay. No further questions. MS. DALE: We offer Exhibit 29? MR. SCHAUER: I'll stipulate to 28 and simply renew and underline my objection to 25 through 27. This is material he received having the other documents in the record is unnecessary but we will briefly argue that later. MS. GRAFF: And you are free to in cross-examination. Q. You mentioned that these were the documents that you received when you made a call to the TIME system. Can you elaborate more on your conversations that you had?-did you have a conversation with CIB about release of records? A. I did. Q. Explain that conversation? A. Told them that I believe that I was obligated to inform them that there had been a potential problem and asked for these Merkel's Reporting Services 1-715?387?1247 DOOM GUI 384 records. Basically, I told them I was mostly interested in anything that they could provide that showed that the individual, that Sergeant Bowers had been trained with regard to the security of the system. I also asked them whether or not I didn't know whether or not they would turn our system off because of this incident. I didn't know what to expect from that and basically they told me that as long as I was dealing with that they didn't have an issue. Q. All right. Let's talk now about Cold Justice. When did you first learn that Cold Justice was interested in doing a TV show here in Taylor County? A. In I believe it was October, maybe November of 2016. Q. And did they indicate they were interested in a particular case? A. The Monte case, yes. Q. Did you authorize disclosure of documents relating to the Monte case to Cold Justice? A. Subject to the review of both the Merkel's Reporting Services 1?715-387-1247 385 Taylor County District Attorney and Taylor County Corporation Counsel, yes. Q. Can you explain that, why you did that? A. Well, first of all, policy would dictate it but beyond that I had sincere reservations about whether or not I didn't know anything about Cold Justice and I have had at numerous trainings I have been involved with have learned that you want to be very, very cautious with those types of shows and the Department of Justice frowns upon those types of shows. Q. Did you have any involvement in the filming that was going on? A. No, I didn't. Q. Were you ever introduced to any members of the Cold Justice staff? A. I think, and I don't remember there was a young woman that came maybe a month maybe a month before or more before all this when this finally started doing the show here, she came up to meet with the chief deputy, I think, they went out and looked at where the house is. The reason I remember Merkel's Reporting Services 1-715-387-1247 386 that is she went in the ditch from California. But she was down in the chief deputy's office and I think I stepped in there and met her. I did not meet any of the other people until today any of the other people from the show. I did see one of them down by our copy machine but I didn't meet them. Q. Turning your attention to Exhibit 41, did you become aware that there had been a potential dissemination of information on two other cold murder cases to Cold Justice? A. Yes. Q. Would you walk through what happened? A. From the time that I knew that there was a problem or leading up to that? Q. Leading up to it? A. On February 25th, I had a telephone conversation with the chief deputy where he told me that there was interest from this television show in certainly and I believe that was also at the time he told me they had interest in the Merkel's Reporting Services 1-715-387?1247 @01wa 387 Specifically with regard to him is that we had engaged or requested with the assistance of the attorney general's office and Division of Criminal Investigation on that homicide investigation and I thought it would be an absolute Slap in the face to the attorney general's office for us to particularly knowing that they have this dislike for these types of programs. I told him it would be an absolute slap in the face to engage them. I told him I wasn't opposed to but I wanted to find out how this other case went along. On Monday morning, which would have been the 27th prior to the time the chief deputy was leaving for Milwaukee, he stopped in and the gist of the conversation that he had this nagging or sneaking suspicion that Sergeant Bowers had already released records on those cases. Q. What happened after that? A. Later in the day, late in the day I had a conversation with Christine O'Toole and she inadvertently told me that those Merkel's Reporting Services 1?715?387?1247 388 records had been released. Q. Explain what she told you? A. Just that she had provided records to somebody from this show and, then I asked her if she had also provided records on She had provided files, everything to them, and then when I asked her about int she said, well, I think that is on Dropbox. That is the first time I heard of the Dropbox being associated with my department. Q. So what did you do after that? A. I think it was right went home, I was very upset that those records had been releasediPad and sent out an e-mail indicating that my understanding that there were records that left our office that shouldn't have and that I think I said, well, we can deal with that later on and that I was interested basically interested in hearing an explanation for why this may have happened. Q. Looking at Page 335 in that same exhibit? Merkel's Reporting Services 1?715?387-1247 389 MR. LEWIS: What page? MS. DALE: 335. Q. Is that the e?mail communication you sent out? A. It is. Q. And what happened after that? A. Some time later in the night, well, I think some time later in the night I received an e-mail from Sergeant Bowers, actually the chief deputy we both received an e?mail from him, indicating that he had released those records. Q. And is that on Page 334 his response? A. It is. Q. And what did you do after that? A. The next morning I met with the Taylor County District Attorney. I believe it was the morning I communicated with the district attorney and we made the determination that we needed to get those records back as soon as we could. Q. And then what did you do? A. I sent out another e-mail just telling Sergeant Bowers, and I copied Chief Merkel's Reporting Services 1-715-387-1247 (390 Deputy Woebbeking in, saying that we need to get the record back and I also indicated that they should let me know once the records had been recovered. Q. Then what happened did you make any other contacts with anyone else? A. I think the next communication I had and I believe I was copied Sergeant Bowers sent an e?mail to Christine O'Toole telling her that the TV guy would be bringing records back and that when he did that the TV guy should let me know that it had taken place. Later that afternoon I was informed then by Christine that the records were back. Q. Did you have any communications with Bowers directly regarding the return of the physical files or any files from Cold Justice? A. No, I was?-no. I was disappointed that he had them since I thought I made it clear that I wanted him to let me know when the records were back. Q. Did you receive any communications from him regarding the release of Merkel's Reporting Services 1?715?387?1247 391 information to Cold Justice via Dropbox? A. No. Q. What did you do the next day on Tuesday? A. Well, I made contact with the IT director, the district attorney, and I don't know if we just made contact with IT to find out if they could inform me what was on Dropbox, the district attorney and I, I'm just looking at this now I think probably I called her initially after I found out about that release and then I met with her after that. MR. SCHAUER: What documents are you referring to, sir, what page do you have in front of you right now? THE WITNESS: Page 332. Q. Explain what you did after that? A. I contacted human resources I believe this was potentially a disciplinary type of function or potential discipline involved by code I'm required to contact human resources and I did that. Q. Did you make any decision at that time whether to put Sergeant Bowers on leave Merkel's Reporting Services 1-715?387-1247 392 pending an investigation? A. No. Q. And why not? A. I still didn't know specifically what we were dealing with. I wanted more information. Q. Did you take any actions on Wednesday, March lst, other than to generate this report? A. I believe that that was likely the day that I wrote this report, obviously, as you mentioned I think that is also the day that the district attorney and I contacted DCI and the Department of Justice, the attorney general that is assigned to the We made phone calls. Q. Does Exhibit 41 accurately reflect the actions that you took between Sunday, February 25th and March or February 28th regarding this matter? A. It does. MS. DALE: Move for the admission of Exhibit 41. MR. SCHAUER: No objection. MS. GRAFF: Received. Merkel's Reporting Services 1?715?387?1247 (By Ms. Dale) Turning to Exhibit 42 what is that document? A. This is an e?mail message from Betty Danen who had been our data records person prior to Christine O'Toole coming on board. I believe I had called her and asked her questions about these records and then she must have thought more about it and sent me this e-mail back. Q. What were you trying to determine? A. I think I was trying to determine if she knew anything about a Dropbox and also if there were disks of MR. SCHAUER: We on 42? MS. DALE: Yes. Move for the admission of Exhibit 42. MR. SCHAUER: I don't think that 42 has anything to do with what he just said but it is an e?mail. No objection. It does say on it so no objection. MS. GRAFF: Received. Q. Turning to Exhibit 45 I refer to the testimony of Melissa Seavers regarding the access to the Dropbox. Would you Merkel's Reporting Services 1?715?387?1247 AWN 394 explain from your perspective what happened on March 2nd? A. Well, Melissa went into the computer system somehow and ultimately accessed the Dropbox account that we have been referring to where been uploaded or download or whatever the right terminology is. So she accessed that the Dropbox and ultimately we found ultimately what we found was the Dropbox owned by Sergeant Bowers and that Nan Strait and Jaime Henrichs had the ability to go in and view anything that was in that Q. So what was your objective that day in accessing the file? A. Initially was to find out how significant the breach of our records was and what all was on that was on the Dropbox. Q. At that point, did it you view the full as it appeared on the Dropbox? A. No. Q. At some point in the investigation, did you obtain copies of the Dropbox terms Merkel's Reporting Services 1-715?387?1247 6301wa service and privacy policy to learn more about how Dropbox worked? A. Yes. Q. Turning your attention to Exhibits 47 and 48? MR. SCHAUER: Before you go there, is this still necessary considering the stipulation? MS. DALE: I believe so. MR. SCHAUER: I mean we already stipulated to the facts that he had-?excuse me. We already established in Joint 13 that the complainant, Sheriff Daniels, is not taking issue of the fact that Sergeant Bowers established and utilized a Dropbox for personal and work use without prior authorization by the IT director. Respondent, Sergeant Bowers, is not disputing complainant's right to access and determine what work related materials had been stored on the Dropbox. We entered into this stipulation I believe to avoid an argument of the Dropbox terms of service. So I again am asking? MS. DALE: We will withdraw Merkel's Reporting Services 1?715?387-1247 396 Exhibits 47 and 48. MR. SCHAUER: Thank you. Q. (By Ms. Dale) Turning your attention to Exhibit 5 on Tuesday, March 7th, did you place Sergeant Bowers on a non?disciplinary, paid leave of absence pending the results of the investigation? A. Yespaid administrative leave? A. Because there was a need to complete an investigation. I believe that there was I believe there was the proper course of action. There was also by that time I know that there was also going to be a parallel investigation by another agency and I felt it would be best if Sergeant Bowers was not within the agency while that was taking place. Q. Turning your attention to Exhibit 4, what is Exhibit 4? A. This is my report. This is the report that I authored on March 7th related to my meeting with Sergeant Bowers and Chief Deputy Woebbeking where Sergeant Bowers was Merkel's Reporting Services 1-715-387?1247 (JUN 397 placed on paid administrative leave. Q. Does this exhibit accurately reflect the events that occurred while placing him on leave and the followup to that? A. Yes, ma'am. MS. DALE: Move for the admission of Exhibit 4. MR. SCHAUER: Exhibits 4 and 5 if you haven't done Exhibit 5. MS. DALE: Exhibit 5 was stipulated to. MR. SCHAUER: No objection to Exhibit 4. MS. GRAFF: Received. Q. (By Ms. Dale) Turning your attention to Exhibit 55 as part of your investigation on April 26th while Sergeant Bowers was on paid administrative leave, did you seek access to the Dropbox folder? A. Yes. Q. And why? A. At that point, I wanted to conduct further review to find out what all was on that Dropbox behind the files, you know, I Merkel's Reporting Services 1?715?387-1247 DON 398 knew the files were all there but I didn't know what else was in there. Q. What was contained in the files? A. That's correct. Thank youabout getting access? A. I went to the IT director and asked her to access it the same way she accessed it before. I asked her to access the Dropbox again. Q. And what did you find? A. We found that the been deleted. Q. And what did you do after thatrestore those documents? A. Yes, I did. She was able to bring those files back. And at that point we requested that she download a copy onto a thumb drive and she also placed it on the drive associated with me so that I could go into that drive and look at what was there. Q. Without access to that Dropbox file, was there any way for you to have 1" determined what part Merkel's Reporting Services 1?715-387?1247 bum \lmU399 been released? A. No. Q. Why was the deletion of -N a concern to you from the Dropbox? A. Well, it had been on there when Sergeant Bowers was placed on leave and when we went back in it was gone, that was the was obviously one of the reasons the focus of the issue that we had and up to that point it was my understanding that nobody other than IT could have accessed that Dropbox. I didn't know the password. My understanding was she was the only one that could get in there. Q. Do you recall what explanation Sergeant Bowers gave during his investigatory interview for deleting the MR. SCHAUER: Objection, the interview speaks for itself and we are going to have an opportunity to address that in closing or briefs. MS. DALE: I need to followup and ask him his concern about that explanation so this certainly is valid. Merkel's Reporting Services 1?715-387-1247 WNH 400 MR. SCHAUER: I'll withdraw the objection. Q. Turn to Page 102 of Exhibit 64. At the bottom of the page if you would. I'll read it: Answer: wanted the county stuff off of there because that is what they said we are going to have to do so I could get access back to my Dropbox that I need." Question: "Did you have any conversation with the county about that, about deleting stuff from my Dropbox?" Answer: "About deleting stuff from my Dropbox?" Question: "Right." Answer: Bottom of Page 102 says, wanted the county stuff off of there because that is what they said we are going to have to do so I could get access back to my Dropbox that I need." The Dropbox information was deleted on April 2. Did you have any conversations with anyone about that is what the county was going to do to allow him access to that Merkel's Reporting Services 1-715?387?1247 401 Dropbox? A. No. Q. Did he still have access to the Dropbox on April 2nd? A. Can he? Q. Yes? MR. SCHAUER: Sorry, read back the last question. (Last question and answer read into the record). A. Unbeknownst to me, yes. Q. What is your concern about his response? A. My immediate concern was that I believe what he was taking my immediate concern was that I believe he knew what the focus of the investigation was and that deleting that at a minimum was highly improper. Q. When you copied the contents of that Dropbox onto your drive and your thumb drive why didn't you delete the from that Dropbox yourself? A. The attorney general's office wanted it left in place. Merkel's Reporting Services 1-715-387-1247 402 MR. SCHAUER: I have to note a hearsay for the record that I know will be overruled to that question and that answer for the record. MS. GRAFF: To the most previous question? MR. SCHAUER: The most previous question and answer. He's talking about a conversation he had with the attorney general. MS. GRAFF: Why did he do something and then he answered why he did something. That's a hearsay objection? MR. SCHAUER: I'll withdraw it. MS. GRAFF: I'm trying to understand and I want to make it clear for the record you guys stipulated to 64; correct? MR. SCHAUER: Yes. MS. GRAFF: But when Attorney Dale was reading, next time we do that can you clarify who is speaking when, it does speak for itself but we're trying to create a record for clarification, thank you. MS. DALE: Let me move for the Merkel's Reporting Services 1?715?387-1247 (JON 403 admission of Exhibit 55 and then we can take a break. MS. GRAFF: Any objection? MR. SCHAUER: No objection. MS. GRAFF: Received. MR. SCHAUER: Ask that the witness be asked to not confer with his client in the middle of the testimony. MS. DALE: That goes without saying that I'm not going to talk to him at break. MS. GRAFF: No need to apologize but we're all going to take a break. Ten minutes. (Brief break taken). Q. (By Ms. Dale) Just prior to the break you had asked if you had reviewed the it had been downloaded onto your drive. I believe to see what was on it. Would you look at Exhibits 50 through 54 and again, I remind the committee that these are confidential investigatory materials that are not to be released. MR. SCHAUER: Do we need an order to not have this be an issue for the committee, is there a stipulation proposed Merkel's Reporting Services 1?715?387?1247 stipulate to the fact that that law enforcement information that otherwise confidential law enforcement information that was contained in that was shared with Cold Justice and with Jaime Alberti I'm more than happy to stipulate to that if it makes us able to withdraw 50 through 54 and not have this concern. MS. DALE: If we could stipulate, I think the type of documents that was released is significant. But rather walking the committee through them to tell them what is there if you would stipulate to Exhibit 1, Page 4, Paragraph B, as in boy. It's in the charges, it's a list of the contents it's on Exhibit 1, Page 4. MR. SCHAUER: What subsection on Page 4? The Dropbox contained the documents included but not limited to, Subsection MS. DALE: Right. MR. SCHAUER: No, unfortunately, I can't because I do not believe all of those documents are in 50 to 54. I'm willing to stipulate there was otherwise confidential Merkel's Reporting Services 1-715-387-1247 405 law enforcement documents within the Dropbox. MS. GRAFF: You are asking for 50 to 54 not be admitted; is that correct? MR. SCHAUER: Yeah, and instead we would stipulate to what I just said. MS. DALE: That's not going to be acceptable and we're going to have the sheriff testify about each one of these and that he viewed them and we did not produce copies of everything on that file because these are sensitive, part of those other documents are even more sensitive. MR. SCHAUER: Sensitivity doesn't matter to this proceedings, everything here??this is within a closed hearing, everything here can be kept confidential and be redacted from any future transcript and any open records request or said transcript obviously documents will not be turned over to the county, therefore, my suggestion still stands. MS. GRAFF: Well, I can't accept a stipulation between you two parties so if that is not accepted and you want to make an Merkel's Reporting Services 1?715-387?1247 DON 406 objection, you can make an objection. MS. DALE: Why don't we step out in the hall for a minute. MR. SCHAUER: Okay. (Brief break take). MS. GRAFF: Back on the record. Do we have an agreement? MS. DALE: We have. We have come to an agreement that the parties stipulate that a a also going to stipulate that the documents from the in arriving to that stipulation we are going to physically remove from all of the binders So you will have no confidential records to confirm the existence of these documents. The descriptions are contained here and what we would like to do is just take a brief recess and remove those from your binders. MR. SCHAUER: We will do that, I agree with the what opposing counsel just Merkel's Reporting Services 1-715-387?1247 407 described. We agree to that stipulation and that removal and since we are moving documents we should remove 47 and 48 as well per the other withdrawal. MS. DALE: That's fine. MR. SCHAUER: So we will take a short recess and remove all these documents and give it back to the sheriff. MS. GRAFF: Does that need to be done right now? We have a court reporter until 4:30. I will give a curative instruction that we don't look at them but we get going to get some substance done, is that okay? MR. SCHAUER: That's fine. MS. DALE: Sure. MS. GRAFF: It is 3:17. We have a little over an hour left for today. MR. SCHAUER: I understand. MS. GRAFF: And we will not look at them or rely upon it in making a decision. MR. SCHAUER: Okay. Q. (By Ms. Dale) okay. AF documents that were Merkel's Reporting Services 1-715-387-1247 (JUN 408 just stipulated to, would you please explain for the committee your concerns about the release of these types of information and you can go right down the list? A. Most of it is protected information driver's license number should not have been released, names of juveniles should not have been released, DOT records would have been obtained through the TIME system, those we just got done discussing along with TIME and records, PEN register data the law prohibits the release of that information. Q. Would you explain what a PEN register is? A. My knowledge is relatively limited. It's an investigative tool requested from the court to document telephone numbers incoming and receiving numbers in lieu of somebody might have contact with. Q. Okay? A. DCI and FBI reports included in those documents are policy specifically prohibits the release of those documents, phone number, photos, subpoenas, all these documents hold protected personal Merkel's Reporting Services 1?715-387-1247 LON 409 information, specific interviews with suspects and witnesses. Again, are subjects to be protected by the law, their personal information is to be protected. DNA records, search warrants and PEN register orders that are still sealed by the court. Q. Explain that? A. Through the course of this investigation, I went to the clerk of court's office and requested to see files that were sealed and I'm allowed to see but, and I believe Sergeant Bowers would have been allowed to see, but that are not subject to release or scrutiny by parties that are uninvolved. Basically, it was an order of the court to seal those records and keep them confidential and there was much of this information that was released in tr There were documents affiliated with a John Doe proceeding I believe are supposed to be secret. There is correspondence from Sergeant Bowers when he needed to obtain specific information, there were letters that indicated that, you know, where he Merkel's Reporting Services 1?715?387?1247 (AJNH 410 admonished them and said, remember this is a serious criminal investigation and as such is confidential. Then last is kind of the catch all, personal identity information of suspects and witnesses included but limited to date of birth, race, sex, addresses, phone numbers. Q. What were your concerns about the release of this information to Cold Justice and to Jamie Henrichs? A. I viewed it as a very serious breach of confidentiality and violates the rights of many of these people that we just talked about. It violated orders of the court, state and federal laws, and it really was prohibited by our policies and could have adverse impact on both of those cases. Q. What explanation did Sergeant Bowers give during his investigatory interview to allow Jaime Henrichs to access A. He was going to enlist her an assistance with putting together a power point presentation. Q. Explain who Jaime Henrichs is? Merkel's Reporting Services 1-715-387-1247 CON Sergeant Bowers' significant other. Q. Did she ever work in the Taylor County Sheriff's Department or did she ever for Taylor County? A. She was a Taylor County District Attorney's office employee. I believe she was a paralegal for them. Q. I think we can probably skip to Exhibit 49, which indicates Ms. Henrichs' employment with Taylor County? MS. GRAFF: Being offered by you? MS. DALE: Yes. MS. GRAFF: And are you objecting to it, Attorney Schauer? MR. SCHAUER: Give me one second, please. No objection. MS GRAFF: Received. Q. Did you ever have any conversations with Sergeant Bowers regarding having Jaime Henrichs organize case files of Taylor County Sheriff's Department? A. No. Q. Did you ever have any discussions about organizing case materials for a Cold Merkel's Reporting Services 1?715-387-1247 412 Justice review team with Sergeant Bowers? A. Yes. Q. Describe those conversations? A. We all, including Sergeant Bowers, were frustrated with the way that particularly . wanted him to put a power point presentation together to present this to a cold case team sanction by the State of Wisconsin I believe through the Department of Justice so they may have retired DCI agents, possibly other seasoned detectives involved in that case and they put together a power point and present that to them and they will evaluate that case for further investigative merits or suggestions for them on what other possibilities there are out there for us to try or for an agency to try. Q. And where did these discussions go, was the decision made to do it? A. I wanted it done. Sergeant Bowers indicated it was a lot of work and that?s really about where it was left. Q. Look at Exhibit Number 58? MR. SCHAUER: No objection to 58. Merkel's Reporting Services 1-715-387-1247 DJN 413 MS. GRAFF: Received. Q. Could you just describe what those documents are for the committee? A. Page 492 is a Taylor County Law Enforcement Training form this particular training form indicates that Sergeant Bowers attended the WAHI, W.A.H.I. or Wisconsin Association Homicide Investigators conference from April 22nd through 25th, I believe, it is in 2014. Q. And does this mention the cold case review team? A. That page doesn't. The following Page 493 if you look in your binder it is the upper left hand corner there is an announcement related to the cold case review team. Q. Did you ever deny any requests for forensic evidence to be done on either the A. No. Q. Have you ever denied any request for forensic evidence to be done on any open murder investigation? A. No. Merkel's Reporting Services 1?715-387-1247 Now the parties have stipulated to the contents of released but if you would walk the committee through what you were given and when in terms of A. Well, I received a folder, I received a folder full of investigative reports that Chief Deputy Woebbeking received from the Cold Justice. I get those two women goofed up I don't know who is who, but he received that from the Cold Justice team and returned it to me on either the 27th, well the 27th believe probably on the 28th of February and then at some point I also recovered the box, the two boxes of material that had been given to Cold Justice and then ultimately returned to Christine O'Toole. Q. What explanation did Sergeant Bowers give during his investigatory interview for giving the box of documents to Cold Justice? MR. SCHAUER: Objection, assumes facts not in evidence. He never said that he gave them to Cold Justice. Merkel's Reporting Services 1-715-387?1247 I'm sorry. For directly Christine to give the box of documents to Cold Justice? A. I don't remember if it was an investigatory interview or e?mail that he told them her that they wanted to read them and he also told them that they were going to I believe during the interview he said that they were going to scan all of that and make an electronic copy for them to use. Q. Did you have any concerns about that? A. Yes. Q. Why? A. I just think it's very risky to trust people that we don't know, I mean, there would be no way for me to know what was on the disk was absolutely complete if it was inclusive. Q. Did you have any concerns about them removing the files from the department? A. Yes. Q. Explain? A. Well, again, I believe it violated our policies and it took critical documents Merkel's Reporting Services 1?715?387?1247 DONH the Taylor County Sheriff's Office out of our control for a minimum of 24 hours. Q. During the investigatory interview, was Sergeant Bowers walked through the CD disks that were found in the box that were returned to Christine? A. Yes. Q. Was he asked about the disk that we had earlier testimony about that was created on February 25th, which would have been Saturday? A. Yes. Q. Do you remember what he said during the interview, and the interview speaks for itself, if we would turn to Exhibit 64? A. I'm sorry. Would you ask me the question again? Q. Do you remember what his response was when asked about that forth disk? A. Actually, there was some discussion about it he indicated he wouldn't need Christine to make a copy of something that was on his server. He said he didn't know anything about the disk and also said that my impression was he said, no, he had not Merkel's Reporting Services 1?715-387?1247 417 created that disk. Q. And he was asked on Page 61: "Question: Would you have downloaded anything from the Answer: Do you remember when he said that? A. I do. Q. And what do you remember about when he said that? A. That my impression was that he said that he did not make that disk. Q. Okay. Did you do any later followup in terms of evaluating what was on that disk? A. Yes. Q. And explain the analysis that you did? A. I got a -- MR. SCHAUER: -- I'm going to object to best evidence, didn't all of this already come in from the people that actually did it, that is to say, the data records manager and the IT person that testified yesterday; isn't that already in? Merkel's Reporting Services 1-715?387?1247 418 MS. DALE: It's not in record that the sheriff personally compared the records that had been returned to the documents that were on that disk. The only evidence that has been presented was that the disk was created on the 25th and the printout of what was on it. MR. SCHAUER: Okay. Withdraw the objection. A. I compared the reports that I received to the reports that were on the disk and they were the same and I compared those I compared that to what was on Sergeant Bowers' I believe what they call drive and they were all the same. Q. Did you notice anything unique about the kind of CD it was? A. I would have to be honest to say I didn't. Christine told me that this was I think her words were, this is not the normal stock that we have for disks at least since she was working there that wasn't the kind of disk like a Ford versus the Chevrolet. It is not the same disk that we normally used. Merkel's Reporting Services 1?715?387?1247 what did you do after that? A. I went looking for that type of a disk. Q. And what did you find? A. Ultimately, I found a sleeve of disks in Sergeant Bowers' office that were consistent with that type. I don't know if it's a sleeve, it is a plastic container with stacked in it. I don't recall what you recall it. Q. Did you bring that today? It was explained this was illustrative, you received a letter, this is it to demonstrate what you found in his office? A. Yes, ma'am. Q. And did you compare the CD that was found in the box to the CD's in the sleeve? A. Yes. Q. And what did you find? A. They are the same kind. Q. Is there a unique numbering to the disk? There is. Explain that? A. On the inner spindle there is a Merkel's Reporting Services 1?715?387?1247 (JON 420 clear spot right around the spindle there the hole is in the disk and there was a it was like it's like a serial number. MR. SCHAUER: We will stipulate that the disk came from Steve Bowers' office will that get us past this? MS. DALE: Thank you. MR. SCHAUER: Thank you. Q. (By Ms. Dale) We have had lots of testimony about release of the information, would you explain the potential adverse impact, if any, that you were concerned about because of the release? A. I was probably first and foremost concerned by the impact of the two homicide cases that were discussed here. I was very concerned about the relationship with the D03 and attorney general's office. Within the documents that were released there were records from several different sheriff's offices and I felt that if other agencies were releasing my records I would be very upset about that. I was concerned about any potential adverse impact in that way. I was concerned, very Merkel?s Reporting Services 1-715?387?1247 421 concerned about civil liability to Taylor County, for you know if this were to become known that these records people's protected information and medical records were released, outside of our control, outside of what I would consider appropriate guidelines that we would suffer liability as a result of it, and I was concerned that our internal policies were clearly violated. Q. I'm going to go onto other issues briefly that were identified in the charges. I turn your attention to Exhibit 63? A. Yes, ma'am. Q. Would you explain what happened? A. On February 26th MR. SCHAUER: Excuse me, what was the question? MS. DALE: I referred him to Exhibit 23 and asked him to describe the situation that had occurred. MR. SCHAUER: You are asking him to describe what occurred that led him to draft the first few pages of 63 is that the question? MS. DALE: Yes. Merkel's Reporting Services 1?715?387-1247 422 MR. SCHAUER: Good, now I understand. A. So on Sunday morning, February 26th, about 9:30 I got a phone call from Deputy Sheriff Dave Kahan asking me to meet with him. That is the same morning the SWAT breakfast was going on, and I said do you want me to come to my office. He said he would rather meet me at the office but couldn't come right then I believe he told me he was at the SWAT breakfast. So some time later in the day we met with him at the office and he was in of the officer's room and I went down there and asked him what was up. He immediately said he wanted to talk to me in my office. Ultimately, he gave me a copy of this poem that had been written by Kevin Mayer, I think what he said was I didn't solicit this. He was visibly upset. He told me that he had gotten the poem the day before and initially he thought it was funny but that the following morning he came into work and when with he came in there was a Merkel's Reporting Services 1?715?387?1247 423 Medford Police Department employee that was reading the same poem and was laughing about it. He said that when with he left at some point he ended up at the SWAT breakfast and was very uncomfortable and essentially around his coworkers because of this joke or whatever that was going around. He told me that he didn't think it was appropriate that it was sent out on the e-mail system and again he was clearly upset to this. MR. SCHAUER: Can we stipulate to what is in the first few pages of Tab 63 are what it is that he experienced? MS. DALE: I know you are trying to move this along and we all would like to move this along but I do have the right to explain to the committee what happened. MR. SCHAUER: Or he can read off of this, which is what he is doing. That's fine go ahead. Q. (By Ms. Dale) Continue your explanation of what happened? A. He told me that there was kind of an ongoing I don't know if you call it a joke between the two that Mayer had been Merkel's Reporting Services 1?715?387?1247 424 insinuating that Dave was trying to get a promotion and Dave just basically told him he was 58 years old and his next promotion would be retirement. I asked Dave if he knew where all these messages gone to and he ended up that he could provide me with a copy of it. Ultimately, I felt it was serious enough after I read it that I needed as a supervisor and representative of Taylor County I needed to do something to stop any further problems like this. So I sent out a reminder to I believe the entire staff and I contacted the IT department, Ms. Seavers and asked her if she could find that message and tell me everywhere that it went. Q. Okay. Go on? A. Ultimately, she told me that it went to several officers, county officers, primarily officers that were on the SWAT team, Sergeant Bowers. I don't remember if he sent it to his family or to people that he knows. I think he sent it to a family member and take this with you to Canada and show whoever some individual up there. Merkel's Reporting Services 1-715?387-1247 425 Subsequent, to that I disciplined two other county officers. Well??first of all, I should say that is basically what happened on Sunday. When I came into work on Monday morning there was a copy of this poem, this e?mail, that somebody had obviously had printed and they cut off??normally on the top of an e?mail like if I printed it off it will say any name, Bruce Daniels, and then the actual e-mail. In this case whoever made that copy cut their name so I wouldn't know who it was and it was slid underneath my door. Some time that morning I walked out to the copy machine and there was another copy of that same thing I just described that was underneath my door was on the copy machine and I remember being specifically concerned because one of the people that I believe was with Cold Justice, someone I didn't recognize, was at the copy machine and that was sitting there. I don't know made me uncomfortable. Ultimately, beyond that I disciplined two other county employees one for writing Merkel's Reporting Services 1-715?387-1247 COM 426 the poem and one for disseminating it to another department. Q. Would you just briefly walk through the other pages of this exhibit explain what they are? A. Number 523 is a handwritten note basically with my kind of personal observations I guess of what Dave kind told me and my feelings about some of the issues we had with the SWAT team. Then, I also noted there that I sent an e-mail to Ms. Seavers asking her to track that and also an e?mail to our human resources manager to let her know that this had taken place and let her know that I was trying to take steps to correct it. Page 524 is a copy of the original e-mail on the bottom and then the top portion of that is the e-mail from Kevin Mayer to Dave Kahan saying, hope you can see the humor in this. Because we are. Have a nice breakfast tomorrow." That would have been sent on Saturday. Page 535 on the bottom is my original e?mail sent on February 26th at 12:08 p.m. Merkel's Reporting Services 1?715?387-1247 427 that is the message that I sent to staff indicating that what had happened was not appropriate and that it should stop, e?mail should be used appropriately. Then at the top is just a message I got from the chief deputy indicating what happened. Page 526 is a note dated 2?27 just a note from myself dated and time at 7:04 a.m. and behind that is the next page on Page 527 is the e-mail that was underneath my door. The next thing is basically it's the same note to myself that when I found this other document on the copy machine. Page 530 is the message from Kevin Mayer to Sergeant Bowers with the original poem. Page 531 is an e-mail from the chief deputy to myself and is basically he is reporting to me on information or conversations that he had with Sergeant Bowers. Did you need me to expand on that? Q. It's up to you? A. It's just a message that once we found out about the breach of records Merkel's Reporting Services 1-715-387-1247 428 Sergeant Bowers' e?mail was actually shut off. Actually, I think it worked longer than I thought it was going to. It was a short period of time and once it was not working any more he approached the chief deputy and was asking why couldn't he have his e?mail and chief deputy referred it to me. I think the chief deputy testified to this that basically Sergeant Bowers had indicated that he read the first couple lines of the poem and that he hadn't read it any further until I sent out the message. Q. Next page? A. Next page, Page 533, is a brief report dated March 8th. On March 7th I met with Correctional Officer Kevin Mayer and verbally and in writing gave him a letter for taking that action. I also asked him if he had talked to Sergeant Bowers about that and that's when he told me at 10:48 a.m. that morning that Sergeant Bowers had told him that it was ballsy. Q. And the next page? A. I also met with Deputy Sheriff Corey Dassow that same morning and did a Merkel's Reporting Services 1?715-387-1247 LON 429 verbal counseling with him. He was the employee that had the e-mail and provided a copy to the outside agency. He initially thought it was funny and after he thought about it that he realized it shouldn't have been inhouse. I think he also told me that there had been some joking like that going on for some time. Q. This incident was included in the charges, can you explain why? A. All this happened right at the same time, and I had begun the process of dealing with it with regard to Dassow and Mayer and Sergeant Bowers based on the fact that he in my opinion failed to most importantly sure that this type of joking or whatever you want to call it most importantly make stopping it but between the time that all that was going on I ended up consulting with human resources and with the labor counsel and it ended up being included with the entire packet. MS. DALE: I move for admission of Exhibit 63. MR. SCHAUER: No objection. Merkel's Reporting Services 1?715?387?1247 430 MS. GRAFF: Received. Q. Turning to Exhibit 62 I think it has already been admitted and stipulated to. Would you explain what happened? A. We were getting ready to do the Cold Justice program, the chief deputy had approached me and we talked about how approval for supervisor would be done during the time frame that during the time frame that he was tied up with Cold Justice and I indicated that I could take care of those approvals. Some time later there was an e?mail, I don't know I was copied in on it from Sergeant Bowers, to detectives telling them they should forward their reports to me as well for me to do the do the approval process during the time that they were doing Cold Justice. I ultimately inquired of the chief deputy whether or not he and Steve had talked about this and indicating to him that I really didn't have a problem with doing the approvals e-mails but I was not ecstatic with the fact that Sergeant Bowers had decided to assign me to that task without Merkel's Reporting Services 1?715?387-1247 431 checking with me. So I communicated with the chief deputy and he indicated he would take care of it and he did. He talked to Sergeant Bowers and I felt like it was important. He sent the message back saying he was shocked because he had specifically told Sergeant Bowers to check with me that he would take care of it and, again, I felt that was important because he was the guy that communicated with Sergeant Bowers. He must have talked to Steve, Steve came in and indicated that he had meant no disrespect and certainly was not trying to cause a problem but there was simply a miscommunication. I told him that it was not a big deal but I didn't feel like I said before it wasn't appropriate for him to make an assignment to somebody with a rank higher than his. Q. If he came in and apologized and said he meant no disrespect, why did you put this in the charges? A. I think it's very telling of Steve. Steve is well known to say and this is not a quote but he's very well to known these Merkel's Reporting Services 1?715-387?1247 432 like, "It's better to ask for forgiveness than to ask for authorization in the first place." And I believe that this is very consistent with the attitude that he was displaying toward our policies, our confidential records, and that's why I thought that was important here. MS. DALE: Before I go any further we had stipulated to Exhibit 61 with the understanding that this wouldn't be an issue we also stipulated to 60. The two go together and create the record for that written warning. MR. SCHAUER: I will if you stipulate to Association 8, 9, and 10 as part of that. MS. DALE: And if you could just explain to the committee what we just stipulated to as far as your exhibits? MR. SCHAUER: Exhibits 8, 9, and 10 are the harassing message received by Jaime Alberti that caused Steve to take the action that he did regarding assigning a deputy to the matter. We're willing to stipulate that 60 is Merkel's Reporting Services 1?715?387?1247 433 your guy's case file and 61 is the written warning about that matter and 8, 9, 10 are evidence of the underlying issue and that all of the documents I just said are not to be used as the basis of additional discipline here but are simply in the record to show record of prior disciplinary action. If that acceptable it is acceptable to me. MS. DALE: That's acceptable. MR. SCHAUER: Exhibits 8, 9, 10 are accepted and admitted into the record? MS. GRAFF: Yes, they are received. MR. SCHAUER: That's in the written stipulation but not with your conditions. MR. SCHAUER: No, they weren't. MS. GRAFF: Oh, I apologize they were received. MR. SCHAUER: Thank you. Q. (By Ms. Dale) Can I ask you to turn back to Exhibit 1. These are your charges and Appendix A of the charges on Page 12 are some policies and procedures. To the extent that you have not already testified about them, would you briefly explain to the committee the rules that you Merkel's Reporting Services 1?715?387?1247 434 believe have been violated? MR. SCHAUER: We will stipulate that 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, through that 12 through 28 are part of the charging documents and are proper copies of Taylor County Sheriff's Department policies. Will that suffice--I will withdraw. I apologize for the interruption and let you continue, sorry. MS. GRAFF: So no stipulation? MR. SCHAUER: Let her. She needs to?-I know where she's going. Q. You have issued the charges. Exhibit A contains various policies procedures and statutes. To the extent that you have not already explained in your testimony would you explain the policies and procedures that you believe were violated by Sergeant Bowers' conduct? MR. SCHAUER: I'm sorry, isn't that what the charging document is, I mean, really, the charging -- MS. GRAFF: -- what is your objection? MR. SCHAUER: -?the charging Merkel's Reporting Services 1-715-387?1247 435 document is what he is saying Bowers did wrong. MS. GRAFF: He hasn't said anything. Do you have an objection? MR. SCHAUER: I'm objecting to the question as unnecessarily repetitive with the documents. MS. GRAFF: The committee has not reviewed this document unless we sat in here and read it on our own so I think it is appropriate. MR. SCHAUER: The charging document itself? MS. GRAFF: That's not what we are looking at. MR. SCHAUER: I mean, he has gone over every section of the charging document. MS. GRAFF: And he is the signatory on the charging document? MR. SCHAUER: Yes. MS. DALE: Let me put it this way. I know the committee was considering if we are going to brief this I can explain in the brief why the specific sections in Appendix A were cited by the sheriff in his charges. Merkel's Reporting Services 1-715-387-1247 we're not going to brief it, I would like the sheriff to explain why he listed these items in these charge documents, and if you would like us to leave, we will leave. MS. GRAFF: How about this for a proposal. We have to get our court reporter out in 20 minutes. We will just break until tomorrow because I think we're all getting to go that point; is that fair? MR. SCHAUER: Absolutely, I'm already to the point where we're not going to start cross with him anyway. MS. GRAFF: So we will break but then we are going to have a little meeting we will wait until you guys gather up yourself, take the binders that you need to do and not do. Someone is going to remove those documents those exhibits do that and leave us in here and come back in session at 9:00 a.m. tomorrow. MS. DALE: I think it would be easier, I hate to suggest this, that you leave and we work on the binders as opposed to us gathering all the binders and moving Merkel's Reporting Services 1-715-387?1247 DONEdifferent room. MS. GRAFF: That's fine. If they reach a decision can I just e?mail you both about whether it it's going to be oral arguments or briefs. I will do that tonight and you'll know for tomorrow. MS. DALE: If we still aren't removing documents from binders. MS. GRAFF: But we are releasing the court reporter so I'll do that by e?mail. So I don't have to make a report then okay. MR. SCHAUER: Thank you. (Whereby the hearing adjourned). Merkel's Reporting Services 1?715-387-1247 AWN GUT 438 STATE OF WISCONSIN SS. COUNTY OF WOOD Be it known that I wrote the above hearing on the 4th day of October 2017, at Medford, Wisconsin; That I was then and there a Notary Public in and for the State of Wisconsin, and that by virtue thereof I was authorized to administer an oath; That the witness, before testifying, was by me first duly sworn to testify to the whole truth and nothing but the truth relative to said cause; That the testimony of said witness was recorded in stenotype by myself and reduced to print by means of Computer-Assisted Transcription under my direction, and that the deposition is a true record of the testimony given by the witness to the best of my ability; That I am not related to any of the parties hereto nor interested in the outcome of the action. Dated this 22nd of Oct 2017. Professional Reporter Notary Public State of Wisconsin 3 My commission expires 4?21-2020 Merkel's Reporting Services 1?715?387-1247 BEFORE THE PERSONNEL COMMITTEE OF TAYLOR COUNTY, WISCONSIN In the Matter of: Sheriff Bruce Daniels, Complainant, Vs. Det. Sgt. Steven Bowers, Respondent. Hearing held on the 5th day of October 2017 at the Medford County Courthouse, Third Floor, Old Courtroom, Medford, Wisconsin. Court Reporter, Mariann Merkel. Merkel's Reporting Services 1?715?387?1247 mu 3 BEFORE THE PERSONNEL COMMITTEE OF TAYLOR COUNTY, WISCONSIN In the Matter of: Sheriff Bruce Daniels, Complainant, Sgt. Det. Steven Bowers, Respondent. Hearing held before Board Members, Rollie Thums, Scott Mildbrand, Lester Lewis, Charles Zenner, and Corporation Counsel Courtney Graff on the 3rd day of October 2017. Merkel's Reporting Services 1?715-387-1247 Appearances FOR THE COMPLAINANT: Mindy K. Dale, Esq. Weld, Riley, S.C. 3624 Oakwood Hills Parkway P.O. Box 1030 Claire, WI 54702-1030 FOR THE RESPONDENT: Andrew D. Schauer, Esq. Wisconsin Professional Police Association 660 John Nolen Dr., Ste 300 Madison, WI 53713 FOR THE COMMITTEE: Courtney Graff, Esq. In p.m. Schmiege Graff Law Office, Ltd. 123 W. State Street Medford, Wisconsin 54451 Also present: Marie Koerner Rich Burghaus Merkel's Reporting Services 1?715?387?1247 INDEX Witness Page Steve Bowers CONTINUING DIRECT BY MS. DALE . . . . . . . ..439 BY MR. SCHAUER . . . . ..451 REDIRECT BY MS. DALE . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . ..484 BY MR. QUESTIONS BY MR. ZENNER . . . . . . . . . . . . . ..493 BY SCHAUER . . . . . . ..494 QUESTIONS BY MR. LEWIS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . ..495 QUESTIONS BY MR. THUMS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . ..496 REDIRECT BY MS. DALE . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . ..496 Witness Page Steve Bowers DIRECT EXAMINATION BY MR. CROSS-EXAMINATION BY MS. DALE . . . . . . . ..541 REDIRECT BY MR. SCHAUER . . . . . . . . . . . . . ..551 RECROSS-EXAMINATION BY MS. DALE . . . . . ..555 REDIRECT BY MR. SCHAUER . . . . . . . . . . . . . ..562 RECROSS-EXAMINATION BY MR. DALE . . . . . ..563 Witness Page Jaime Alberti DIRECT EXAMINATION BY MR. BY MS. DALE . . . . . . . ..589 QUESTIONS BY MR. ZENNER . . . . . . . . . . . . . ..591 Witness Page Nicole Schuett DIRECT EXAMINATION BY MS. Merkel's Reporting Services 1?715-387?1247 (JUN Witness Page Rich Burghaus DIRECT EXAMINATION BY MR. CROSS-EXAMINATION BY MS. DALE . . . . . . . ..602 REDIRECT EXAMINATION BY MR. QUESTIONS BY MR. LEWIS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . ..605 REDIRECT BY MR. SCHAUER . . . . . . . . . . . . . ..607 RE-CROSS-EXAMINATION BY MS. DALE . . . . ..608 REDIRECT EXAMINATION BY MR. Merkel's Reporting Services 1?715?387-1247 439 MR. ZENNER: Back in session. MS. GRAFF: I'll put on the record that the committee did just meet at the request of the attorneys regarding how we would like to proceed for closing arguments, whether it be written brief after the transcript came in or oral argument whether that is today or next week. There is middle ground that was proposed and the committee did decide to accept that so they voted and decided to wait for the transcripts to be prepared and then come back into session and hear oral arguments after transcripts have been received by the parties. We do hope this can be done as soon as possible. We do have some pretty extreme unavailability on the committee's side so I'm going to propose that we do a telephone conference perhaps tomorrow or Monday when everyone has access to their calendars. We will try to get that scheduled to via telephone conference so that everyone can have their calendars in front of them; fair enough? MS. DALE: Do we know approximately Merkel's Reporting Services 1?715?387?1247 LON 440 how long it will take to get the transcript done? MR. ZENNER: I'm are going to be gone. Rollie, is it possible at lunch time you can get a hold of your calendar? I can get a hold of mine today. I?m just asking. MR. LEWIS: Get the date scheduled? MR. THUMS: The last weeks of the month would be good because the first two weeks are piled with meetings. MR. ZENNER: Just a suggestion. MS. GRAFF: I think a telephone conference we can be sure and then we can find a date that works all right. Let's go ahead. CONTINUING DIRECT EXAMINATION BY MS. DALE: Q. We're going to finish up with your testimony starting now. There is one question that I couldn't recall whether I asked you yesterday and I apologize if I did ask you this question. Have you ever used an outside copying service to copy or scan any documents from your office? A. To copy or scan? Merkel's Reporting Services 1?715?387?1247 Yeswhy not? A. We just never. I think I was approached by a company once to do that there was some expense associated with it do that and we have staff that does it for us. Q. I turn your attention to Exhibit 1, Page 12. When we broke, I was asking you to briefly go through Appendix A and identify the rules that you believe Sergeant Bowers violated. A. One of the things that's been talked about significantly during this hearing is on Page 12 l?D it talks about officers having the authority to release records normally opened to the public and any other law enforcement agency. These records were not open to the public. And the people that the records were released to either were not here operating in the capacity as law enforcement officer or were not even associated with the law enforcement agency. On Page 13, juvenile records were released that should not have been. I don't Merkel's Reporting Services 1-715?387?1247 442 recall whether or not there were personnel records associated with the one file in Dropbox or not. FBI, DCI and medical records were released. Number 9 on 13 this is an ongoing investigation. Number 13 deals with the rights of privacy of certain individuals. There were medical and mental health records. At least medical records that were released. Again dealing with on Page 14 starts in the juvenile records again and under what circumstances and how those records may be released. And that kind of spills over to 15 and where they if they are released they have to be stamped confidential juvenile record anyway. Page 26 200-1-1 deals with violation of rules. Employees shall not commit any acts or omit any acts that constitutes violation of any explicit rule, regulation, directive or order of the department whether stated in the policy, memo or elsewhere. Bottom of 16, conformance to laws and Merkel's Reporting Services 1?715-387-1247 443 abuse of position were violated from the standpoint that a normal citizen would not have had access to those records. If Sergeant Bowers had not been in his position he would not have had access to those records. 200-137 deals with the dissemination of information. Employee shall treat the official business of the department as confidential. I felt that 200?1?39 had been pressure violated as a result of the attempt to delete records from the Dropbox after the investigation was initiated. 200-1?46 deals with truthfulness and I do not believe that Sergeant Bowers was forthright with us during the investigatory interview. I would feel that Sergeant Bowers should have, this was a media outlet or the a least one of the entities that he released records to was a media outlet, and he should have checked with his supervisor that he was working with during that time. The area of death investigation there Merkel's Reporting Services 1?715-387?1247 very specific within that policy there is a specific subtitle in bold letters it says do not release any information. I certainly did not delegate on Page 20 delegate the authority to release records to Sergeant Bowers related to those cases in those instances. Q. What page was that? A. Page 20, Number 2. I think that's on Page 21. This sort of cavalier attitude towards the file and records of the sheriff's office and of the judicial system does not set an example that we would wish to have our subordinates emulate. It does not send a message that we expect the policies to be followed. Page 22 under discipline it talks about dishonesty or failure to provide complete and accurate data, misuse of authority or employee's position within the county, specifically says unauthorized release of information. This is all out of the Taylor County Handbook. Violation of any lawful order, Merkel's Reporting Services 1?715?387?1247 445 directive, policy, or work rule. Section 9.4 on Page 22 talks about bullying in the workplace, which I felt the poem and the failure to address that issue fell into that category. On Page 23 under privileged evidence it discusses the statute, Wisconsin state law talks about information received from the state crime labs is privileged and not available to persons other than law enforcement officers. Chapter 785 deals with contempt of court, which I believe applies when an individual knowingly releases information that they had requested the court to seal. That's an order of the court and not subject to me determining whether or not it should be released or anybody else that works for me, that's an order of the court. Chapter 950 deals with the rights of victims and witnesses and protecting their dignity and information. It also again the legislative attempt there is to protect the dignity of juveniles and victims and witness. Merkel's Reporting Services 1?715?387?1247 446 Chapter 968 talks about the authorization for disclosure and use of intercepted wire, electronic or oral communication. The fact that it's prohibited to do that. Page 25 deals with federal statutes. It deals with dissemination of criminal history record information which is also included in these records that were released. Criminal history records received from the system shall be used only for the purpose requested and the current records should be requested for authorized use. Chapter 123 looks at the prohibition on release and use of certain personal information from state and motor vehicle records. That is the protected information that we talked about several times. Also on 2718 U.S.C. says additional unlawful acts. Procurement for unlawful purpose. It shall be unlawful for any person knowingly to obtain or disclose personal information, from a motor vehicle Merkel's Reporting Services 1?715-387?1247 447 record, for any use not permitted under 2721(b) of this title. That basically I believe establishes liability if that happens? Q. Are you aware of any incident where a member of the sheriff's department any other member of the sheriff's department released written information from an open murder investigation in this manner without your permission? MR. SCHAUER: Objection term "murder investigation" over broad. Withdraw. MS. DALE: Murder homicide I've been using the term simultaneously. A. Could you repeat the question I want to make sure I answer the question. Q. Are you aware of any incident where a member of the sheriff's department has released written information from an open homicide investigation in the manner Sergeant Bowers did without your permission? A. No. Q. How would you rate Sergeant Bowers' overall record of service to the department? Merkel's Reporting Services 1-715-387-1247 think the chief deputy did a good job of describing that when he testified the other day. Sergeant Bowers can be very, very capable it's not any secret that he is very intelligent, very capable. It is also no secret that he can be very, very difficult to deal with and as even stated in the past he chooses to be that way. He's been a challenge for the administration since he's been here and he's also been an asset when he chooses to be. Q. Prior to issuing the charges, did you review his entire personnel file? A. Yes. Q. Did he receive any awards or recognition for disservice? A. Yes, I wrote them, many of them. Q. Has Sergeant Bowers received any written discipline? A. Yes. Q. Describe just briefly, I think we have stipulated that he received a written warning in 1999, he received one in 2016 regarding which is in Exhibit 59 and that we Merkel's Reporting Services 1?715?387-1247 449 also stipulated that the written document by chief deputy relating to the Facebook incident constitute a written warning, anything else that you are aware of as far as formal discipline? MR. SCHAUER: Is the answer anything but no to that. We haven't been made aware of it and we put we have given requests multiple times on this point so can we stipulate to what you just said is the case? MS. DALE: Yes, that is all he knows about. MR. SCHAUER: We're willing to stipulate to that, to what you just said. THE WITNESS: I was just confused because we have two different discussions. I'm fine. MR. SCHAUER: We answered the question for you, sir. MS. DALE: Let me rephrase the question. Q. Given the complimentary documentation in his personnel file and the fact that Sergeant Bowers has only received Merkel's Reporting Services 1-715?387-1247 @01wa 450 three written reprimands and he has not been suspended or demoted, why are you recommending that his employment be terminated? A. There are some violations that are so egregious that there is no alternative. If I believed there was an alternative sitting here today I would have taken it. Q. Explain further? A. Mr. Spingola said the other day that our function as law enforcement is to solve cases and solve homicides and he's absolutely right, but we also have to follow the law, we have to follow our own policies. And that means protecting records and when the court orders records to be sealed that has to be protected as well. That is the process that ends in a successful prosecution and probably at least as important we have to be truthful. I think this body heard our prosecutor indicate that her trust is shaken. MR. SCHAUER: Objection. He's recounting and misconstruing the testimony of another witness which speaks for itself Merkel's Reporting Services 1?715?387?1247 451 and the testimony is already in the record. MS. GRAFF: I agree with that. If you can just rely on your own thoughts. A. My trust has been shaken based on the fact that that I do not believe Sergeant Bowers has been forthright and that would impact my ability to feel comfortable with his performance from this date forward. MS. DALE: I have no further questions. CROSS-EXAMINATION BY MR. SCHAUER: Q. Good morning, Sheriff Daniels. A. Good morningturn to Exhibit 1? A. Yes. Q. Everything I'm going to say is going to be tabbed in the big book unless I tell you otherwise? A. Okay. Q. That will keep things quicker. Please turn to Tab 1. And Page 2 through 11 of that is the charging document, is it not, and that's your signature on 11; correct? Merkel's Reporting Services 1-715-387?1247 Yes, sir. Q. And we have already stipulated that one of the charges here is not appropriate with regard to the harassment Facebook matter and that should be treated by the committee as a written warning and cannot receive additional discipline past that written warning. Outside of that, do you stand behind every word of County Exhibit 1 and is there anything in there that you would like to take back? A. I'm not aware of anything I would like to take back. Q. Okay. I'm going to first ask you to keep your hand on Tab 1 but turn to Tab 33, please. Tab 33 this is a document that says at the top Law Enforcement Appearance Release Form, Arbitration Provision, Confidentiality and Voluntary Participation Agreement. Are you there? A. Yes, sirthe last page of that document and tell me how many people signed that document? A. One. Merkel's Reporting Services 1?715-387?1247 Exhibit 33 an agreement, a contract, or is it a release? MS. DALE: I think you are calling for a legal conclusion. MR. SCHAUER: He wrote a legal document that he signed and he should be able to know the terms in it. MS. GRAFF: Is that your signature? MR. SCHAUER: No, of course not. Q. Let me ask this first. This same document was signed by Chief Deputy Woebbeking on Tab 32; correct? A. It appears to be the same, yes. Q. All right. And Chief Deputy Woebbeking had your permission and blessing to sign that document; did he not? A. Subject to corporation counsel's review, yes. Q. Which he did get and receive; correct? A. Yes. Q. So Bowers signed the same document he had permission from you and corporation counsel to sign that document as well; correct? Merkel's Reporting Services 1-715-387?1247 Yes, sir. Q. It's fair to say that Exhibits 32 and 33 are releases not contracts; correct? A. It says MS. DALE: I'll object a release is a contract that has to be followed. A release is a written contract. MR. SCHAUER: A contract is between two parties, where there is consideration between the both. A release simply gives away rights by one person without any consideration. Now I don't want to get into MS. DALE: are you going to argue that this release is not enforceable? MR. SCHAUER: No, no, I'm arguing the fact that he called it--actual question you'll see the relevance. Q. (By Mr. Schauer) I want you now to turn back to Tab 1, Page 8. One of the ways in which you said that Sergeant Bowers was false or misleading was, and I'm reading from on Bate Stamp Page 8, "Sergeant Bowers said he did not have authority to Merkel's Reporting Services 1-715?387?1247 455 enter into any contracts with Cold Justice, but he did execute a law enforcement release form, arbitration provision, confidentiality, and voluntarily participation agreement on February 22, 2017." He had authority to sign that document didn't he? A. Yes. Q. And that document isn't a contract between him and the county but it is a release to Cold Justice to allow him to use his likeness just like it was for Chief Deputy Woebbeking; correct? A. If I'm not mistaken it also allows them to use any information that he releases to them. Q. I would agree with that but my question? A. I'm sorry, sir. Q. Forget it we will move onto the next thing. Let's go back to Page 5, it says that at the top, but it's actually Bate Stamp 6 of the county Exhibit 1. Number 7 towards the top of that says, "Sergeant Merkel's Reporting Services 1?715-387-1247 456 Bowers' actions have compromised both of these active open murder investigations." Now, first of all, there is a distinction in the law between murder and homicide; is there not? A. They mean the same to me. Q. Okay? A. I wouldn't be able to quote the statutes to you I'm sorry. Q. Through another witness I'll elucidate what the difference is but, okay. Outside of the fact that the Cold Justice team and Jaime Alberti possessed the documents in a short time that does not necessarily mean that themselves were actually compromised; does it? A. Yes. Q. To a reasonable reader compromise would mean that the case was made worse or less chargeable because of the publicity of the facts in the file, that witnesses have gone away or changed their tune because of the publicity of those facts. No evidence Merkel's Reporting Services 1-715-387-1247 457 that witnesses or suspects you have no evidence that witnesses or suspects can become aware of the details of t} - because of the disclosures to Alberti and Cold Justice; correct? MS. DALE: Are you reading from a deposition? MR. SCHAUER: I was asking a question. Q. You have no evidence that witnesses or suspects have become aware of the details of these disclosures; right? A. No. Q. Correct, that you have none? A. I'm not aware of that. That's my issue that I don't know. Q. Okay. We will get back to that later too. This idea that you can discipline or charge a person for something that you don't know necessarily occurred is a problem throughout all of this and we will get back to that. I want to ask you to turn to Bate Stamp Page 5 of County Exhibit 1. It says Merkel's Reporting Services 1-715-387?1247 ALAN 458 there, "Sergeant Bowers had no authorization to release documents from this open, active murder investigation to the reality TV show, Cold Justice." Is that correct? A. Can you point out where you are reading from, sir. Q. Sorry wrong page. Bate Stamp Page 4, toward the bottom sub E. It says "Sergeant Bowers had no authorization to release documents from this open, active murder investigation file to the reality TV show Cold Justice." That's what you said; right? A. Yes, sir. Q. I'm now going to have you turn to Page 12 of that same document, 12 at the bottom. Procedure 100-3?1 states, and I'll ask you if I said this right. "All officers have the authority to release records not normally open to the public to any law enforcement agency in the scope of business with the exception of juveniles." Is that correct? A. Yes. Merkel's Reporting Services 1-715-387?1247 And you stand by that policy? A. Yes. Q. You also stand by the policy on Page 14 that defines what a juvenile record is. I ask you to turn to 14, Paragraph 2. It says, a juvenile record is a record that identifies a suspect of a criminal act and that suspect has not yet retained the age of 17 years, or a record that identifies a victim or going to strike that part and go onto the next question. All of the documents that Sergeant Bowers showed Cold Justice and Jaime Alberti including any references to juveniles would have been appropriate to share with other law enforcement departments; correct? A. Through proper channels, yes. Q. It doesn't say that. 100?3?1 says, "All officers have the authority to release records not normally open to the public to any law enforcement agency within the scope of official business." So there is no exception for having to check with the sheriff, having to check with the D.A., none of that is in your policy; is it, right Merkel's Reporting Services 1?715-387-1247 460 here? A. In the policy Q. in this policy? A. That he has to check with the sheriff, no. Q. That he has to check with the A. No. Q. You are aware that Sergeant Bowers and Steve Spingola as part of the Cold Justice team? A. Yes. Q. You were here when he gave his testimony the second day of the hearing; correct? A. Yes. Q. You are aware that he is not only retired from the Milwaukee Police Department but he's with the Village of Lannon Police Department; correct? A. Yes. Q. You are aware that the Village of Lannon Police Department is a law enforcement agency within the State of Wisconsin; correct? A. Yes, sir. I Merkel's Reporting Services 1?715-387-1247 you answered the question. There isn't a question in front of you. Are you familiar with the policy 200?1?38 cooperation of other public agencies? I'm going to ask you to turn to Bate Stamp 17 of Tab 1? A. Could you repeat the number, please. Q. Page 71? And the specific policy. Q. 200?1-38. That policy states and you can tell me if I read it wrong, please. "Employees shall cooperate with all law enforcement agencies, other city or county departments, and public service organizations and shall give aid and information as such organizations may be entitled to receive consistent with department orders and preferably with permission of a supervisor." Did I read that right? A. Yes, sir. Q. If Sergeant Bowers reasonably thought that giving this information to Steve Spingola and his team was cooperating Merkel's Reporting Services 1?715-387?1247 462 with another public agency that would mean all of the disclosures he made to them would fall under this paragraph; would it not? A. There is no legitimate reason for Lannon PD to need our records on a homicide case. I didn't even know Lannon PD existed before I found out he worked for them. Q. That response is for what it is. 200?1?38 doesn't demand permission from a supervisor, it just says it is preferable; correct? A. That's what it says, yes. Q. There was actually nothing wrong with Steve giving these files to the Cold Justice people just to look at and determine whether or not this might be another case they might be able to help with; isn't that right? A. No. Q. It's our impression that you are truly only angry about this because he didn't ask for your permission for Cold Justice to look at those documents; is that possible? A. I'm very concerned about the Merkel's Reporting Services 1-715-387-1247 463 possibility of these cases being compromised and Sergeant Bowers' lack of respect for the policies as they exist. Q. But if he thought he was following the policies, it would just simply be a mistake as opposed to something he did intentionally; isn't that correct? A. It would be a mistake, yes. Q. Yes, all right. Once more we think it's possible that the county had already given Cold Justice permission and authorization to review and copy these files. I'm going to ask you to turn to Tab 31 that's the Law Enforcement Location Agreement. It is Tab 31, Pages 290 to 292. This is a law enforcement location agreement that was signed by Larry Woebbeking with your blessing; correct? A. It is agreement with and Productions and it bears the signature of Larry Woebbeking. Q. Did you give him express permission to sign this document and the other documents subject to corporation counsel's review of it which was given; is that fair Merkel's Reporting Services 1-715-387-1247 say? A. Yes, sir. Q. All right. Here we go. First of all, the first paragraph of this describes what the location is that they are talking about it says, "Taylor County, Wisconsin is the owner of and/or controls all rights with respect to the property that is the subject of this agreement. Owner hereby gives permission to and Productions and its employees, agents, contractors, suppliers to enter upon and use the property located at 224 Second Street, Medford, Wisconsin. (Taylor County Sheriff's Department)." It describes the property as being the building that we are sitting in right now; right? A. Yes, sir. Q. It says, "The property shall include without limitation the grounds at such address and all buildings and rooms and other structures located thereon (including, but not limited to, balconies and patios), together with access to and egress from the property. Excluding the secured jail Merkel's Reporting Services 1-715-387-1247 465 facility." Did I read that accurately at the bottom of the first paragraph? A. I was trying to find where you are at. Q. The last sentence of the first paragraph describes what the property includes and it specifically excludes the jail facility per the note of Larry Woebbeking on there; correct? A. Correct. Q. He didn't exclude anything else other than the secured jail facility; correct? A. According to that, no, that's correct. Q. All right. Now I'm going to ask you to look at the bottom of Page 290 the last paragraph? A. Yes, sir. Q. "Owner acknowledges and agrees the producer has the right to photograph, film and record the property, and to broadcast, exhibit and otherwise exploit the photographs, film and recordings of the property and any and all furnishings, works Merkel's Reporting Services 1?715-387?1247 other objects located in and around the property." And then it continues from there. Did I read that right? A. Yes, sir. Q. located on the property; were they not? A. Yes. Q. Now let's go back to the Cold Justice team for a second. You approved the Cold Justice's teams ability to be here, review, disseminate and copy for purposes of the TV program everything with regard to the Monte case; correct? A. Yes. Q. All right. Do you really expect the committee to believe that they were not trustworthy enough to keep confidential the details in A. I'm saying I don't know. Q. All right you don't know, did you spend any amount of time with the Cold Justice team when they were here? A. No, sir. Q. If you had spent any amount of time Merkel's Reporting Services 1?715?387-1247 (JUN 467 with them, got to know them might your ability to trust them have changed if you had put in that time and effort? A. Trust them to tell them where I live, yes. Trust them to release these two case files, no. Q. You already trusted them with everything regarding the Monte file see that is the part that we don't understand, sir, how can they be trustworthy enough to give them an entire homicide file and not be trustworthy enough to even look at two other homicide files, how is that possible? A. Those cases were specifically different. Q. We're not talking about the cases being different we're talking about the people being the same? MS. GRAFF: I think you have to let him answer the question. MR. SCHAUER: You're right. A. The cases in my mind are different, one was a 19 year old case that there were no leads on. Merkel's Reporting Services 1?715?387?1247 honestly, I wasn't happy about this process from the beginning. Q. Well, we will get into that in a second. But none of that changes the trustworthiness of the people doing the review does it? A. No, sirback to the charging document and Page 3 which is actually Bate Stamp 4? MR. ZENNER: What exhibit? MR. SCHAUER: Exhibit 1. MR. ZENNER: Did you say Page 3? Q. Number 4 at the bottom, it says Page 3 at the top. Sorry about at that. You state at Paragraph towards the bottom of the page, "The county has no way of verifying that the information from the Dropbox shared folder was not printed out or otherwise disseminated by others." Do you stand by that statement? A. Yes, sir. Q. Did you or your investigation into this matter ever bother to ask the Cold Merkel's Reporting Services 1?715-387-1247 LON 469 Justice team whether any c0pies were made? A. Did Q. In investigating this matter, did you or Chief Deputy Woebbeking or anybody investigating the discipline against Steve, did you ever bother asking the Cold Justice team if any copies were made? A. The e-mail that I received from Christine O'Toole when she got the records back she sent me the message saying the records were back and she said no copies made. Q. And you trusted Christine's statements there; don't you? A. To the best of her knowledge, yes. Q. Isn't it true that the only way Steve could be held liable for disseminating that information is that the county could prove that the information did in fact get to the general public not just that the county couldn't verify that it didn't? A. I think you are asking me to answer a question that an attorney would answer. My job is to safeguard that to make an effort so that that doesn't happen. Merkel's Reporting Services 1?715?387?1247 I'm going to ask you to turn to Page 7 of the charging document Bate Stamp 7? A. Yes, sir. Q. Paragraph at the top you state, "On April 2, 2017, at 4:16 Sergeant Bowers accessed the Dropbox referenced above through his county owned and issued cell phone and deleted the Dropbox referenced above." Do you stand by that statement? A. Yes, sir. Q. That doesn't mean that all traces of disappeared off the face of the earth; correct? A. No, sir. Q. The file still exists in the county's computer server; correct? A. That's correct. Q. But you didn't say that in the charges; correct, why didn't you state in the charge all he did was delete the copy and the file was still intact in the computer? A. What this document says is that he went into Dropbox and deleted what was in Merkel's Reporting Services 1?715?387?1247 471 Dropbox for Q. Yes, but it gives the reader the impression he deleted the file. All right I'll go on. Your computer people easily did figure out what happened with this Dropbox file down to the minute; correct, because they were able to get it at 4:16 correct? A. Yes, sir. Q. Don't you think Steve knew that his action in that regard would be able to be figured out by the county if it ever came to it? A. I don't know what Steve thought. Q. Steve is an investigator and a detective with your department that deals with computers; does he not? A. Yes. Q. Steve is very computer savvy; isn't he? A. Yes, sir. Q. Do you really think that Steve could have possibly done that without knowing that his action in that would leave Merkel's Reporting Services 1-715-387-1247 (trace? A. I think Steve would know that there would be a trace. Q. Okay. At the same time you are accusing him of evidence tampering and hiding his actions in this regard. How is that fair to Steve if you are already admitting that he is doing things that would necessary leave traces? A. I don't know that Steve would believe that anybody else would know how to access that information after it was deleted. Q. I'll ask Steve whether or not he gives the IT department that much credit or not. MS. GRAFF: Then please ask your client on that and don't comment on it. MR. SCHAUER: I apologize. Fair point. Q. Instead of accusing him of tampering with evidence all he did is what you wanted him to do which is secure isn't that right? A. I thought we had secured what was Merkel's Reporting Services 1?715-387?1247 there. I didn't need him to do anything. I didn't want him to do anything. Q. Well, you never told him, don't touch your Dropbox once you found out there was a Dropbox; isn't that right? A. I did not. Q. Okay. Let's talk about the Mayer poem situation for a little bit. You testified that two other deputies were disciplined with regard to this poem was one disciplined for writing it and e-mailing it to people, the other one was disciplined for disseminating it outside of the department; is that fair to say? A. Yes, sir. Q. You haven't disciplined anyone else for simply not reporting it as soon as they read it; correct? A. I did not. Q. Anyone other than Steve? A. I did not. Q. According to the charges supervisors need to take action to stop workplace bullying? A. That's correct. Merkel's Reporting Services 1?715-387-1247 you really in your heart of heart think this e?mail constitutes bullying? A. It was serious enough that a employee called me on a Sunday to have me come to work because he was worried about it. Q. But these two employees, the person who wrote the poem and sent the poem, are friends are they not? A. They are or are not? They are friends; aren't they? A. I believe so. They are still friends right now; right? A. I believe so. Q. Didn't Kahan say in an e?mail that this was quote, "The funniest thing he ever read" or words to that effect? A. I never saw an e-mail or I don't believe I ever saw an e?mail that said that he told me he thought it was funny initially. Q. You never saw an e-mail to that effect though; correct? Merkel's Reporting Services 1-715-387-1247 Not that I recall. Q. Obviously, if you recalled it, it would be part of the investigative file; right? A. I believe it would be, yes, sir. Q. But Mayer said there was an e?mail to that effect; correct, in his testimony? A. I believe he did, yeah. Q. The poem was sent by Ken Mayer at 10:31 a.m. on Saturday, February 25th, does that sound about right? A. Yes. Q. Your e-mail responding to the situation was sent the next day on Sunday, February 26th, at around noon; isn't that right? A. Yes, sir. Q. Okay. Even if Sergeant Bowers had a responsibility to take action to stop workplace bullying and report instances of bullying when he sees them and even if this e-mail was considered bullying under the county's policies would he necessarily be required to report this less than 26 hours after this happened on a weekend? Merkel's Reporting Services 1?715?387-1247 think what the county expects of a supervisor is to take immediate action to stop whatever the issue is, that's why I sent that e-mail out just after noon. Q. So you took that action and once you took the action you took it would be fair to say to say that it would be more appropriately your situation to resolve than Steve's because Steve isn't a supervisor of Mayer; isn't that fair to say? A. I can see where that assumption would be made, yes, sir, after I had taken action. Q. Yeah, you took action so now if Steve can reasonably say the sheriff is on this I don't necessarily have to get involved; correct? A. Yes. Q. So your problem with Steve's none action here is over the course of 26 hours between a Saturday and Sunday; correct? A. Yes, sirfact accurate that Steve never read the e?mail until after your e-mail was sent he would not have had any Merkel's Reporting Services 1?715?387-1247 LON 477 responsibility in this matter at all; isn't that correct? A. If he hadn't read it at all? Q. If he hadn't read it in full? A. I guess it would depend on how much he read. Q. Let's talk about the e-mail where Sergeant Bowers sent you regarding reviewing records of the detectives while he was dealing with the Cold Justice case. I ask you to turn to Tab 62, please. You have 62 I'm going to ask you to turn to Page 518 and A. you said 62; right? Q. Yes. All right going to the top of 518 with regard to that whole situation you say in your e?mail to Chief Deputy Woebbeking, really did figure as much. I will get over it but it ticks me off. I think a reminder to follow direction and also that he does not upward delegate are in order." Is that correct? A. Yes, sir. Q. Could that have been done without formal discipline? Merkel's Reporting Services 1-715-387-1247 Could that have been done? Q. Yes. In another situation where this didn't happen at the same time as these other things, would you have said to Steve in writing or just even person to person, hey, I appreciate if you wouldn't upward delegate, this came off to me as upward delegating, would that have been a reasonable response by you? A. Yes, sir. Q. In fact, in the e?mail you said below that on that same page in the middle of that paragraph you do say, "Realistically I would have gone along with it and am okay I guess if you guys talked but it seems like the sergeant should have asked before assigning the chief deputy or in this case the sheriff." A. That's correct. Q. So this is something that it was very reasonable for him to ask you to do and you would have done if he would have asked appropriately but your investigation showed at least that he didn't ask? A. That's correct. Merkel's Reporting Services 1-715-387-1247 manwa You have to forgive me for asking but I have to ask this outright and give you an opportunity to respond. With the inclusion of his involvement or none involvement in the poem matter and your inclusion of this upward delegating thing that you basically admit wasn't a big deal, you said you would get over, informal charges in this situation seems like you are piling on in a way that you wouldn't do against another officer; is that correct? A. No. Q. It seems like to me like that would be something that you would do when you were looking to apply the rules unfairly and discriminatorily against Steve as opposed to other people. Do you deny that allegation? A. Yes, sir. Q. Sergeant Bowers never asked to be part of this Cold Justice situation; right? A. He worked that out or the chief deputy worked that out with him maybe I should say. He never asked me. Q. Is it fair to say that the chief deputy asked him to be part of it; isn't Merkel's Reporting Services 1-715?387-1247 480 that fair to say? A. You would have to ask the chief deputy that. They worked that out amongst themselves. I didn't have any part of that. Q. You have no evidence here to say that Sergeant Bowers wanted to be part of this Cold Justice situation; correct? A. No, sir. MS. GRAFF: It is correct or not correct? I want to make sure. THE WITNESS: I think he asked me if I had any evidence that Sergeant Bowers wanted to be involved and I said, no, sir. Q. It is your understanding that Chief Deputy Woebbeking asked him to take on this responsibility; correct? A. I would not deny that. Q. Bowers took on this responsibility with your permission; correct? A. Yes, sir. Q. He worked over 75 hours that week in dealing with this extra responsibility; did he not? A. I don't believe he did. Q. If his pay stub were to show that Merkel's Reporting Services 1-715?387?1247 worked over 75 hours that week and you guys paid that, that would be indicative that he did work that amount of time that week? A. If it showed that, yes, sir. Q. Did you ever tell Bowers about your hesitation to use Cold Justice for the Monte case? A. I doubt it. Q. You never gave Bowers the same information that you gave Woebbeking that you were hesitant to share a open homicide investigation with Cold Justice; correct? A. I don't believe I did. Q. You never gave Bowers any explicit order not to share any other open case file with Cold Justice investigators; correct? A. Specifically related, no. Q. I need an explicit answer on that. For the sake of the record I'm going to ask it again. You never gave Bowers any explicit order, written or verbal, to not share any other open case files with the Cold Justice team; correct? A. No, I did not. Merkel's Reporting Services 1?715-387?1247 Thank you. In drafting the charges did you list everything in here that you based your determination on as to the appropriate level of discipline? A. These are the reasons that I believe the action that I suggested is appropriate, yes. Q. Chapter 59 says that you have to review his entire employment record; correct? A. Yes, sir. Q. You stated on direct examination that you did review his entire employment history? A. Yes. Q. But you didn't include any of the positives of his employment record in the charging document; did you? A. No. Q. You didn't include any of Bowers' awards, commendations, thank you letters, no reference to those things whatsoever in the charging document? A. No, sir. Q. You and D.A. Tlusty talked a lot Merkel's Reporting Services 1?715-387?1247 (JUN 483 about potential civil liability because of these disclosures to Cold Justice and to Jaime Alberti; is that fair to say? A. Yes, we did talk about it. Q. Despite your alleged concerns the department or the county has not been sued by anyone because of Steve's disclosure to Alberti or Cold Justice investigators; correct? A. We have not to my knowledge. Q. You and D.A. Tlusty talked a lot about the possibility of criminal cases being compromised by these disclosures but no criminal has gone free, no criminal charge that would have otherwise been brought hasn't been brought because of these disclosures; right? A. Not to my knowledge. Q. Despite the fact that you had Steve Bowers criminally investigated by an outside law enforcement agency, he hasn't been charged with any crime; correct? A. N0. M8. GRAFF: That is correct or is not correct? Merkel's Reporting Services 1?715-387-1247 484 THE WITNESS: He has not been charged with a crime to my knowledge. Q. The department still has complete and absolute access to the TIME and system even after you told the agency that runs the TIME and system about your allegations regarding these disclosures; correct? A. Yes, sir. Q. I don't have anything else. REDIRECT EXAMINATION BY MS. DALE: I Q. I will followup on that last set of questions. To your knowledge has DCI or the attorney general's office closed its file on Sergeant Bowers, their investigation into Sergeant Bowers? A. No. Q. They have not closed their file? MR. SCHAUER: To the best of your knowledge? A. Not to the best of my knowledge. Q. Do you know if it is still an active investigation? A. I believe it is. Q. You said the county hasn't been Merkel's Reporting Services 1-715-387-1247 485 sued about a release to date? A. Yes. Q. Do you believe there is still a potential for civil liability? A. Yes. Q. Explain? A. I think that I don't know what time limits or anything like that but, yes, I believe that if somebody were to find out that their personal information was released that the county is potentially at least subject to liability from that. Q. You also testified that to date you don't know that the murder investigation files have been compromised, would you explain that further I think you were just asked to date, has there been any compromise but would you explain? A. I think that what I said was I believe it was compromised because it was sent to two entities that it shouldn't have been. I don't know whether it was sent on anywhere beyond that. You know, the potential for somebody that we haven't spoken to having made a copy of anything Merkel's Reporting Services 1?715?387?1247 486 that was in the Dropbox or somebody that had access to Dropbox could have made a copy or the hard copies that were made and made their way to Milwaukee I don't know. MR. SCHAUER: Object to the last question and answer as asking for speculation. I just want to note it for the record. MS. GRAFF: So noted. He didn't like the question but you need to answer. MR. SCHAUER: He answered it. Q. When you have a homicide investigation why do you keep the file confidential? A. Well, first of all, for all the reasons that was mentioned earlier and then there is also one of the most significant things is that many times we will withhold information so that when somebody like Mr. Spingola is doing an interview or another detective is doing an interview and somebody is going to confess the person involved in this crime scene would be privy to that information and it is something that some piece of evidence that has left the scene Merkel's Reporting Services 1?715-387?1247 487 that only that person would know what that is about. So we withhold some fact potentially or the fact of the case that only the guilty party would know and that way you can corroborate that confession with the information that you are being provided. Q. Counsel referred you to Exhibit 31, the law enforcement location agreement, and asked you whether the case files of the were objects located on the property? A. Yes, ma'am. Q. Are confidential personnel records objects located on the property? A. Yes. Q. Is locked evidence files objects on the property? A. Yes, ma'am. Q. Is every other open file an object on the property? A. Yes, ma'am. Q. This agreement deals with not photographing the furnishing, works of art, and other objects located around the property; correct, so these are the things Merkel's Reporting Services 1?715?387?1247 488 that they see? A. Yes, ma'am. Q. Just one last question. Back to Exhibit 1, Page 17 you were asked about policy 200-1?23 corporation of other agencies. It states, "Employee shall cooperate with other law enforcement agencies, other city or county departments, and public service organizations and shall give aid and information as such organization may be entitled to receive." Is the purpose of this policy to allow your law enforcement officer to cooperate with other law enforcement officers if they need assistance on a case that they are working on in their jurisdiction? A. I believe -- MR. SCHAUER: objection, leading. I know we have been leading each other around the block all day but she is literally telling him to put a reason behind a policy specific to what she said and I haven't done that with anybody and I don't think she should be able to either. If she could rephrase say what do you think the Merkel's Reporting Services 1?715?387?1247 489 purpose behind this policy MS. GRAFF: -- let's let her rephrase it not you. Okay. I agree with you why don't you rephrase. Q. What is the purpose behind the policy? A. It allows an employ to cooperate with another law enforcement agency for legitimate purposes. MS. DALE: I have no further questions. RECROSS EXAMINATION BY MR. SCHAUER: Q. I only have two questions on recross. You are talking about potential civil liability earlier. Wouldn't the plaintiff have to show there were damages in order for a suit that they would bring to be successful? MS. DALE: I think you are asking for a legal conclusion. MR. SCHAUER: He's the one saying there is potential liability, he opened the door to this. MS. GRAFF: If he has knowledge he Merkel's Reporting Services 1?715?387?1247 490 can answer if he knows. A. I would preface by saying I'm not an attorney, however, I believe the door has been opened for that. My understanding of this case related to one of the reasons that all of this redaction that I discussed I think yesterday when I testified was that an individual got a parking ticket and information that was on that ticket the officer that issued it received it from the TIME system and then put the parking ticket on the individual's windshield. That individual sued and won on the basis that his privacy had been violated. There was no complaint that anybody went by that I'm aware of went by and saw his name or date of birth or anything else on that ticket just that it had been left and somebody could have. Q. You don't have any evidence to lead you to believe that any of the Cold Justice people or Jaime Alberti released any of these files past themselves; correct? A. I don't know that. Q. You have no evidence to lead you to Merkel's Reporting Services 1?715?387?1247 (491 believe that Cold Justice actually did release any of the files or that Jaime Alberti released any of the files past themselves; correct? A. That's correct. MR. SCHAUER: Nothing further. MS. GRAFF: The committee does have a couple of questions so if we can take a minute to gather those. Just a couple questions. One of them is regarding Exhibit 14, which is at Page 94, Exhibit 14, Page 94. Do you recall this exhibit? THE WITNESS: I do. MS. GRAFF: The committee is wondering if other people were reprimanded as a result of this e?mail? THE WITNESS: No, this was a department reminder related to release of information. MS. GRAFF: And that was prompted by some event though? THE WITNESS: I'm sure it was. MS. GRAFF: And to your recollection no one else received Merkel's Reporting Services 1?715?387?1247 (492 discipline? THE WITNESS: That's correct. MS. GRAFF: Are jailers and dispatch workers sworn law enforcement workers? THE WITNESS: They are not. MS. GRAFF: You previously testified that you had reservations about engaging in the show Cold Justice why did you okay this in the first place if you had reservations? THE WITNESS: For all the reasons stated, it was an old case with-?it was a 19 year old case that there had been no further leads on. One of the considerations that came up was that potentially some significant people within the body of that investigation were getting old, some people had passed and there was a strong desire by the family to do that case and, ultimately, I just told the chief deputy that I would not-?that he needed to seek the approval of the prosecutor and ultimately corporation counsel and that I was not going to fight that happening. Merkel's Reporting Services 1?715?387-1247 (493 QUESTIONS BY MR. ZENNER: Q. Tab 1, Page 17 on 200?1-32 concerning public statements and appearances. Do you have any other policies besides that one or is that the whole you want me to read it or you can read it yourself? A. If you can tell me where you are at again? Q. Tab 1, Page 17 200?1?32. Is this the only thing you have on this on public statements and appearances? A. To the best of my knowledge as I sit here, yes. We get asked to do a lot of different types of appearances, radio station, Star News occasionally will ask for an interview for certain things, programs at the schools. It is common knowledge that it is expected no matter how trivial it is that an officer will check with me before that happens. Q. And I do have one more question concerning Sergeant Bowers' violations of the three over the course of his career. Would you still have recommended termination Merkel's Reporting Services 1?715-387?1247 \lmU494 based strictly on release of these two other murder cases? A. Can I ask for clarification. If you are asking me regardless of those other warnings if I was just relying on what is in this charging document would I have made the same recommendation is that what you are asking me? Q. Yes? A. My answer would be the same as I answered to Mr. Schauer earlier I don't feel like I would have had a choice. MS. GRAFF: We're done. Any followup. BY MR. SCHAUER: Q. Speaking of other people not being disciplined Christine O'Toole was not disciplined because of her involvement in the release of these documents; correct? A. No, other than beyond counseling. Q. And then to followup on one of questions over here. You were asked about your reservations with regard to Cold Justice people coming in and doing the Monte case, Merkel's Reporting Services 1?715-387?1247 COM 495 was there also a great upside to Cold Justice bringing its people and expertise and its resources to possibly solving the Monte case? A. That certainly is appealing, yes. Q. Wasn't that part of what weighed into your decision whether or not to allow Cold Justice to come in and deal with the Monte case? A. I would have to say it probably was a consideration for me, yes. Q. Didn't that same consideration apply with regard to cases and their families and the people related to the victims in that case that want justice? A. Under the right circumstances I would agree with you. MR. SCHAUER: Nothing further. Thank you questions. QUESTIONS BY MR. LEWIS: Q. Because Christine O'Toole was brought up I'm aware that she was an employee of less than three months at the time that this took place. Any other Merkel's Reporting Services 1-715-387?1247 496 employee that new in the employment that did what she did in the action of allowing a copy to go out of the office and have another person make copies, would that have resulted with any other employee with something more than counseling? A. Under the same circumstances where a supervisor came to them and told them to take a certain action, I don't believe I would have done anything differently. If they took that action on their own, I would have to look at those circumstances. Under the same circumstances, I believe I would deal with it the same way that I did. QUESTIONS BY MR. THUMS: Q. Sheriff, this disciplinary action that you counseled her on is that documented, like is it in her file, is the document in her file or face to face without documentation? A. It is documented in my report for this matter. There is not a copy of that in her file at this moment. REDIRECT BY MS. MS. DALE: Q. I have just one. Hope this doesn't Merkel's Reporting Services 1?715?387?1247 497 generate any more questions. MS. GRAFF: It does we'll take a break. Go ahead. Q. You were asked about Policy 200-1-32, public statements and appearances, okay, and if you had any other policies relating to that on Exhibit 13. Page 87 is that a related policy and maybe the question wasn't asked in that way? A. Page 87. That policy is a policy dealing with cooperation with the media and I clearly misspoke. MS. DALE: No further questions. RECROSS-EXAMINATION BY MR. SCHAUER: Q. It does bring up one. After hours of testimony, is it possible that a witness can misspeak and not intend to be untruthful? A. Is that possible? Q. Yes? A. Yes, sir. MR. SCHAUER: Nothing else. MS. GRAFF: Okay. Let's break. (Brief break taken). MS. GRAFF: Back on the record. Do Merkel's Reporting Services 1?715?387-1247 498 you have any more witnesses? MS. DALE: No. MS. GRAFF: Attorney Schauer, go ahead. MR. SCHAUER: Call Steven Bowers. STEVEN BOWERS, After having been first duly sworn to tell the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth, testified as follows: DIRECT EXAMINATION BY MR. SCHAUER: Q. Can you state and spell your name for the record? A. My name is Steve Bowers, B-O-W-E-R-S. Q. Is it all right if I call you Steve? A. Yes, sir. Q. Let's go through these charges section by section so the committee knows your side of the story in this matter. The charges are in Tab 1 in the big binder in front of you. The very first page Bate Stamp 2 under specific charges, Section A says, it Merkel's Reporting Services 1?715-387?1247 499 deals with unauthorized disclosure of open, active, murder investigation files, charges discuss Murder Case A and Murder Case B, which we know to be Can you tell the committee if there is a difference in Wisconsin between murder and homicide? A. Well, actually there is. There are several statutes. There are homicide statutes, which are broken down into intentional homicide, an act that you knew was going to kill somebody. There is also reckless homicide, an act you should have realized could have resulted in death. Wisconsin also has what is called a felony murder statute. Under that there is enumerated statutes and enumerated crimes that if in the commission of this crime somebody dies you are responsibile for. For instance, you rob a bank and one of the tellers dies of a heart attack, you could theoretically be charged with felony murder for that death even though that was never your intention. So there is a difference in Wisconsin at least between homicide and Merkel's Reporting Services 1-715-387-1247 500 murder. Q. Do you believe that there was a reason the sheriff used the term murder throughout the charges instead of homicide? MS. DALE: I'll object what relevance does that and have how can he speak for the sheriff. Q. Let me ask it this way. Is your opinion is the term "murder" scarier than homicide? A. Murder does seem scary, where homicide seems more like a clinical term. Q. Now let's talk about the gist of specific allegations. You are accused of releasing this information to the Cold Justice people. Did you give the Cold Justice team access to A. I did. I have admitted since day one when the sheriff sent an e?mail out asking about this that I did it. Q. Okay. So I'm going to ask you to turn to Tab 37 in the binder in front of you? A. Tab 37. Merkel's Reporting Services 1?715?387?1247 that the communications you were just talking about with regard to your taking responsibility for these disclosures? A. Yes, sir, it is. Q. All right. The e-mail from Sheriff Daniels was on February 27, 2017 at 5:06 when was your e?mail response? A. According to this printout it was on the same date at 6:57 p.m. Q. 80 less than two hours later you attempted to take full responsibility for this issue; correct? A. Yes, sir. Q. Did you in that e-mail, Exhibit 37, do you lay out your reasoning for what it is that you did? A. Yes, sir, I did. Q. And can you describe to the committee what your reasoning for making that disclosure was? A. Well, I mean, the sheriff I think his e?mail I have to look at it but I think I would like to hear your reasons, whoever sent this out, I would like to know what your reasons were so I said I did it and Merkel's Reporting Services 1-715-387-1247 502 here is why I did it. Q. Can you reference the e-mail and tell the committee what your reasoning was? A. It was said that we were working together as a team, I thought things were going well. I considered us a team??we are always looking for something that can get us over the hump. These two cases we're close. We need luck or maybe some outside I don't know technology to help us, we're just right there, and we're looking for something to help us over and I thought maybe this group of people and their resources is what we were looking for. Q. All right. One of things in your e?mail says, "In my eyes at the time, I saw it more sharing with another agency as opposed to a release of information." Can you expound upon that? A. Yes, sir, the way I Viewed in my eyes if I had taken this case file down to the Star News and threw it on their desk that would be a release of information. That's not what I was doing here. I was working with these people as a team, as a Merkel's Reporting Services 1-715?387-1247 503 fellow law enforcement professional and I'm allowed to in the course of my duty I'm able to share information with other law enforcement professionals. That in my mind at the time that's how I saw this. Q. And did the chief deputy assign these law enforcement professionals to you to work with? A. Yes, sir. Q. I'm going ask you to turn to Tab 1, Page 12. We have talked about this a little bit already but I want to address this specifically? MS. DALE: Which tab? MR. SCHAUER: Tab 1 in the big binder Bate Stamp 12. Q. Can you read for the committee Procedure A. "All officers have the authority to release records not normally open to the public to any other law enforcement agency within the scope of official business with the exception of incidents involving juveniles. (The juvenile officer has a separate area for juvenile files)." Merkel's Reporting Services 1?715-387-1247 AWN ChUNow with regard to anything in the either of them juvenile files? A. I did not. Q. Why not? A. Well, like it says right here, the juvenile officer has a special area for these juvenile files. I guess in my mind at least those are juveniles or suspects that committed crimes. Those files are stored separately in a filing cabinet in the juvenile officer's office. These cases, although a juvenile might have been mentioned, were not juvenile files they were not in Harlin Swartz's office. Q. And with regard to the sharing of that information with Cold Justice, did you think that this procedure applied? A. I did. Q. Do you believe that trying to solve these two cases, in this way was within the official scope of your business? A. It is. I'm the lead investigator on both of those cases. Merkel's Reporting Services 1?715-387-1247 Did you think that the Cold Justice people had expertise, authority, and resources to help you solve those cases? A. Yes, to all of those. Q. Were there people on the Cold Justice team that were in fact law enforcement officers? A. Yes. Q. Who specifically? A. Steve Spingola. Q. He's active law enforcement working with another Wisconsin law enforcement agency; correct? A. Yes, sir. Q. Let's go back to Tab 37 for a second. Putting aside the question whether Steve Spingola was law enforcement or whether his team or another law enforcement agency, did you still take responsibility for your action? A. Yes, sir, I did. Q. Referencing the e?mail how did you do that? A. Again, the first sentence says that the sheriff is correct, the information was Merkel's Reporting Services 1?715-387-1247 506 released to these people and I'm the one that did it. Q. Did you state in the e-mail that you said, "In hindsight I realize I should have run it by you first and I realize that I was wrong." A. I did. Q. All right. If you had asked the sheriff first in your opinion as a professional and experienced law enforcement officer, was there any reasonable reason why the sheriff shouldn't have let you share the Cold Justice at that point? A. My thinking at the time was and had he been around and I would have asked him that he would have said yes. Q. So did you ever hide the fact that you shared this information from the sheriff or from anyone? A. Absolutely not. Q. Let's go back to the charges, Page 3, actually Bate Stamp 4??sorry Bate Stamp 6. Section A, specifically Paragraph at the top of Bate Stamp 6 also discussed you Merkel's Reporting Services 1?715?387?1247 GUI 507 allowing Jaime Alberti unauthorized access to files containing confidential documents. First of all, did you give Jaime Alberti access to these documents? A. Yes, I did. Q. Have you ever denied giving her access to these documents? A. Absolutely not. Q. Why did you give her access? A. Because she has a particular skill set and knowledge base that I thought could assist me he in furthering my investigation. Q. Is the place where she is employed also part of your consideration whether to share this information with her? A. It is. Q. Where is she employed to your knowledge? A. She is employed currently at the Marathon County Corporation Counsel's office. Q. In her role in that job does she have access to official criminal justice business? A. She does. Merkel's Reporting Services 1?715?387?1247 Why did you give her this access? A. Again, like I said, she has a particular set of skills and experience that could really help me with moving forward with this case. Q. Was there a specific project that you wanted her to possibly accomplish that would help move to possibly being solved? A. There was. Q. Can you tell us about that? A. I think it's been eluded to before the Wisconsin Association of Homicide Investigators has what is called a cold case review team. They have some experienced officers, I think some might be active duty yet, some are retired, who sit down and look over your case and give you some investigative strategies and the sheriff had talked several times about wanting us to take this case to them to look at it. Q. Did the sheriff tell you that that was a good thing for you to work towards to work on? A. Both himself and through the chief Merkel's Reporting Services 1-715-387-1247 509 deputy several times we have talked about doing it. Q. Did you believe that Jaime Alberti had skills and expertise that could help you prepare that case for presentation to the Wisconsin Association of Homicide Investigators? A. I did. Q. Can you explain what it was that you intended for her to do with that file? A. Sure. It's a pretty daunting task what they want, they want like an hour and half or more power point presentation on the case. Our case files have no organization or system to find anything, there is no index in them. Literally, if I want to find a specific piece of information in a case file, I have to read through every report I have ever done and find it. There is no numbering system, there is no organization that could help me. She had two things that could help me. She had a spreadsheet she developed or got from someone where you could put in all the information to the case and then use key words to find the exact Merkel's Reporting Services 1?715-387-1247 (JUN 510 report you are looking at. So I knew that she had a skill set to organize our case file. Additionally, she has done these type of power points before both for the district attorney's office and the attorney general's office. She has worked in the D.A.'s office she knows what prosecutors look for and she is much more efficient at power point than I am. So I can have my knowledge in my head of what was going on with this case, she could get it organized and make this power point presentation and what used to be a daunting task seem a lot easier to accomplish. Q. So did she have skills in preparing homicide investigations for review? A. Not only does she have skills but she has received awards one of which was from the Wisconsin Association of Homicide Investigators for doing just that. Q. Because of all this, do you think it was appropriate to give her access as allowed under 100?3-1? A. Yes, I did. Merkel's Reporting Services 1?715-387-1247 just go through that entire discussion regarding your providing information to Jaime Alberti without referencing the fact that she was your girlfriend? A. Yes. Q. Did the fact that she was your girlfriend have any effect on your using her in this way for those reasons? A. Well, no, the fact that she is my girlfriend didn't play a part because if my girlfriend didn't have the skill set there is no way she could help me. It was the fact that she had this knowledge base and skill set is why I wanted to enlist her help. Q. If your girlfriend was a bartender at that point tap, would you get her anywhere near an active homicide investigation? A. Absolutely not. Q. I'm going to ask you to go to the charges Paragraph 8-2, which is on Bate Stamp Page 6? A. Yes, sir. Merkel's Reporting Services 1?715?387?1247 that in front of you? A. Yes. Q. Can you describe what this tampering with evidence charge is all about? A. Sure. I had Dropbox which has I think you all know by previous testimony Dropbox is cloud storage, it is my personal cloud storage that I personally pay for. I had mostly my personal stuff on it. I had a couple of work things that I thought I would need access to, maybe if I'm out at a scene or out at a different department. was one of those things. It was already electronic, all of my reports, pictures everything was on my computer so I had them in Dropbox so I could access them anywhere I was at. Q. Now let's ask a followup question on that first before we go any further. Is having a file like that on Dropbox the same as having a working copy of a file with you in your personal briefcase? A. Well, actually, yes, it is. vas back on our old paper system and our policy is if you need a working copy Merkel's Reporting Services 1?715?387?1247 the case file you are supposed to make a photocopy of it. You are not suppose to leave with the original case file. Well, that's just not practical first of all with It's a homicide investigation, it's huge. Secondly, really Dropbox is a 2017 version of making a photocopy of a case file. Instead of going to the copier and copying more paper, it was all scanned electronically and it would be on my phone. Q. And because of that you could access when you were doing work?related investigation places other than the department? A. Yes, sir. A. It did not. Q. At some point did you delete the copy of your personal Dropbox? A. I did. Q. Were you ever told by the county to Merkel's Reporting Services 1-715-387-1247 (AMP 514 not access or change the contents of your Dropbox? A. I was not. Q. What was your purpose for deleting the copy from your Dropbox? A. As I said, this is my personal Dropbox with my personal stuff on it. I have a lot of personal, personal stuff on and at this point I was no longer in control of it. I still had access through it through my phone, but I wasn't in control of it. I didn't know who was digging through my Dropbox. So I talked to my business agent, Rich Burghaus, and explained that this is my personal service that I paid for. The county has now changed the password, I don't know what they are doing with it, how do I go about getting control of it back. He said what we're going to have to do is separate personal and county stuff and you need to get any county reports off your Dropbox and then we will tell them we want access to this back. So that's what I did. I took of there. It didn't erase the file on the county it just Merkel's Reporting Services 1-715-387-1247 515 simply took it off my personal Dropbox. I was separating county and personal. Q. Before that were you given an explicit order from the sheriff to secure A. Well, specifically but get back any, whatever that e-mail said, I don't know what it said anymore but back at, I don't know what tab it was, but get back any information that has been given out. Q. Yeah, and you knew was one of the things that had been given out; right? A. Yes. Q. So was it reasonable then for you to delete the extra copy that you had of the A. Yes, sir. Q. Was it in anyway to tamper with their investigation? A. Absolutely not. Q. In doing so do you think you were following the sheriff's orders? A. I was following both what I thought Merkel's Reporting Services 1-715?387?1247 516 was the sheriff's orders and the direction of my business agent. MR. SCHAUER: Have you already stipulated to Respondent's 7 is it already in? MS. GRAFF: Yes. Q. I'm just going to have you refer these are the small binder Exhibit 7 what are those three documents just for the committee's sake? A. Exhibit 7, Page 2 is a screen shot of my phone showing my subscription to my Dropbox plan that I pay for. Number 3 is just I clicked on this first one on Page 2 and Page 3 comes up so I took a screen shot of that, and Page 4 is a screen shot of my online Visa card statement showing that I paid for Dropbox. That is under the iTunes thing it says, it is small and blurry, but it says $105.49 that would be the $99.99 plus 5 1/2 sales tax. Q. You said Pages actually Pages 1-3, it is a three page exhibit that is Exhibit 7; correct? Merkel's Reporting Services 1-715?387?1247 Yeah, I was just reading the numbers off the bottom of pages that I have here. Q. Good. The sheriff's office has also accused you of making false and/or misleading statements in a few instances. Let's go through those allegations one by one. Go back to the charging document, Tab 1 of the big binder and go to Paragraph 2-A of the charges, which is on Bate Stamp 7. Now this is all regarding the making of a correct? A. Yes. Q. They claim that you, "Stated that you did not download anything from Murder Case onto a CD and had no idea how the CD could have been created." Can you tell us what that is all about? A. During the investigatory interviews I had back in June, I believe we were going through all the documents and everything that the sheriff and the attorney had and there were four disks in this box. They referenced these four disks. They were Merkel's Reporting Services 1?715-387?1247 no518 going through them all and asking, what do you know about this, what is on here, here is a list of what is on here. I guess long story short whatever disk number we are referring to here that they say was made on that Saturday, they asked do you know anything about this. As I sit here today, I have no recollection of making that disk. I'm not saying I didn't do it and, clearly, if the disk came from my desk and it was dated that day I must have. I'm not saying I didn't do it, I'm not saying I did. I just don't have any recollection of going to my office that day and making this disk. Q. Is that what you attempted to testify to in your investigative interview? A. Yes, sir, it is. What is on this disk, where did it come from, I don't remember. I don't. Q. So you denied making that disk in the investigative interview was that a mistake or was that willful, intentional, untruthfulness during your investigative interview? A. It certainly wasn't willful Merkel's Reporting Services 1?715-387-1247 519 untruthfulness or a lie. It would make no sense for me to lie. I already admitted that I released this case file to people. This disk wasn't a smoking gun showing that I really did it after I had said I hadn't. I released information. I don't remember making this particular disk. I already showed it to them. Q. If the transcription of the interview is right and you said I know in response to the question was that a mistake on your part? A. Well, sure. Q. And I think you might have already said this but why would you never lie about that? A. For two things that's one of those lies that would make no sense to say because I already admitted I did it. Secondly, I've been to computer investigation classes before I was detective. I've been doing this for years. What the sheriff just found out during this investigation and the disk materialized I knew that. I know when you make a disk it is going to say this was Merkel's Reporting Services 1?715?387?1247 520 created on. It would be ludicrous to think that I could somehow get away with lying about this because nobody would figure out I did it. I know the forensics behind doing these investigation. Q. So, again, did you ever intend to say anything untruthful or improper during the investigative interview with regard to the A. No, sir. Q. Or with regard to anything else? A. No. Q. Is there any reason why you couldn't specifically remember making the CD with regard to the time that you are alleged to have made the A. You know before filming that week the production people said go home and apologize to your family you are not going to see them much for the next nine days. We are going to be running you ragged. We are doing what would normally take months to do in a few days. And I did I added it up, I don't know what the exact number is but I kept track of my hours. From that Friday Merkel's Reporting Services 1?715-387?1247 521 when filming started until the Saturday of the next week I put in like 75 hours. On top of that I organized and ran the SWAT breakfast. I had my kids that I had to juggle placement schedules with and go to their activities. I was really run ragged that week and I'm sure there is a lot of things that I don't remember. Making a disk, such a minor thing, and when I'm asked about it five months later I'm sure I don't know remember a lot of things I did that week. It was just a minor thing. Q. Was it reasonable for you to not remember making that? A. I believe so, I believe that would be a reasonable mistake to make. Q. Now let's talk about the security codes on the doors. What do you know about that whole situation with reference to Paragraph 2?8 on Bate Stamp 7 going onto Page 8? A. One night, I don't know if it was the first Friday night or Saturday, we got back me and "we" I mean myself and the Cold Justice crew. It was either Saturday or Merkel's Reporting Services 1-715-387?1247 boom 001 522 later at night on Friday so business hours were over and they were starting to carry their stuff in and I was still sitting trying to get stuff organized and I said to them, do you need me to go let guys in and they said, no, we have a code that was for the front door right down here, the main front door of the courthouse. They went up put the code in and went in. So I knew that they had been given access to the courthouse. I knew that Joe citizen can't come up here and ask for a code for some reason. So I know that they had been given access to the courthouse. As a matter of fact, I tried to get a state trooper a code for our building and they wouldn't give him one but Cold Justice got one. I also saw them in our secured area unescorted, which is a violation of our policy. Nobody is supposed to be in our secured area unescorted which is violation of our policy. No one is supposed to be in our secured administrative area without an escort unless they are another law Merkel's Reporting Services 1-715-387-1247 523 enforcement officer? Q. Had you let them in? A. I did not. Q. All right. Continue. A. I guess I made the assumption that since somebody gave them a code to get into the courthouse that somebody else gave them a code to get into our offices. I guess I wasn't, when I said they must have had a code, I guess my line there was showing these people have access that a citizen doesn't. I don't believe even any of the committee members have a code that are allowed to be in our office or down there unescorted. But by the sheriff's own admission in one of his reports he saw one of these Cold Justice people down there doing something by the copy machine and didn't do anything about it so that must have been implicit knowledge if they were down there doing this and a part of our team. Q. Did you ever give them a code to access to the department? A. No, sir, I did not. Merkel's Reporting Services 1?715-387?1247 Let's talk about Paragraph 2-C now, which is on Bate Stamp 8. The sheriff alleges that you committed untruthfulness or misleading when you said at the same time that, one, you do not have authority to enter into any contract with Cold Justice, and, two, that you signed the law enforcement appearance release form. Looking at County Exhibit 33, just quickly, is that the release that you signed? A. Yes, sir, it is. Q. Is that a contract or a release? A. It is a release. Q. Outside of the fact it says release and not contract at the top, how do you know that it's a release and not a contract? A. Well, I mean, again I'm not an attorney but any contract I ever signed had two signatures and each one of us was given something to the other one. When they gave to it me they said, "We need you to sign this so that we can show your face on Q. How do you think though there was nothing wrong with you signing the release? A. I know the chief deputy signed one Merkel's Reporting Services 1?715-387-1247 525 and was also present with me when I signed mine. Q. And does any of that change the fact that you do not have the right or authority to enter into a contract on behalf of the county? A. I don't have any authority to enter into any contract. Q. But you were given specific permission and authority to sign this release? A. Yes, sir. Q. I ask you to turn to Paragraph which is on Bate Stamp 8. In there the sheriff claims that you is, "Asserted that you did not know you had done anything wrong by your releasing information to Cold Justice." Is that true? A. When I released it to them I didn't think I was doing anything wrong. When the sheriff made an issue about it and asked who had done this I realized that I may have. Q. And at that point did you immediately admit to that? A. Yes, I did. Merkel's Reporting Services 1?715-387?1247 I'm going to ask you to look at 2-E which is also on Bate Stamp 8. The sheriff accuses you of denying that you did any verifications to make sure Cold Justice had returned everything that they had taken, but, "It is clear from the e?mail communication between Sergeant Bowers and the data records manager that he knew what documents had been released." Can you tell us what actually happened with regard to all of that? A. When I originally looked for the case file I couldn't find it. Q. At this point we're talking about correct? A. Yes, sir. Keep going? A. So, you know, I text Detective Swartz and asked him if he it knew where it may be stored and then I think I left a voice mail to Christine to hear when she came in Monday saying, see if you can find the case file for the Cold Justice people. She eventually told me she that she had found it and had given it to them and I Merkel's Reporting Services 1-715-387-1247 527 don't know what she found and I don't know what she gave to them. Q. I'm going to ask you to turn to Tab 39 in the big binder. At this point the sheriff had already found out that the had been released to Cold Justice; right? A. Yes, sir. Q. And at this point it was clear that the sheriff made an order to get all that stuff back and did you follow that order? A. Yes, sir, I did. Q. And is what you just described in addition to this e-mail your attempt to follow the sheriff's order? A. Yes. Q. All right. I'm going to read from 39. The e?mail from you says, "Christine, the film company will be returning those case records this morning. I will be out of town. Please let the sheriff know when you have the stuff back." Is that the e?mail? A. Yes, sir, it is. Q. Where were you going out of town? A. We were still working with Cold Merkel's Reporting Services 1?715?387?1247 DOOM 030528 Justice and I don't know I would have to look to see exactly where we were going but we were going to do interviews somewhere. Q. So you were still actively working on the Cold Justice case that you were assigned to as this was going on? A. Yes, I was. Q. So is that why you delegated Christine asking her to let the sheriff know when she received the records back from the Cold Justice people? A. Yes, she would be around to get them and she would know what was coming back and when that was done I wanted the sheriff notified that that had been complied with. Q. And did she acknowledge your e-mail and did she respond positively to your e-mail according to the e?mail on Page 39? A. Yes, she didproblem doing that would she have the ability to object to her being responsible for receiving that back from Cold Justice at that point? A. Yes. Q. Per another exhibit, which I won't Merkel's Reporting Services 1-715-387-1247 529 have you turn to, was it clear that Christine thought that she received back everything she had given Cold Justice with regard to A. Yes. Q. Let's now turn to Section of the charges where you are accused of abuse of authority regarding Facebook issue. We already stipulated that is now considered a written warning except from the disciplinary charges here. So let's talk about 2-C. is on Bate Stamp 9, is that in front of you? A. Yes, sir, it is. Q. In Paragraph 2-C of the charges you are being accused of either abuse of authority or failure to properly carry out supervisory duties for not asking the sheriff first before e-mail subordinates and directing them to send their reports to the sheriff for approval while you would be working on the Cold Justice case. First of all, how many subordinates are we talking about here? A. I think we should make a Merkel's Reporting Services 1?715-387-1247 LON 530 distinction between all the reports and the ones I'm responsible for. Any supervisor review and approve any road officer's reports. Only myself, the chief deputy and the sheriff can approve the detective reports. So there are two detectives that we are talking about. Q. So two detectives not the reports from the whole department that you were sending to the sheriff's desk without asking him? A. Yes. Q. Can you tell us about your thinking here and your discussion with Chief Deputy Woebbeking before you made the e-mail to the subordinates? A. Yes. If I'm going to be gone for a day or vacation or out of town for work, I don't make any arrangements the report can sit there for a day. If I'm going to be gone for an extended period of time, vacation, whatever, I have the detectives send their stuff to the chief deputy because it can't just sit around for a week or two, it will build up and some of these cases are Merkel's Reporting Services 1?715?387?1247 531 time sensitive, kind of standard operating procedure, he knows it, it just happens. There have been a couple of occasions the one I can remember was Sturgis 2014 the chief deputy and I were both going to be gone and so we asked the sheriff to do that. I was going to be gone and we asked the sheriff to do that and that includes both assignments to detectives and new cases that come in and review of their reports. 80 this isn't some big out of the ordinary thing that hasn't happened before. Leading up to getting ready for the Cold Justice filming there was a lot of work going on, we were trying to get caught up on stuff, trying to get stuff prepared and I remember the chief deputy and I had a conversation about this. My take away from that conversation was he was reminding me to make the arrangements to make sure the detective reports got to the sheriff. If Larry says he told me to ask the sheriff first I'm not going to deny that. My recollection is the context of that conversation was a reminder to me to make Merkel's Reporting Services 1-715?387-1247 532 sure it happened so sent an e-mail out to the two detectives, copied the sheriff in, said from this date to this date send your reports to the sheriff for review and then the next day I found out that the sheriff was upset because I hadn't asked him. I went in and told him, again, my mistake I assumed that I was just given the detectives a reminder to do this. I didn't mean to come in her and upward delegate this to you, I'm sorry, that wasn't my intention. I was reminding the detectives that this needed to be done. He told me it wasn't a big deal he figured something like that happened and we went on with life. Q. Do you believe that that was a miscommunication not an abuse of authority or any failure to properly carry out supervisory responsibilities? A. That's exactly what it was. Q. A miscommunication? A. Yes, sir. Q. Finally with regard to Paragraph 3-C regarding the Kevin Mayer poem. As background does Jailer Mayer answer to you Merkel's Reporting Services 1?715-387-1247 LONH 533 directly? A. No, sir. Q. What did Jailer Mayer do in this situation? A. He sent out what could only be described as an unprofessional and inappropriate e?mail to a group of his friends and included me in on it later. Q. Now describe your contact with this e?mail and what you did about it? A. It was on Saturday and I can remember I was in what is the old D.A.'s office when with break between some interviews and filming. As background a lot was going on that day, that was the day that we needed all the prep for the SWAT team breakfast, plus I was doing all this Cold Justice stuff, I had a lot going on and on breaks I was just checking my phone quick. I was dividing stuff into three groups, things that obviously garbage, things that are important and I need to take care of now and things I can take care of later. Kevin was supposed to do the shopping Merkel's Reporting Services 1-715-387-1247 .534 for the SWAT breakfast for me that night and he's kind of flighty and I can remember he was half joking around with me, he said, "You want me to go shopping at 6:00 and I'm done work at 2:30 I might be drinking too much by then." That kind of thing. So I got this e-mail from him and the title was something about SWAT breakfast, and this was maybe 2:30ish in the afternoon when I got it and the first thing that came to mind is he's backing out on me to go shopping I'm going to have to make some other arrangements. So I pop open the e-mail and I read the first two lines and it is something like Dave Kahan gets in his car and speeds to the fire hall for the breakfast and I'm sorry but I can still remember the thought that went through my mind right then, "Fucking, Mayer, I ain't got time for this shit." I closed out of that e?mail and went onto something else. And that was the last I even thought about that because I realized that he wasn't backing out on shopping for me and that was one of those e?mails I could Merkel's Reporting Services 1-715-387-1247 535 take care later and I went back to work. So that is the first contact I had with that e?mail. Q. So it's your testimony that you did not read that e?mail past the first line at that point? A. First one or two lines of that e?mail is as far as I went. Q. At that point did you have a sense at all that that poem was at all condescending toward Dave Kahan or could possibly constitute bullying under the county policies? A. No, sir. Q. So you immediately forgot about that and thought about the other things you had to do that day; is that correct? A. Yes, sir. Q. All right. Why don't you tell us what happened next? A. Well, there was nothing involving that e?mail for the rest of the day. I finished out my day here, I went down to the fire hall and did the set up and prep for that and then afterwards I had a couple of Merkel's Reporting Services 1?715?387?1247 536 the SWAT team members over to my house for a couple of drinks to get ready for the SWAT breakfast. Q. When you had those couple of people over was Mayer one of those people? A. Yes, sir, he was. Q. Can you it tell me who else was there to your recollection? A. Yeah it would have been Sergeant Tony Schuett, and his wife Nikki and their small child, Corey Dassow, Cody Chad Mayer, Jaime and I. Q. At that point do you remember when Mayer came to your house that night? A. Yes, sir. Q. Do you remember if he had already had anything to drink through his demeanor when he arrived? A. Yeah, he had been drinking already. Q. And did you see him drink multiple drinks at your place? A. He had several more beers at my house. Q. And during any of the conversations Merkel's Reporting Services 1?715?387?1247 (JUN 537 you had with Mayer or anybody else, did you discuss that poem with Mayer at the time? A. I did not discuss it with him or anyone else. Q. So if Mayer according to-?you heard Mayer's testimony from day one; correct? A. I did. Q. So if Mayer says to you that he told you that that message was ballsy is he mistaken? A. He is. Q. During the investigative interview from the charges Paragraph on Bate Stamp 10. It says, "During Sergeant Bowers' investigatory interview Bowers' was asked if he recalled telling Correctional Officer Mayer his message was ballsy." He responded, don't think it was ballsy. I think it was stupid." Was that responsive to her question? A. I guess not really, no. Q. Can you be responsive to her question and answer the specific question, do you recall Correctional Officer Mayer saying that his message was ballsy? Merkel's Reporting Services 1?715?387?1247 DJN not recall saying that to him ever. Q. Did you ever say that to him? A. No. Q. When was the first time you became aware that the e-mail was an improper e?mail communication. A. Towards the end of the SWAT breakfast. Q. When was the SWAT breakfast? A. SWAT breakfast was on Sunday 7:30 to 12:30 or something like that. Q. So to be clear the conversation you were talking about earlier at your house was Saturday night; correct? A. The get together was Saturday night. The SWAT breakfast was on Sunday? Yes. 10 11> 10 Continue? A. So near the end of the SWAT breakfast we're doing clean up and at sheriff sent out an e?mail that is in here saying, remember county e?mails are professional business. And the guys, which Merkel's Reporting Services 1?715-387-1247 539 ever SWAT team members were working were kind of gathered at that point out by the desk where you pay when you come in and I was in the main area doing something and this e-mail came out and there was some discussion going on over there and Jaime came up to me and asked me if I knew what was going on. She gave me my phone I didn't have my phone with me for some reason I think I left it in my coat and so I read the sheriff's e?mail then. It was like I said it was close to 12:30 and it said, you know, use e?mail for profession purposes then it dawned on me this is whatever Mayer did and so I went back and read it though and you got to be kidding me, I couldn't believe he sent that out. Q. Okay. So did you have any opportunity to take any corrective action with Mayer with regard to his e?mail? A. I did not. Q. If you had read the entire e-mail and saw Mayer later that day would you have taken corrective action with Mayer? A. Well, I would have or if we have to Merkel's Reporting Services 1?715?387?1247 540 make any other corrections with them we as the patrol function sergeants are supposed to forward those complaints to the jail sergeants and let the jail sergeant address it. So I would have notified one of them that this was going on or if I thought it needed to be dealt with right this second I would have said something. Q. So in any of your dealings with this poem, do you believe you were amiss with your supervisory authority or your supervisory responsibility to the department? A. I do not. Q. Do you stand by your statement that you don't think it was ballsy, you think it was stupid with reference to the e?mail? A. Absolutely, I can't believe he did it. Q. One more second I just want to go over my notes. MS. GRAFF: That's fine. Take your time. Q. They have already been brought into the record but I'm going to put your Merkel's Reporting Services 1-715-387?1247 541 reference to Tabs 11 through 30 in the small binder 11 through 29 in the small binder. What are 11 through 29, generally speaking, without going one by one? A. Exhibits 11 through 29 are just copies of commendations and thank you letters I've received that have been in the personnel file. Q. And can you tell us what Tab document that has Chief Deputy Woebbeking's name on the bottom of it. It is entitled, Recommendation for Detective Sergeant Position. Q. Are 11 through 30 part of your personnel file and part of your record of service to the department? MS. DALE: And stipulated to. Q. Considering that record of service to the department do you believe there is anything you did here that is worthy of your termination? A. I do not. Q. What was the overarching goal with regard to everything you did with regard to release of documents to either Cold Justice Merkel's Reporting Services 1-715?387?1247 Jaime Alberti? A. The only thing that I wanted to accomplish was to solve those cases, get some closure for the family and justice for the victim. All I wanted was some help with these cases. Q. Did you knowledgeably and intentionally Violate any procedural issues with regard to the release of that information? A. I did not believe I was. Q. Thank you, nothing further. MS. DALE: Can we take a brief break? MS. GRAFF: Yes. (Lunch break taken). MR. ZENNER: Back in session. BY MS. DALE: Q. So when we recessed Attorney Schauer had just finished asking you some questions and now it's time for me to ask you a few. MR. SCHAUER: Mindy, my last name is Schauer and you keep saying Schauer for going forward. Thank you. Sorry. Merkel's Reporting Services 1-715-387?1247 What is a dissemination log? A. A dissemination log would be a log kept showing where paperwork went. Q. When you released the documents from Cold Justice, when you released the case file documents to Cold Justice and Jaime Alberti, did you create a dissemination log for those transmittals? A. No, I didn't. Q. Did you notify any of the other counties or agencies that supplied you information that you were releasing information from those files to Cold Justice and Jaime Alberti? A. No, I didn't. Q. .10-). Q. Were you aware they were involved in that case? A. Merkel's Reporting Services 1-715?387?1247 book) ($And when was the last time that Jaime Alberti and DCI were present to have this discussion on the file? A. You know I can't even begin to estimate the date. I remember the meeting. I remember us being in the conference room downstairs but I couldn't even estimate it. Q. Within the past two years? A. Boy, time goes fast probably within the last two years. Q. Was it within the last year? A. Again, I don't know. I can't answer that question. Q. A. It hasn't been reassigned to him. He's done work on it. Q. When is the last time you followed up on anything on that case? Q. Have you ever been denied travel to Merkel's Reporting Services 1?715?387?1247 545 another city to conduct an investigatory interview? A. No, I have not. Q. Have you ever been denied the opportunity to have any additional forensic evidence done on any open homicide case? A. No, I haven't. Q. When you were given the Law Enforcement and Transfer Release form to sign did you read it? A. In it's entirety, no, I not. Q. Did you read any portion of it? A. Just the top part that said it was a release and they explained to Larry and I that it was a release that needed to be signed so they didn?t have to blur our faces out on the TV. Q. Did you keep a copy for yourself? A. I did not. Q. During your testimony today you said during the investigatory interview you had no recollection of making a disk related 7 is that correct? A. It is. Q. To this day, do you have any Merkel's Reporting Services 1?715?387?1247 AWN 546 recollection of making that disk? A. I do not. Q. If you had made that disk on Saturday, the day you were looking for the file, you would have had to go downstairs to your office; correct? A. Yes. Q. Log into your computer and make it in your office? A. I don't know that I would have had to log into my computer usually it's unlocked but I would have made it in my office. Q. And when you were working with Cold Justice on that Saturday you were either on the third floor up here or traveling; correct? A. Or downstairs looking for the Actually downstairs on the ground floor and the storage room off the first floor by dispatch. Q. But again you have no recollection of creating a file on a disk and giving it to the Cold Justice staff that day? A. That's right. As I sit here today, Merkel's Reporting Services 1?715-387-1247 (JUN not remember making any disk. Q. But you remember reading two lines of an e?mail that Kevin Mayer sent? MR. SCHAUER: Objection, argumentative. Q. You remember this and not that. I can ask for that clarification and I did not object at all to MR. SCHAUER: I'll withdraw the objection. A. To answer the question, yes, I remember the e-mail. Q. I want to turn your attention to Exhibit 36. During your investigatory interview you were asked, and this is on Page 63: "Question: Did you do any verifications to make sure that they'd returned everything that they took? Answer: No. I guess I'd like to say that Christine would be better able to know if everything came back because I don't know what they were given. Question: So you expected Christine to monitor what they took and what Merkel's Reporting Services 1-715-387?1247 548 they didn't from the file? Answer: I didn't even know if the file got found. But, yeah, I said, if you find it, give it to them. And then when it came back, I -- or when it was supposed to come back, I said or when we got it all back she knew what she gave them, she should know what came back give it to the sheriff and let me know when it's done." Looking at Exhibit 36, the second page, start at the bottom of the e-mail, Christine sent you an e?mail communication indicating that she had in fact found the case files; correct? A. It says, I found the case files, yes. Q. And she said she found them in the cabinet from the right bottom two drawers and you responded, saw those drawers but didn't find the actual case files, binders of reports and stuff." She indicated in her e-mail that she had given them the information from the drawers that you had been looking at; correct? A. Okay, you lost me. Merkel's Reporting Services 1?715-387?1247 Bottom e-mail said that, "When you walk in the door, proceed straight ahead, third cabinet from the right, bottom two drawers. Also have a significant amount of documentation on my drive." You say, saw those drawers but didn't find the actual case file. Binders of reports and stuff. Okay will look again." She responds at the top, checked with Betty she said everything was placed in the first floor file room. Those are the documents I shared with Brendan today. I double checked the ground floor file room, nothing additional found." So the drawers that you were looking for contained the information that she gave them? A. I don't know. She is talking about two different file rooms here. She is talking about the first floor file room which is the one by dispatch. She is talking about the ground floor file room, which is off the lobby by the sheriff's department. I don't know what she gave them or where she got it from. She is telling me they were in some drawers in the upstairs Merkel's Reporting Services 1?715-387-1247 (JON 550 first floor storage room. I said I looked in those drawers I don't see the case file. I don't know what she gave them. Q. Did you see these two boxes in those drawers? A. I think I may have seen the big one, which ever one of these has on top of a file cabinet somewhere, VLIU UVVU - Q. But she did indicate she found the files? A. She said that she found some files, yes. Q. Now if you created a disk on Saturday and gave it to Cold Justice she would not have any knowledge of that; correct? A. Well, there is nothing indicating that I told her I would have made a disk. Q. She would not have been able to verify that it had been returned if she didn't know that had been given; correct? A. Okay. Merkel's Reporting Services 1?715?387?1247 You indicated during your direct examination that you believe the transcript was wrong in regards to you stating: "Question: Would you have downloaded everything from Answer: I -- no." Did you review your investigatory transcript? A. Parts of it have, yes. Q. You did not review the whole thing? A. No, I did not. MS. DALE: I have no further questions. REDIRECT EXAMINATION BY MR. SCHAUER: Q. Was the investigative interview that you did about this months after the event in February when the events occurred? A. Yes, it was. I believe the investigative interview was in June so like four months later. Q. And whether the transcriptionist made a typo or you actually said, I no, in either way did you intend to overtly deny making the Merkel's Reporting Services 1?715-387-1247 No. MR. SCHAUER: Nothing further. QUESTIONS BY MR. LEWIS: Q. Sergeant Bowers, the Saturday before the SWAT team breakfast you had a gathering at your home? A. I did. Q. And you stated that Kevin Mayer showed up there? A. He did. Q. And can you tell me what time he arrived and what time he left about? A. About I think we set up down at the fire hall for 6:00 so maybe shortly after 7:00 we would have gotten to my house and he was the first person to leave the party actually, the get together. So he was gone by 8:00. Q. And then you just assumed he wasn't home? A. Yeah, I don't know where he went, he left. Q. Now I want to take you to something because a lot has been made of policy and procedure. So if you would turn to in Merkel's Reporting Services 1?715?387?1247 553 Exhibit 1 to the coded Page 14, Page 3 on the numeral? A. Yes, sir. Q. And 100-3-4, juvenile records, Paragraph 2 and I want the committee to hear this so I'm going to read it and then ask the question. juvenile record is a record that identifies a suspect of a criminal act and that suspect has not yet attained the age of 17 years, or a record that identifies a victim or witness who has not yet attained the age of 18. Additionally, a juvenile record may include that portion of an adult report that identifies a juvenile as a witness, victim or co?suspect." My question there is, what does that paragraph mean to you? A. Well, first of all, Mr. Lewis, if we determine that these people that I gave these records to are law enforcement partners, criminal justice partners, they are able to have these juvenile records. To use my example before if I was going to go down and slap the case file on the desk of the Star News they are not Merkel's Reporting Services 1?715-387-1247 .554 entitled to juvenile records. And like I said, our juvenile records are in Harlan's office. Many of our cases that we have a juvenile if we want to use juvenile witness. There are juveniles named in the report. That doesn't necessarily make it a juvenile record. At least that is my view on this policy and how we operate with juvenile records. Q. That's all you got on that? A. I believe so. Clearly, none of suspects in this were juveniles. It was I believe other than the victim's children there was one other juvenile named who had to be with his grandfather at some point during the investigation. Q. Thank you. A. Yes, sir. QUESTIONS BY MR. THUMS: Q. I just have one. If you can't remember making the disk do you remember giving them a disk to make? A. No, they wouldn't have been able to?-I would have never given them access to Merkel's Reporting Services 1-715-387?1247 uwa office to make a disk. I never would have said sit down at my computer and have at it and do what you want. So that never happened. I can say with certainty I would never would have allowed someone to sit at my desk and be on my computer and do something. Q. Did you give them a disk to do it someplace else? A. I don't remember giving them a disk either blank or with information. MS. DALE: This has prompted a couple more questions for me and one exhibit that I was going to offer through this witness. MR. SCHAUER: No objection. RECROSS EXAMINATION BY MS. DALE: Q. The question that I have is you said was that Kevin Mayer was one of the first to leave? A. Yes, ma'am. Q. Did he drive home? A. I assume he did. I didn't see. He walked upstairs and was gone from my house. Q. If he had been openly intoxicated, Merkel's Reporting Services 1?715-387-1247 556 would you have allowed him to drive home? A. I mean, if he would have fallen off my bar stool and tripped up the stairs leaving my house, no, I would not. Q. Do you have any supervisory responsibility over the SWAT team members? A. I do. MR. THUMS: What did you say? MS. GRAFF: Speak up. Q. Do you have any supervisory responsibilities for the SWAT team and your reply? A. Yes, I do. Q. And was Kevin Mayer a member of the SWAT team? A. He's one of my negotiators. Q. And was the e?mail that we have talked about sent to members of the SWAT team? A. Select members of the SWAT team, yes. Q. I'm not going to dig it out the exact phrase but somewhere in the documents you had mentioned that it had been going on for a year this type of communication. At Merkel's Reporting Services 1?715?387?1247 557 any point did you ever have a communication with him telling him to stop sending these type of communications? A. A lot of times I did, yes. Q. Okay. I'm going to show you what we have jointly marked as Joint Exhibit 65? You have been giving some testimony about the amount of time you had spent with Cold Justice and working the week that they arrived and the week that they were here. Having looked at this exhibit is this a document that summarizes the information off the Spillman system that shows when you signed onto work and when you signed off for the day? A. This is a printout from Spillman, yesexplanation in the far right corner there is an initial TCH and that would indicate when you touch the system to log on; correct? A. Well, not exactly, I mean, touch is not when I touch the system. There is Spillman mobile, there is Spillman touch, which is my cell phone, and then there is Merkel's Reporting Services 1-715-387-1247 (JON 558 dispatch. What that means is I used my cell phone or an iPad to sign on. Q. Now if there is not a TCH that would have been an entry made by dispatch when they assumed that you ended but you may not have actually ended your work day; is that correct? A. Yes. Q. Now this record and, unfortunately, it's in reserve chronological order, the bottom starts on 2/21 that would have been a Tuesday? A. Yes. Q. That Monday you did not work, correct, the way I get to that is that on Exhibit 61, Page 1, this was the Facebook incident that Facebook incident occurred on Sunday the 19th and you sent an e?mail communication that night indicating you would not be working the next day which is why you were sending the communication? A. Yeah, that sounds right. I believe that was a holiday that would have been one of the holidays that we have. Q. Now I'm walking through this on Merkel's Reporting Services 1?715-387?1247 559 Tuesday the let you worked from 8:00 to 4:10? A Yes. Which is about 8 hours, 10 minutes? A. Yes. The next day you worked from 8:00 to 5:10? A. Yes. Q. Which would be nine hours; is that correct? A. Yes. Q. The next day on Thursday, the 23rd, you worked from 8:00 to 4:00 so that's eight hours? A. Yes. Q. The next day on Thursday the 24th you started at 7:30 and worked until almost 7:00 that night; correct? A. Correct. Q. And that was the first day of the filming? A. The 24th was the first day of filming, yes. Q. And after that first day of filming did you go out and socialize with any of the Merkel's Reporting Services 1?715-387-1247 560 members from Cold Justice? A. At some point we did, yes. Q. Do you remember sitting in your investigatory interview that you went to the Brass Rail on that Friday night after they arrived? A. I know we went out with them one night. It was one of the first??well, it couldn't have been Saturday because that was the SWAT team deal so it had to have been Friday. Q. So then on Saturday the 25th you worked at 7:45 until 5:10? A. Okay. Q. And you are paid for lunches; A. Yes, ma'am. Q. Did you take a lunch break during Saturday's filming? A. I'm sure they either catered in food here everyday for us or if we were somewhere far away we stopped at an eating establishment. Q. So you worked 9 1/2 hours that day? A. Yes, ma'am. Merkel's Reporting Services 1?715-387?1247 And that was the night you had the get together at your home that we have talked about that Kevin Mayer attended? A. Yes. Q. And then the rest of the week filming is indicated and I'm not going to go through each one but that kind of leads you up through that time period; correct? A. Yes. MS. DALE: I have no further questions on this exhibit and I believe we stipulated. MR. SCHAUER: We have no objection to the exhibit. MS. GRAFF: Received. We had one more question I believe this is for you. Do you know of any other officers or deputies who utilize Dropbox for official documents? THE WITNESS: I know there are other officers that have Dropbox. I don't have any knowledge of what they store on it. Can I rephrase that. I'm just thinking here I think maybe and I'm just trying to remember I don't know if it got sent from Merkel's Reporting Services 1?715-387?1247 .mwN 562 Larry or me but at one point we needed some ballistic test results. There was a deal downstairs with the officers about what ammunition we used and we needed this ballistics report that Marathon County had done and it was a huge file. And Chad Bill, the chief deputy over in Marathon County, sent us that file. And I believe he wanted to do it on Dropbox because it was so big he couldn't e-mail it. Now I don't know if it got sent to Larry's or mine so we were getting that document on one of our Dropbox. Q. So you're aware that Larry has Dropbox? A. Larry does. Q. But you don't know if he keeps just official work on it? A. No. REDIRECT BY MR. SCHAUER: Q. One question to followup and that will be it. Does the Cold Justice team have access to forensic capabilities and additional resources that the Taylor County Sheriff's Department doesn't have access to? Merkel's Reporting Services 1-715-387-1247 (Well, I mean, you guys know money is an issue. Money shouldn't be the deciding fact in what we do but money is an issue. In this particular case, we had DNA testing done within a two?day turn around in a place in California. I can't imagine what that cost, it must have been phenomenal. Q. 80 taking that as an example, is that something that would have ever gotten done that quickly without the help of the Cold Justice team? A. You know like I answered before I've never been turned down for anything but the cost of that had to be so financially high I can't imagine that we could have gotten that in our budget. I realize it is a homicide but, boy, that had to have been big. BY MS. DALE: Q. Prompts a followup question. If it hadn't been on a eight day deadline to get the program filmed, would you have needed a two day turn around on DNA evidence? A. In this particular case, no, Merkel's Reporting Services 1?715?387?1247 (JON 564 because it's a cold case, I mean, some time to wait. There is a difference though between a two day or a short turnaround and what we get from crime lab. MS. DALE: No further questions. MR. SCHAUER: No further questions. MS. GRAFF: You're excused. Next witness. MR. SCHAUER: We're going to call Jaime Alberti. Can we have a minute or to off the record? MS. GRAFF: Off the record. (Brief break taken). MS. GRAFF: Whenever you are ready to proceed. MR. SCHAUER: Call Jaime Alberti. JAIME ALBERTI, After having been first duly sworn to tell the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth, testified as follows: DIRECT EXAMINATION BY MR. SCHAUER: Q. Can you state and spell your full name for the record? A. My name is Jaime Alberti, Merkel's Reporting Services 1?715-387?1247 Have you also gone by Ms. Henrichs? A. Correctturn to in the small binder Respondent's Exhibit 3, please? A. This is my curriculum vitae which lays out my education, work history, involvement history, and awards involving known homicide casesprepare this document and send it to me? A. Yes, you did. Q. And does it appropriately lay out your education, work, history, homicide involvement and awards? A. Yes, it does. MR. SCHAUER: Move Exhibit 3. MS. DALE: No Objection. MS. GRAFF: Received. Q. I ask you to turn to Respondent's 4, can you tell the members of the committee page by page what is in Respondent's Exhibit 4, please? A. Exhibit 4 is an e?mail from Mary Palmer who is the county administrator Merkel's Reporting Services 1-715?387-1247 (566 administrative assistant where she sent me my 2012 Role Model Core Value Nomination Form, it is also attached and is two pages. As well as a description of each of the awards listing Shared Purpose Award on the bottom of the Page 1 of the definitions for those awards and, lastly, a memo from the county administrator awarding me with the Shared Purpose Award in 2012. Q. And this was with regard to your work in what regard? A. At the time, I was in the district attorney's office in Marathon County as the diversion coordinator and also was doing some paralegal work on the side. MR. LEWIS: My I ask a clarification? Court Diversion Coordinator I have no idea what that is. A. Court diversion Coordinator works with first time low risk offenders who have committed a crime and could possibly be charged with a crime. Instead if they have no criminal history you offer them treatment alternatives so that they can avoid a criminal charge on their record. Merkel's Reporting Services 1-715-387?1247 that role were you a trained paralegal hired and employed by the Marathon County District Attorney's office? A. Correct. MR. SCHAUER: Move Respondent's 4. MS. DALE: I'll object to the relevance of this, this is a program coordinate for the diversion program and I see no relevance to what has been purported to be her purpose in testifying here today. MS. GRAFF: What is the purpose? MR. SCHAUER: The purpose is to show that Jaime Alberti has received awards with regard to her work in criminal justice matters. MS. GRAFF: And how does that relate to your case? MR. SCHAUER: Her ability to keep confidential the documents that were shared with her were brought into question by the county and this goes to show that Steve's trust in her is well placed. MS. GRAFF: Okay. I'm going to allow it in and let the committee make a decision. Merkel's Reporting Services 1?715-387-1247 568 MR. SCHAUER: They will be able to use it to the extent that they think it's relevant. Four is received. Q. I'm going to ask you to turn to Respondent's 5 and ask you to walk the committee through the two pages of that document? A. Sure. The first page is an e-mail from Detective Captain Greg Hagenbucher of the Wausau Police Department announcing the Meritorious Service Award that was presented to three Wausau Police Department investigators and myself with regards to the investigation and recovery of Stephanie Low who was a victim of homicide. Q. And was that given to you by the Wisconsin Homicide Investigators Association? A. It was in April of 2015. Q. Where were you working at the time? A. The district attorney's office. Q. And is the next picture a picture of you receiving that award? A. It is myself with Detective Holtz: Lieutenant Kolb and Detective Buckner of the Merkel's Reporting Services 1?715-387?1247 AWN 569 Wausau Police Department. MR. SCHAUER: Move Respondent's 5. MS. DALE: No objection. MS. GRAFF: Received. Q. I'm going to next turn you to Respondent's Exhibit 6 and can you tell us what that is? A. This is the Wausau Daily Herald online print of the Wausau Police Department award that they gave us in 2016. Towards the bottom of Page 1 of that exhibit lays Outstanding Team Award, which was given to the Stephanie Low investigation team which included myself and the same three detectives from the Wisconsin Association of Homicide Investigators Award. MR. SCHAUER: Move Respondent's 6. MS. DALE: Can I just ask a question. When the work was done on this case that you received the award for was it when you were also in the D.A.'s office until 2015? THE WITNESS: Correct. MS. GRAFF: So no objection to it being received? Merkel's Reporting Services 1?715?387?1247 570 MS. DALE: No. MS. GRAFF: Received. Q. So just to go back to your CV on Exhibit Number 3 just kind of layout chronologically for the committee your last four jobs, please? A. My last four jobs. Q. Including your current one? A. Okay. Do you want me to start from the most current and go backwards or? Q. Yes? A. Currently I work in the Marathon County Corporation Counsel's office, I transferred there from the district attorney's office in May of 2015. Prior to that I was in the Marathon County District Attorney's office from January of 2007 until May of 2015. Prior to that, I was in the Taylor County District Attorney's office from July of 2003 until January of 2007. Prior to that, I was in the Marathon County District Attorney's office from November of 1999 until July of 2003. Q. Thank you very much for that. Merkel's Reporting Services l?715?387?1247 LON 571 Can you tell me about your work on homicide cases generally? A. I think it's important to understand that while I was a paralegal I was very active in the prosecution's role in all of these cases. It was more than just putting together discovery binders and copying DVD's. I was going to prisons with the district attorney assigned to the case and the lead detectives to interview witnesses and suspects. I was putting together timelines based on witness statements and cell phone records based off of tower information. I was listening to audio recordings, watching witness videos, suspect videos, I was it attending live interviews of suspects and witnesses in many of these homicide cases. Q. Did you have any experience putting together power point presentation regarding those cases? A. In the Stephanie Low case Detective H012 and I put together a power point for both the district attorney and the attorney general's office. At the time it was a Merkel's Reporting Services 1?715-387?1247 572 bodiless homicide so we had to put that together to see if they would charge it and I also helped her present those two power points. Q. What was the extent of any other involvement you in with the Stephanie Low case? A. In addition to the items that I mentioned just a little bit ago, I was also with law enforcement when they did two K9 searches, a line search, two backhoe digs and several other national forest searches. I also was with the law enforcement officers when we went and told the family that her body was recovered and we basically lived it, ate it, slept it, breathed it for three to four years. Q. Are you currently consulting on any other homicide cases? A. I'm consulting with a cold case homicide. Q. Careful. Which sheriff's department? A. Marathon County Sheriff's Department on a cold case homicide that I Merkel's Reporting Services 1?715?387?1247 LON 573 initially began work on in sorry, 2014. Q. Can you tell us a little bit of your knowledge with regard to sealed warrants? A. Sealed warrants Q. -- let me ask the question this way. What is the main purpose of a sealed warrant? A. The main purpose of a sealed warrant is that the suspect in the media doesn't get a hold of a copy of the search warrant. When a search warrant is taken to a judge to sign it becomes kind of like a document that the document has to be filed with the clerk of court because the clerk of court is the keeper of the judge's record. In order for a warrant to be sealed an officer or a prosecutor needs to make a motion to seal a warrant and the court has to find good cause to seal the warrant and order the warrant sealed. So the purpose of a sealed warrant is so the suspect doesn't get his hands or her hands on it in order to come up with a defense to your theory of the Merkel's Reporting Services 1-715-387?1247 574 case or to rebut your own witnesses or know your evidence, things of that nature. Q. In your experience, would a sealed warrant be kept from one law enforcement officer to another or is it sealed for that purpose or is it sealed as you said to keep the suspects away from the ability for their ability to build a defense? A. Correct, it is from keeping the suspect from finding out what is in a warrant. Q. Do you have any experience with A. Yes, I was certified when I was in the district attorney's office for about six or seven years 2008 to 2015. Q. The TIME system and system the same thing, basically? A. It contains the same information but one is over an internet connection and the other is a teletype I believe usually used by dispatchers. Q. In your current job, do you deal with confidential personally identifying information? Merkel's Reporting Services 1?715-387-1247 Yes, I do. Q. Your current job is with the Marathon County Corporation Counsel? A. Correct. Q. So do you deal with that type of personally identifying information? A. Yes. Marathon County Corporation Counsel, some are different, they vary throughout the state, but what we do is prosecute mental health detention commitments, we do child in need of protection and services case. So children who are abused and neglected. We do termination of parental rights cases and guardianship cases for both minors and adults. All of those cases if they go to hearing, the hearings are closed hearings. If any documents are filed, those documents are not open record or public record because they are filed in the probate office, most of them are anyway. Our office does approximately 600 emergency detention mental health cases a year and 200 child in need of protection of services cases a year. Q. And none of those files that you Merkel's Reporting Services 1-715?387-1247 charge of and deal with on a daily basis, none of those reports are redacted in anyway? A. They are not redacted. I receive them every day. Q. So, therefore, the Marathon County Corporation Counsel's office trusts you with that type of ridiculously sensitive information? A. Correct. Q. Do you speak with officers often and prep them for court hearings and such? A. Yes, I am the one responsibile for prepping them for their court testimony in all those cases. Q. Now can you tell me about your involvement with Sergeant Bowers A. Yes. Back in 2016 when the Wausau Police Department announced the award winners I got a letter from the police department saying you are an award winner, we want you to come to this dinner and get your award. I right away told Steve that I won another award and I was kind of excited Merkel's Reporting Services 1?715-387-1247 577 about it, he was excited about it, and he basically said, you know, I really wish I could get some movement on it hasn't had any movement for a while. My intention was to present the Wisconsin Association of Homicide Investigators Cold Case Review team with information in that case file and basically since I have done that before with power point and we had a successful outcome with that, will you help me with it. I said sure, I would love to help you with it. He said, well, it first needs to be organized, it's a mess, none of the pages are numbered, it's hard to find things in the file. So I sent him my indexing system which kind of divides out how you index each report, everything in the case file, just to be brief I guess, and you kind you want to read the whole case like a story, like you are reading a book. Because you don't want to jump all over the place so I was explaining to him how to do that because when cases get to be 4,000 or so pages it's Merkel's Reporting Services 1?715-387?1247 578 hard for an officer to just find what they are looking for so I sent him my indexing system. Q. At some point during this time frame did he share with you the electronic copy of A. Yes, he did. Q. And by doing that did he simply send you a permission to View those documents through Dropbox; is that right? A. Yes. Q. What did do you with that permission? A. I did look at the police reports in it because that's where you find the main crux of the case. I just glanced, you know, I skimmed the police report, I didn't look at any of what I call fluff that doesn't matter like and all that kind of thing, that has no bearings on the facts of the case for me. I was just reading the police reports and that was it. We never discussed it because the power point never went anywhere, there was no cold case review ever approved or something that he has Merkel's Reporting Services 1-715-387-1247 LON 579 talked about with administration so I just never looked at it again. And, in fact, my Dropbox expired so I haven't looked at it in a long time. Q. You haven't looked at it since? A. I haven't looked at it since probably February or March of 2016. Q. And at some point there has been prior testimony that your permission has been removed from that and that would make sense? A. Correct, I don't even know if my Dropbox is in effect. Q. So what we just described is the full extent of your involvement with and the extent of the there isn't anything more significant than that? A. No, there is not. Q. And you did not disseminate that information to anybody else? A. No, I did not. Q. And do you believe in your professional capacity you are able to be trusted with that type of information? Merkel's Reporting Services 1?715?387-1247 Absolutely. I wouldn't have a job right now if I wasn't. Q. Switching gears let's talk about the Kevin Mayer poem matter for a second. What did you do on Saturday, February 25th, with regard to all of this? A. Okay. So Steve went to work at 7:00 in the morning. Q. When is the next time you saw him? A. Like 6:00 he came to pick me up and we went to the sheriff's department. We got sugar and creamer and some door prizes for the pancake breakfast. Q. So this was all additional preparation for the pancake breakfast that happened the next day? A. Right. So then we went and set up. We were there about an hour. Q. Where was the pancake breakfast being set up? A. At the fire hall. Q. And you said you were there for about an hour? A. Correct. Q. And did you see Kevin Mayer at the Merkel's Reporting Services 1-715-387-1247 AWN 581 fire hall? A. I saw him from a distance when he was either bringing in groceries or taking them out of his car or something like that. Q. Did Kevin speak to you or him while you saw him at the fire hall? A. No. Q. Let me make sure I asked that question right and I'm repeating to make sure I had it right. Did Kevin speak to you or Steve when you saw him at the fire hall? A. Not to my knowledge. Q. At that point did you go to Steve's house? A. Yes, we went to Steve's house after we left the fire hall. Q. And was there supposed to be a small gathering of sorts at Steve's house? A. Correct. Some of the deputies came over Chad Corey Dassow, Tony 'Schuett and his wife Nikki and Kevin Mayer and myself and Steve. Q. Okay. At that point was Nikki Schuett drinking? Merkel's Reporting Services 1-715-387-1247 00?1wa She was not. Q. Was there a reason for that? A. She just doesn't drink I believe and their son with them so she didn't. Q. You didn't see her drink the entire time you were there? A. She did not, she never drinks. Q. Okay. And at some point did Kevin Mayer show up at the house party? A. Yes, he was there. Q. All right. In what state did Kevin appear to you when he arrived? A. It appeared as though he had been drinking already before he got there. Q. All right. And when people were at Steve's house where was everyone generally? A. In the basement bar area. We pretty much were all down there. We went, you walk in his house, there is a stairwell that goes right downstairs and that's where everybody went. Q. Okay. So everybody was there talking amongst themselves and people who are drinking are drinking? A. Correct. Merkel's Reporting Services 1-715-387-1247 any point during the time that you were down there, did you hear anybody talk about an e?mail or a poem that Kevin Mayer sent? A. There was no discussion about an e?mail or a poem that night. Q. And you were down there for most of the time that everyone else was down there? A. I was down there the entire time, yes. Q. When was the first time that you had heard mention of the poem? A. The next day at the pancake breakfast, which would have been Sunday the 26th about clean up or 12:00 or 12:30ish, I think it finished at 12:00 or 12:30. But as people were leaving, we were cleaning up I was standing with a group of SWAT team members and one of them said, oh, I just got an e-mail about inappropriate e?mail use from the sheriff, and I wasn't even really paying attention, I was paying attention but I wasn't part of the conversation. Then, somebody else said, well, that must be a result of Kevin's poem e-mail and so I said, Merkel's Reporting Services 1-715-387-1247 584 what poem e?mail, and they are like Kevin sent out this poem e-mail to a handful of people and I said, oh, okay, and then Steve was walking towards me and I said, do you know about this poem e?mail and he said, "Well, I read some of it yesterday while I was filming, I didn't have time to finish it, so I didn't read the whole thing." I had had his phone because he was putting away tables and chairs so I said, here is your phone so he could read the e?mail. I assume that is what he was reading. He started reading them. He put the phone down and he walked away and kept cleaning up the tables and chairs. Q. That's the full extent of your recollection with regard to the poem, the Kevin Mayer poem? A. Correct. Q. Now there has been some discussion during this hearing about you getting some amount of discipline when you were first working with the Taylor County District Attorney's office. First, tell us how your employment with the Taylor County District Merkel's Reporting Services 1-715-387-1247 LON 585 Attorney came to be? A. In 2002, I was helping I worked in the Marathon County District Attorney's office with Karl Kelz who was an assistant district attorney there and since I'm from Medford I helped him run for district attorney over here. He won the election and Kristi Tlusty was a paralegal in the district attorney's office at the time who supported the incumbent D.A. who lost. She ended up leaving at some point within the first six months or so of Karl's taking office and so then I replaced Kristi when she left. Q. Okay. Did you ever have reason to believe that after that point Kristi didn't appreciate you? A. She did not appreciate me. I have heard that from several people because I replaced her. Q. Fast forward a couple years to the spring of 2006 at some point in your employment with the Taylor County District Attorney's office were you disciplined? A. Yes. Sometime in the summerish of Merkel's Reporting Services 1-715-387?1247 586 2006 I became unhappy working in the district attorney's office here so I began looking for other employment. In fact, I was contacted by the Marathon County District Attorney's office attorneys asking for me to apply for the diversion program there. Q. To become their diversion department coordinator? A. Correct. Q. Continue? A. Meanwhile, Karl was reading my e?mails and saw that I was looking for another job, saw that I was complaining about how he was running the office and accused me of doing my school work on work time when I was not. Q. Let's just make that clear for the record. Did you ever do school work on company time? A. Did not. Q. And you have the ability to use your personal e-mail, you have some ability to use your work e?mail for personal reasons Merkel's Reporting Services 1-715-387-1247 that office? A. I don't recall what the policy was then. Q. But what discipline was given to you by Karl because of that? A. He suspended me for three days without pay, but then I filed a grievance and it got overturned and I got the suspension, the unpaid suspended days paid back to me. Q. All right. So you filed a grievance and that grievance was sustained at some point in the grievance process? A. Yeah, it was some time after I started my employment with Marathon County so I don't recall when that happened. Q. But you received payment for those three days that had been withheld from you back to you? A. Correct. Q. All right. Let me just go over my notes. I might have one other thing I might need to ask you about? A. Okay. -- Merkel's Reporting Services 1?715-387-1247 Ink/Yes. A A. The district attorney at the time, Ken Heimerman, asked me to read the file, dissect it, and then give him my opinion as to charging or any followup work that needed to be done on it by law enforcement. Q. Did you read through the entire case at the point? A. Several times. Q. Did you index it? A. Yes, I did. Q. And what else did you do? A. I met with the Marathon County Sheriff's Department regarding the discovery that was in the binders. We talked about things that needed to be tied up in the case and followup that needed to be done. Several times throughout this whole process different detectives were being appointed or assigned I should say, and now they have a Merkel's Reporting Services 1?715?387?1247 589 detective on it that works 90 percent of the time on that case. That is the one that I'm still consulting with. Q. Okay. You say, still consulting with, you are still being consulted by active law enforcement investigators on that law enforcement case while you are currently an employee of the Marathon County Corporation Counsel's office; is that right? A. That's correct, I believe the last time I spoke to him about that case was about two weeks ago. Q. I don't have anything else. Thank you? CROSS-EXAMINATION BY MS. DALE: Q. I have just a couple questions. You said he was consulting with you on the file is, is he consulting with you on current events or just the information you had pulled together when you had worked in the Marathon County District Attorney's office? A. Both current and prior. Q. You mentioned the prior discipline you got for two days pay back? Merkel's Reporting Services 1-715?387-1247 Yes. Q. Was the discipline removed from your file or was it just reduced to a warning? A. I have no knowledge of that. I got an e?mail from my union rep at the time and it was vague and I had already moved onto Marathon County. Q. When you were at Sergeant Bowers' house on that Saturday night and Kevin Mayer was there, did you ever leave the basement, did you go to the bathroom? A. I went to the bathroom which is right off that room. Q. Did you ever go upstairs for any reason? A. I don't recall going upstairs for any reason. I was up there when we first came down but I was one of the first people down in the basement. Q. So there may have been opportunity that you missed conversation? A. If the conversation was a minute or less, but I don't think it would have been. Q. You said when you were in the Merkel's Reporting Services 1?715?387?1247 591 Marathon County District Attorney's office you were and TIME certified? A. I was certified. Q. Do you continue to be certified? A. No. MS. DALE: I have no further questions. MR. SCHAUER: No redirect. QUESTIONS BY MR. ZENNER: Q. I do have a question. You received this case from Sergeant Bowers is this something that is common, do you receive from other counties cases to look from or is this just a one time incident? A. Me, myself, personally? Q. Right? A. No, I have not. MS. GRAFF: Anybody else? You are excused. MR. SCHAUER: Can we take five please, and see the status of my next witness. MS. GRAFF: Yes, off the record. (Brief break off record). Merkel's Reporting Services 1-715-387-1247 592 MR. ZENNER: Back on the record. MS. GRAFF: Yes. MR. SCHAUER: The respondent has two witnesses left one of whom is part of our case and one is a rebuttal witness. The person I would like to call next is our rebuttal witness and I'm calling her out of order only because I want to allow her to get on with the rest of her day and that has been okayed by opposing counsel. MS. DALE: That is fine. MS. GRAFF: Thanks for explaining that. MR. SCHAUER: She is called as a rebuttal witness to testimony brought by the county's case and that is why she does not appear on witness list. Call Nicole Schuett. NICOLE SCHUETT, After having been first duly sworn to tell the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth, testified as follows: DIRECT EXAMINATION BY MR. SCHAUER: Merkel's Reporting Services 1-715-387?1247 All right. Thank you for being here, Nicole. Were you at Steve Bowers' house on the night of Saturday, February 25th? A. Yes. Q. When you there before or after Mayer arrived? A. After. Q. So Mayer arrived after you had already been there; correct? A. No, he was there first. Q. Okay. During the time that you were there and he was there or, first of all, let me ask you this. When you got there and observed Mayer the first time could you tell whether or not he had been drinking alcohol? A. Yeah, I think he was pretty hyper and outgoing, outspoken. Q. Okay. From that point forward had he had any additional alcohol in your presence? A. A couple. Q. A couple of what? A. Two, three. Merkel's Reporting Services 1-715-387-1247 001.5me what? A. Beer. Q. Okay. Did you have anything to drink that night? A. No. Q. And had you quit drinking before that point? A. Yes, I haven't drank in six years or so. Q. And are you aware of any poem that Mayer wrote an e-mail to a bunch of deputies. A. Yes. Q. Did you hear or do you remember anyone talking about that poem when you were at Bowers' house on Saturday? A. No. Q. When was the first time you heard anybody mention that poem? A. The pancake breakfast the next day. Q. That's all I have. Thank you very much. MS. DALE: I have no questions. BY MR. SCHAUER: Q. Can you state and spell your name Merkel's Reporting Services 1-715-387?1247 wa 6301 595 for the record? A. Nicole, Marie, Schuett, MR. SCHAUER: Call Rich Burghaus, please. RICH BURGHAUS, After having been first duly sworn to tell the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth, testified as follows: DIRECT EXAMINATION BY MR. SCHAUER: Q. Rich, can you state and spell your name for the record? A. Rich Burghaus, Q. Where are you employed? A. Wisconsin Professional Police Association. Q. And what is your job title there? A. I'm a business agent. I represent members through the central and northwestern Wisconsin and Taylor County. Q. So one of the locals you represent are the deputies as well as the sergeants in Taylor County? A. No, I just represent the Taylor Merkel's Reporting Services 1-715-387?1247 uwa 596 County sergeants. Q. So you were Steve Bowers' business agent throughout this whole rigamarole? A. Throughout this whole case, yes. Q. What was your first involvement in this matter? A. Sergeant Bowers had contacted me on March 7th and advised me that he was placed on administrative leave. Q. And you have given him advice consistently since March 7th with regards to his administrative leave and subsequent discipline? A. Yes, I have. Q. In mid March did you and Sergeant Bowers discuss his Dropbox account? A. We had multiple conversations regarding his Dropbox account. What I like to refer to as low tech and high tech world. So I initially didn't even know what Dropbox was. So we had conversation and he explained to me what Dropbox was and during some of our conversations I had asked him what is in your Dropbox. He told me he has a ton of personal files, personal documents, Merkel's Reporting Services 1-715-387-1247 597 banking items and I had asked him if he had any work files in there and he advised me that he had in Dropbox and I said, why do you have that file in there, and he told me he had that so when he was away from his desk computer he could have access to it so he could work on the case if he is out of town or something came up and he needed to get in there to look at it. Q. Are you former law enforcement yourself? A. I am. Q. Very, very brief synopsis of your law enforcement career? A. So 27 years law enforcement, five with Taylor County, 22 with Medford Police Department. I was the police school liaison officer for the majority of my Medford career. Q. 80 through that experience are you familiar with the idea of a working file? A. Yes. Q. Can you explain for the committee what a working file would be? Merkel's Reporting Services 1?715?387?1247 (JUN Working file is basically a copy of an original file that you take with you so you can continue to keep track of what you are doing and things that you need to get done and so you have information with you at hand ready to go. Q. Was your understanding that Sergeant Bowers' copy of his Dropbox was akin to a person keeping a paper working file? A. Yes. Q. At some point did Sergeant Bowers tell you that his access to his Dropbox was shut off? A. Yes. Q. Do you remember about when that was? A. This would have been during that same time frame two week period between I believe March 7th when he went on administrative leave and I believe he went on vacation March 23rd and we had several different conversations regarding his Dropbox. Q. And did he ever ask you what advice Merkel's Reporting Services 1-715-387-1247 him about getting his Dropbox back? A. As I tell all my members that I represent in this cases, you need to keep your personal files and your work files separate. You don't do work stuff on personal stuff and you don't do personal stuff on work files. Basically you do that because if there is an investigation or something that comes up that they're not now digging through all your personal files or for some reason your personal files somebody looks in there and sees something that they shouldn't be looking at. Q. I'm going to ask you to turn to Tab 28 in the big binder, please? MR. LEWIS: Did you say 28? MR. SCHAUER: I said 28 but I'm wrong. Give me a moment, typo in my notes I'm going to need two minutes. MS. GRAFF: That's fine, take it. Q. Okayturn to Tab 38, please. Can you tell us what the e-mail at the top of 38 is and what relevance you Merkel's Reporting Services 1?715?387-1247 600 believe it has to this case? A. The very first one? Yeah, the top e-mail? E?mail advising. Whose it from and to, sir? From Sheriff Daniels to Detective Bowers and Chief Deputy Woebbeking is copied in on it and they need to recover the files that had been released in Q. Was this also a good reason for Steve to delete the electronic copy of the A. I hadn't seen this prior to these proceedings and I believe it is. This could at least give some piece of mind to the sheriff that there was not a copy out there and the only thing that would remain is the original file that is on the county server. Q. Steve has been accused of tampering with evidence because of deleting an electronic copy of Dropbox. Do you have an opinion about that? A. I do. I believe that is absurd. At no point was he notified that he was not Merkel's Reporting Services 1-715-387?1247 (JON anything with the Dropbox. I didn't have any knowledge that the Dropbox was involved with these proceedings until let me backtrack. I didn't have any idea that that would be involved in here until probably in May what I spoke with Attorney Dale and I didn't know what that Dropbox might entail so I got off track here. Q. You were telling them why the tampering case against him would be ludicrous? A. And in following my advice keep those two things separate and also that now if this file is deleted off your Dropbox then there should be less concerns for the sheriff, and also any time--understand I'm a low tech in high tech world?-I do know this any transaction that you do on a computer there is an electronic footprint someplace. They are going to be able to find that. My understanding that Steve took this file from I guess in my mind how I view it is on my computer I have a shortcut to a file. When I delete it, I take it down and put it in the trash bin that's where this file was. Merkel's Reporting Services 1?715-387?1247 wanted to completely delete this file it still would have left an electronic footprint in all of that process. Q. So because of all of that do you believe Steve intended to inhibit the investigation of the sheriff in this matter? A. No, in no way, shape, or form do I believe--when the access was made it was on March 2nd that the county had access to the file and looked to see who was given access. My thought at that time is that they looked at the file and saw what was in the file there also and probably also did a screen shot of the items contained therein. 80 my thought would have been that the county already would have had these items prior to what April 26th when they went in. Q. Nothing further. Thank you. CROSS-EXAMINATION BY MS. DALE: Q. When did you have these discussions with Sergeant Bowers? A. March 7th and then the period of time in between there and I believe he went on vacation March 23rd to April 2nd. Q. During that time that you did not Merkel's Reporting Services 1?715-387-1247 603 have any discussions with him about the fact deleting this file would have accomplished the goal of deleting records that others had access to; correct, you said it was only after we got into this that you realized he had been told we need to recover what had been released? A. Yes, I didn't know this e-mail existed until these proceedings. Q. When you had these discussions with Sergeant Bowers did he it tell you that he had shared that Dropbox with anyone else? A. No, and I didn't ask. I just hadn't thought that occurred to me. And if I can just expound on it a little bit the main drive behind this Dropbox was to get the control of it back to Steve because it's his property and he wanted control because there were personal items in there that he needed I believe to, you know, deal with some of his private issues, private affairs, I should say. Q. And I think we stipulated to the fact that it was not just a private use e-mail that he used it for both work and Merkel's Reporting Services 1-715?387?1247 LON 604 personal items and when you said control of it, meaning, he didn't want anyone else to be able to look and see what was on it? A. I don't know. I don't know how to phrase that correctly if it is to get access back or to have control of it back, I don't know exactly what that all entails and how that all operates. Q. I have no further questions. REDIRECT EXAMINATION BY MR. SCHAUER: Q. By giving him the advice to delete the copy of -h did you intend to aid and abet Steve in tampering of that? A. No. MS. GRAFF: I'm not sure that was his testimony and I have to--maybe you go ahead. MS. DALE: His testimony was that the device was to keep the personal and the work documents separate. MS. GRAFF: Just wanted to make sure for the record. MR. SCHAUER: That is the same thing in my mind, it's not. Merkel's Reporting Services 1-715?387-1247 book605 MS. GRAFF: She is making an objection for the record. MS. DALE: You are asking a question when that has not been in fact that have been entered. He testified he gave him advice to keep his personal and work documents separate. He did not testify that he told him to delete the work stuff. MS. GRAFF: I think your question misstatements prior testimony from my memory as well but if you want to rephrase it. Q. So I'll rephrase the question. Throughout all of your dealings with Sergeant Bowers and his Dropbox, did you ever intend to aid and abet him in violating any county policy including tampering of evidence? A. No. Q. Thank you. Very simple question. That's all. MS. GRAFF: Questions by the committee? QUESTIONS BY MR. LEWIS: Q. At any time did you advice him after you talked to him on April or March Merkel's Reporting Services 1?715-387-1247 606 whatever it was to delete that file? A. Yes, I did. Q. Can you tell me when? A. I think it was during this time frame in March. Q. Okay. And then my other question was and if I misspoke what you said in your testimony you can correct me or somebody will. You said you advice your people, meaning, the people in your union not to put personal and work related items together on really I'm going to say any electronic device; am I correct, you didn't say any electronic device I did? A. Keep work and personal separate. Q. So your advice and this is to all your people? A. Yes. Q. It wasn't at that time personally to Steve? A. No, I tell all my members you got to keep it separate. MR. SCHAUER: That's good. Can I clarify on that? Merkel's Reporting Services 1?715-387-1247 607 MS. GRAFF: Sure. REDIRECT EXAMINATION BY MR. SCHAUER: Q. You never gave Steve that advice before this whole thing and he ignored that advice, that is just advice you gave generally to members to keep their work and personal separate as possible, different e?mail accounts, separate folders, that sort of thing? A. Correct. I never had this conversation with Detective Bowers because I had taken them over maybe a year ago and we haven't met regarding union issues we haven't had a need. Q. All right. So when you said you give that advice you are talking in the general scope of your duties as a WPPA giving advice generally to members? A. Correct. Q. And when this situation came up with Steve and Steve brought it to you, working off of that general advice you gave him the specific advice to delete the electric copy file off of his Dropbox? A. Yes. Merkel's Reporting Services 1?715?387-1247 Nothing further. MS. GRAFF: It is the committee's turn. So just wait until we're done then it can be your's, okay, so on and so forth. Does anybody else have any questions? Okay. RECROSS-EXAMINATION BY MS. DALE: Q. During that time frame did you have any discussions with him about getting the county involved before he took that step? A. You mean getting permission from the county before doing that? Q. Or contacting IT or anything of that nature? A. No, I didn't do that. Q. No questions. MR. SCHAUER: One followup. REDIRECT BY MR. SCHAUER: Q. Because it was Steve's personal bought Dropbox did you think that that contact to the county was necessary? A. No. Q. Nothing else. MS. GRAFF: Anything further? MS. DALE: I just need a minute Merkel's Reporting Services 1?715?387-1247 609 here. Because we took Exhibits 47 and 48 out of the binder because we were not going to get into the dispute of whether it was his personal Dropbox or not, now we are back into that dispute so I would like to request that Exhibits 47 and 48 go back into the binders. MR. SCHAUER: Exhibits 47 and 48 are the Dropbox and what? Please let me respond on the record. MS. GRAFF: That's fine. We no longer have that in our binders so if this is something where you two need to go out in the hallway you need to make that professional decision. MR. SCHAUER: No. I'm going to state simply that because 47 and 48 will show that the Dropbox remains Steve's property we do not have any objection to the entry Exhibits 47 and 48 in the record and we will put 47 and 48 back into the binders. MS. GRAFF: So I take it as no objection, so received, and I'm not putting it back in the binders. Merkel's Reporting Services 1-715-387-1247 610 MS. DALE: We will. MR. SCHAUER: Excused. MS. GRAFF: Yes, received. Any more witnesses? MR. SCHAUER: The respondent rests. MS. DALE: We rest as well. There was a matter that we were going to handle regarding your case as a curtesy I'll remind you of that that was the videos. MR. SCHAUER: Yes. I'm going to before we go off the record we should actually go through both binders and make sure we both understand which documents have been received as part of the record. In preparation for that discussion, we want to move Respondent's 31 and 32 into the record, 31 and 32 are copies of in whatever format two specific episodes of the Cold Justice program one of episodes, Exhibit 32 is the episode that was filmed here in Taylor County. It is very literally a part of his work record at the department because it's literally filmed him working for the department. They recorded his work on a project Merkel's Reporting Services 1-715-387-1247 @01wa 611 that he was assigned to and, therefore, there shouldn't be any question at all with regard to the acceptance of Respondent's Exhibit 32. With regard to Exhibits 31 and 32 both episodes, Respondent's 31 Nan Strait testified that I had asked her for a copy of an episode of Cold Justice that was indicative of the work that they do and she said that she then provided us a copy of that episode. That episode also contains on it the clearly relevant evidence with regard to the actions of Cold Justice, the outcomes of the cases that they take on, and the manner in which they do their work. They testified to all of this especially in the manner in which they do their work in pairs with local law enforcement officers. They testified the professionalism in which they conduct these investigations. All of this can be further proven by the two episodes that we're offering into evidence. By providing you access to these Merkel's Reporting Services 1?715-387?1247 612 episodes, I'm giving you a small, easily digestible sampling of the work that Nan Strait, Kelly Siegler, Steve Spingola and the rest of their team do. I think it would be a good idea for the committee to at least be able to review this evidence before making a decision. And I think a failure to accept these episodes into evidence would create possible legal error which Bowers could bring an appeal if the charges were sustained and the episodes were not allowed in the record. I promised corporation counsel and opposing counsel that if are accepted into the record I will not ask that the committee sit here in front of everybody and watch the whole episode. I will simply use one small clip in one of them in part of my verbal closing statement and then we would leave the copies of both episodes to you to review during your deliberations as you see fit. So we're not looking to waste an hour and a half of your time, you can look at them or not but I want to include just a Merkel's Reporting Services 1?715-387-1247 613 small snippet of one of episodes within my closing argument and that is why I'm moving Respondent's Exhibits 31 and 32. MS. DALE: First, I have concerns as to the relevancy because they both occurred the Exhibit 32 the film that was done here was done, produced, edited the disclosure occurred. If it is going to be viewed by the committee it should be viewed by the committee as a whole as opposed to taking it home and watching it on the TV it's part of the record but it's up to you if you choose to it view it if it's admitted. MR. SCHAUER: I would agree with that. MS. DALE: As far as the clip he indicated he wants to use in his closing argument if he uses a clip you have to understand the context in which that clip has been presented and I have to be given the opportunity to rebut or explain that clip as opposed to I give my closing, he gives his closing, and I can't respond to what he has shown you. Merkel's Reporting Services 1-715-387?1247 .wa ONUI 614 Additionally, this was a clip that was created in the past indicative I don't know. It is a case out of Terre Haute, Indiana, again, I don't believe that it is relevant. There is no evidence that has been presented that somehow Sergeant Bowers watched this episode and formed an opinion about the credibility of this group before he released the information to them after he had known them for less than two days. MR. SCHAUER: May I just reply. I can agree with parts of that. I do agree that you should review the episodes together or not at all. I think like anything else we presented to you, you can look at it or not. I think that if it is part of the report I should be able to refer to it during my closing argument, which again is argument and I have no problem with Attorney Dale being allowed a short reply to my closing in that regard. But she has reviewed and has had access to both of these episodes up until now when those links became inoperable. Merkel's Reporting Services 1?715-387-1247 will be getting to corporation counsel and opposing counsel copies of the episodes on CD ROM drives, which you will then be able to play on a computer and be able to watch them amongst yourself and that will be the best way to go. Again, there is no harm in bringing it into the record and then allowing you to put the amount of relevance that you think. That is generally how evidence works in an administrative hearing. It would be very irregular to keep something out for relevance in one of these proceedings and that was her only objection. MS. GRAFF: Okay. So I'm going to for lack of a better phrase split the baby, but I fail to see the credibility how the credibility of the show, which is what you are purporting Exhibit 31 is relevant or of consequence to a termination of this action. This is a show that's unrelated and it only talks about Cold Justice. It was my understanding there were Cold Justice witnesses here yesterday for the committee to examine, question, and demeanor and in Merkel's Reporting Services 1-715?387?1247 616 addition I couldn't find it quickly flipping through here but I believe this is a letter or exhibit that was admitted into evidence that talks about the successes of Cold Justice. Some sort of background or Taylor County do you want to be involved. But I don't think that is an element necessary to this case. So I agree that I don't think 31 is relevant and I don't believe it's going to cause any type of error that would be appealable. With that being said, I also lean towards thinking the same thing about Exhibit 32 but because it is of Sergeant Bowers and directly the project he worked on and you reference it, it's important to your argument. I'm going to allow that in and over that objection and the committee can decide whether it's relevant and we will view it together when we make our determination. MR. SCHAUER: I have just one I have two things to mention in regard to that and if that changes the will of the Merkel's Reporting Services 1-715-387-1247 617 committee, great, if it doesn't I understand. One is that you said you reviewed 31? MS. GRAFF: Yes. MR. SCHAUER: During that episode Kelly Siegler said, Kelly testified and Kelly in the Terre Haute episode Kelly said, why would you talk to us, talk to law enforcement. That episode for that reason is indicative of how she was acting and how she and the rest of the Cold Justice team presented themselves and how they acted with permission of every single department that brought them in including the Taylor County Sheriff's Department. So that was the purpose for which I moved 31. I understand that 31 is not of Taylor County. I appreciate you taking 32 into evidence. I would ask you to reconsider allowing 31 in, and I would I understand it's your decision I can politely ask you to review that decision with the committee if the committee agrees with your talk on that. MS. GRAFF: I'm not going to do that because I haven't done that with the Merkel's Reporting Services 1-715-387?1247 618 other objections. I'm not going to change my procedure in the eleventh hour. MR. SCHAUER: Fair enough. MS. GRAFF: I have given you two opportunities now to explain why it's relevant and I'm going to trim the fat and say that how somebody presents themselves to a sworn law enforcement officer is just not relevant to this case. MR. SCHAUER: Fair enough. So 32 is in 31 isn't. MS. GRAFF: Correct. MR. SCHAUER: And I will get you a copy of 32 on a disk and I will do that before you guys have the transcript so you will be able to review the entire case together. It's my understanding from previous discussions that we're going to dispense with closing arguments until after the attorneys and the committee have had a chance to review the transcript; is that correct? MS. GRAFF: That is correct. But I also have a housekeeping issue with regard Merkel's Reporting Services 1?715-387-1247 when we view. MR. SCHAUER: With regard to 32? MS. DALE: Yeah, I understand. MR. THUMS: I just have one question. MS. GRAFF: Of whom? MR. THUMS: Everybody. You said we view it as a group and I was wondering why, I mean, it's a CD. We all have CD players and, otherwise, you're talking we all have to come back here on another day all of us sit down for an hour. MS. GRAFF: We're not going to be doing that. It will be during our deliberations after receiving the transcript. MR. THUMS: We will be doing that then? MS. GRAFF: I think it's better if there is not copies and I agree with the proposal and it's MR. THUMS: if it is a copy of a program the program is already published. What is the difference if I look at it any time or you make four copies and we take it, Merkel's Reporting Services 1?715?387?1247 boom GUI 620 the season, I mean, it isn't like it's the clouds, it's a television program. MS. GRAFF: That is a fair point. MR. THUMS: Anybody in the world can play it. So why can't we just have it and take it home. MS. GRAFF: They don't have it here today but if you want to watch it on your own we can't stop you. MR. THUMS: I just don't understand why we all four have to look at it in one spot when it is a public television program. MS. DALE: And just my response the same reason that you can't take these binders home and that's a piece of evidence and if you want to access it through the conventional channels. MR. THUMS: All I have to do is go on my computer and pick it up watch it because I'm sure I can pick it up there so, I mean. MR. LEWIS: You can do that. MS. GRAFF: We can request some of these records and get some but I doubt you are going to get some of that. Merkel's Reporting Services 1-715-387?1247 621 MR. SCHAUER: That brings up one quick issue. It is important that the committee without being presumptuous -- MS. GRAFF: I well admonish them of confidentiality but we will do that again when with we close. MR. SCHAUER: I'm sorry I thought we were to that point. MS. GRAFF: I have housekeeping issues. But I have questions then. MR. SCHAUER: We are done presenting evidence. MS. GRAFF: So this is just a wrap up issue from the committee. I was gone yesterday morning and we had a different officer and I understand there was Cold Justice witnesses presenting; correct? MR. SCHAUER: Correct. MS. GRAF: I hope this is appropriate, but I wanted to ask then if anybody asked the Cold Justice team who gave them the fourth CD and would gave them the access code to the secure area. That is something that the committee heard a lot about. Merkel's Reporting Services 1?715?387-1247 \lmm KOG622 MS. DALE: It was asked. MR. SCHAUER: I don't remember. MS. DALE: They had knowledge. MS. GRAFF: Thank you. That was it from our end. MR. SCHAUER: Do you want to go off the record for scheduling. MS. GRAFF: We are ending our session and we will admonish everyone that everything is confidential, none of this is subject to open record and we will need to get some scheduling done to meet up of course. (Motion was made and carried to go into open session). (Motion was made and carried to adjourn). (Whereby the hearing adjourned). Merkel's Reporting Services 1-715-387?1247 QWNH 623 STATE OF WISCONSIN SS. COUNTY OF WOOD Be it known that I wrote the above hearing on the 5th day of October 2017, at Medford, Wisconsin; That I was then and there a Notary Public in and for the State of Wisconsin, and that by virtue thereof I was authorized to administer an oath; That the witness, before testifying, was by me first duly sworn to testify to the whole truth and nothing but the truth relative to said cause; That the testimony of said witness was recorded in stenotype by myself and reduced to print by means of Computer-Assisted Transcription under my direction, and that the deposition is a true record of the testimony given by the witness to the best of my ability; That I am not related to any of the parties hereto nor interested in the outcome of the action. Dated this 22nd day of October 2017. Professional Reporter Notary Public State of Wisconsin My commission expires 4-21-2020 Merkel's Reporting Services 1?715-387-1247