Successor to Marinette County DA appointed by governor

The sole remaining prosecutor in Marinette County has been appointed district attorney by Gov. Scott Walker, replacing her recently elected boss who resigned in protest of state funding for prosecutors.

DeShea Morrow had been a parttime assistant prosecutor to former DA Allen Brey since 2009, and full time since last year. Before that she had worked in the Peshtigo office of the State Public Defender.

Brey was re-elected last fall to another four-year term, but resigned in March, effective June 2, over growing case backlogs he attributed to chronic state underfunding of prosecutors statewide. Morrow won’t have to run until 2020.

Morrow initially did not seek the appointment to fill Brey’s office, but applied after a single finalist, an assistant prosecutor in Wood and Eau Claire counties since graduating law school in 2012, had been identified.

Marinette County Circuit Judge James Morrison applauded her selection, saying “she has the experience, dedication, drive, and knows what needs to be done to solve the backlog problems in the district attorney’s office, and we are lucky to have her.”

State Rep. John Nygren (R-Marinette), who differed with Brey on some points of funding positions in his office, also heartily endorsed Morrow’s appointment.

“I also trust she is an effective manager. DeShea’s first-hand knowledge of the root causes of the backlog issues in the district attorney’s office make her well equipped to solve the problem,” Nygren said in a prepared statement.

Morrow is a 2001 graduate of Oak Brook College of Law and Public Policy, a Christian-focused, correspondence school based in California.