Disorder in the Ozaukee courthouse
Top elected officials in the Ozaukee County Courthouse are no longer on speaking terms.
PORT WASHINGTON – Top elected officials in the Ozaukee County Courthouse are no longer on speaking terms after a judge accused colleagues of criminal misconduct, prompting two investigations.
Judge Joe Voiland alleged the clerk of courts, another judge and a court commissioner were guilty of misconduct in office and other crimes, leading to a 15month state investigation into potential criminal charges.
That investigation ended abruptly late last year when Voiland himself stopped cooperating, the state Department of Justice has confirmed.
But Wisconsin court officials have now launched a second investigation into Voiland’s allegations, state court spokesman Tom Sheehan said last week.
The director of state courts has hired Patrick Fiedler, a former Dane County judge and U.S. attorney, to look into “claims by Judge Joseph Voiland concerning Ozaukee County officials,” Sheehan said in a statement.
The investigation was initiated by Waukesha County Judge Jennifer Dorow, chief judge of the judicial district that includes Ozaukee County.
In a statement through Sheehan, Dorow said she expects the process to identify “next steps” to ensure county residents have confidence in their court system. The Director of State Courts’ office will pay for the new investigation, Sheehan said.
The first investigation, by the state’s Division of Criminal Investigation, had already generated a 357-page report detailing Voiland’s belief that crimes were being committed and courthouse officials were out to undermine and embarrass him.
Voiland contacted the agency to seek a criminal investigation in June 2016, but its probe ended in September 2017 when his attorney informed the state
that Voiland “has decided not to supply additional information,” according to an email obtained by USA TODAY NETWORK-Wisconsin.
Voiland did not respond to requests for comment for this story through email, phone or his attorney for the investigation, Kevin St. John.
The Division of Criminal Investigations report and interviews with those accused show a toxic environment throughout the courthouse, where Voiland has jousted with other judges and staff over procedures and perceptions.
Judges now communicate almost exclusively through email in place of meetings to discuss best practices, and Clerk of Courts Mary Lou Mueller says Voiland essentially hasn’t spoken to her for years — even refusing to respond to passing greetings.
Mueller characterized the criminal inquiry as a waste of time that poisoned an already difficult atmosphere. The Department of Justice was unable to provide an estimate of the time or cost incurred by its investigation.
“I’m surprised (Voiland) thought it was criminal behavior. … I have always been receptive to corrections, a different way of doing things,” Mueller said.
“It could have been handled in such a better way that wouldn’t have completely decimated the working conditions here. It’s a hostile work environment.”
Judge Paul Malloy, the presiding judge in Ozaukee County, said their justice system is still functioning but not as efficiently as it could.
“As far as the public would know, the work is getting done,” Malloy said. “If anything, it results in time being spent on problems that could be resolved a lot quicker … if there were better communication.”
Voiland was elected in 2013 after a campaign focusing on the fact the incumbent, Tom Wolfgram, signed the petition to recall Gov. Scott Walker.
Since then, Voiland’s judicial performance rating was the second-lowest in the state in a survey of attorneys conducted last year by USA TODAY NETWORK-Wisconsin.
He also received the second-lowest retention rating, with just 22% of responding attorneys recommending he remain on the bench.
Judges often at odds
The state’s report shows Voiland and fellow judge Malloy were involved in a variety of conflicts in recent years.
In August 2015, Voiland sent a woman to jail after a hearing in which he told her he didn’t believe her, but Malloy released the woman after her attorney argued that Voiland didn’t establish any legal basis for holding her or a way for her to be released.
In October 2014, Voiland described a confrontation in which the two judges were standing “nearly nose to nose” and Malloy was yelling “as loud as I have heard anyone yell before.” Voiland, speaking to a state investigator two years later, said he didn’t feel safe in his office after that and considered having security cameras installed.
In an interview, Malloy acknowledged yelling but said the “nose to nose” description was exaggerated because there was a desk and chair between them.
Randy Koschnick, the district judge at the time who is now the director of state courts, had to intervene at various points in disputes between Malloy and Voiland, including in June 2016 after Malloy ordered Court Commissioner Barry Boline not to follow orders issued by Voiland.
Voiland had ordered Boline to conduct home studies in family law cases, which Ozaukee County hadn’t done in decades. Malloy told Boline not to follow through immediately since there was no county ordinance or financial structure in place to handle them.
“Joe (Voiland) felt very strongly I was interfering,” Malloy said in an interview. “I felt that I was trying to keep the process moving forward, keep the peace with the County Board. … It sounds a lot more sinister than I ever intended it to be.”
Sheehan said Fielder’s investigation will include examining whether Ozaukee County’s family court system is set up as required by state law.
Workload was also a source of tension between the judges, as both Williams and Malloy saw their case numbers increase because a rising number of defendants sought to avoid Voiland’s courtroom. Defendants can request a substitute judge, assigned by the court system, once per case.
Voiland has one of the highest substitution rates in Wisconsin, averaging 127 a year since he took the bench, state court data shows. From 2013 to 2017, judges averaged about 30 a year. Ozaukee County Judge Sandy Williams averaged 57 substitutions a year and Malloy 10 in that span.
Mueller told investigators that, based on what she hears from attorneys, the increased substitutions are because female lawyers don’t want to practice in front of Voiland and attorneys don’t want to bring complicated cases before him.
Voiland alleges misconduct by clerk
Most of Voiland’s allegations focused on Mueller and her staff, which the judge believed was illegally altering records, ignoring his orders, withholding his mail and manipulating which cases he received, among other activities.
Judge Williams said she has seen no indications of misconduct.
“I do not share any of (Voiland’s) viewpoints as it relates to him believing there is illegal activity transpiring in the clerk of court’s office, commissioner’s office or with Judge Malloy,” Williams said via email. “My dealings with all three individuals and offices is that all are people of honesty and integrity, working hard to serve all people using the clerk of courts or judicial system.”
Mueller said some of the concerns had a grain of truth — such as records changed to correct errors found during preparations for a new digital filing system — but that on the whole Voiland is being paranoid.
“My perception … is that since the day he walked in here (he thought) we were out to get him and that we were going to be doing all sorts of things to trap him to make him look bad,” Mueller said. “There’s nothing in it for us to do that. We want the court system to work well.”
The Division of Criminal Investigation report said Voiland told agents that cases assigned to him had been “maliciously” altered and in some cases destroyed.
And he turned over emails detailing an array of confrontations with Mueller over how court paperwork should be handled.
Among his allegations:
❚ Voiland suspected cases were being back-dated to make it look like he wasn’t keeping up with his caseload. Mueller said backdating was “a matter of cleanup” to correct errors found as the county moved to an electronic record-keeping system. The state report notes that an analysis of court-case backdating shows it was done equally for all three judges.
❚ Voiland detailed numerous cases where orders he made in court were not entered for days, or files he requested were not given to him by clerks in a timely manner. In one case Koschnick stepped in and told Malloy to make Mueller comply with Voiland’s requests for records. Mueller said her office never intentionally delayed his paperwork but has to prioritize at times.
❚ Voiland was upset to learn that his personal divorce had been used as an example in training for court staff. Mueller said in an interview that the reference was a “side comment” on confidentiality of cases, to show that even divorce cases for Voiland and Wolfgram aren’t private. She said the clerk apologized.
Sheehan said Fiedler’s investigation will include Voiland’s allegations that Mueller altered or deleted online court records inappropriately and abused her authority as register in probate.
Mueller, who has been a clerk since 1999 and the elected clerk of court since 2011, said that her office “bent over backwards trying to accommodate everything he (Voiland) wanted, trying to make him feel welcome.”
Mueller said she is willing to work with Voiland. “Even though someone was wanting to put me in jail, I’m willing (to work on it),” Mueller said in an interview. “I still treat him with respect, give him whatever he’s asking for, if I can. But this won’t be over for him.”