Former judge pleads no contest to illegal deer hunting
A former Racine County judge pleaded no contest Monday to illegal deer shining at his Up North cabin in 2018, but will likely avoid having a conviction for the crime.
Michael Piontek, 71, a circuit judge until his retirement last week, had been challenging how a DNR warden gathered evidence in the case, which also led to a pair of citations in addition to the misdemeanor shining charge.
But his attorney, Joseph Rafferty, and Ashland County District Attorney David Meany worked out a plea deal before the judge in the case ever ruled on the defense motions to suppress evidence.
Bayfield County Judge John P. Anderson, who presided in the matter via Zoom, agreed to accept Piontek’s plea but withhold entry of any judgment of conviction. If Piontek does not violate any conditions of his plea agreement, the case will later be dismissed.
Piontek appeared in the hearing by telephone.
Piontek does forfeit the rifle that was used in the Nov. 26, 2019, incident and lose all Wisconsin hunting and fishing privileges for 2021. He must also pay the Ashland County DA’s office $450 for the cost of monitoring his adherence to the agreement.
The shining offense is punishable by up to $2,000 and six months in jail, and carries a mandatory minimum of $1,000 fine and a three-year loss of hunting privileges if Piontek were to violate conditions of the agreement and later be convicted.
In addition, he pleaded no contest to a citation for over baiting, and agreed to pay a fine of $544.50. Two other huntingrelated citations — for hunting after dark and possessing a deer tagged with a bow license that had been shot by a firearm, from an earlier incident — were dismissed.
At Monday’s hearing, Rafferty said he wanted to make clear that the lights involved were two standard 60-watt porch lights, not anything hand held. “There was 17 inches of snow the night before,” Rafferty said. “You can’t over-bait, and he did and he accepts responsibility. He loves to watch the deer feeding.”
Court records showed a DNR warden found 10 times the legal limit of bait — like apples, carrots, corn and sugar beets — spread outside the cabin.
According to the criminal complaint in the case, a game warden that had been investigating Piontek saw a buck walk into an area that was illuminated by a flood light mounted on the side of Piontek’s cabin around 7:30 p.m. Nov. 26.
The warden then heard a gunshot, saw the deer buckle then run off, followed by Piontek and John Tussler with a flashlight. When confronted by the warden, Tussler said he’d shot the deer from inside the cabin with Piontek’s rifle.
After noticing the cabin was surrounded by 10 times the legal two gallons of bait, the warden also cited Piontek for unauthorized use of illegal bait and being a party to the violation of shooting a deer after shooting hours.
Tussler, 59, pleaded no contest to the same misdemeanor charge last summer, and was fined $1,000 and banned from hunting for three years.
Regarding the delay in the criminal case, Rafferty said there were serious constitutional issues that had to be litigated before Piontek’s plea agreement was reached.
Last fall, Piontek had argued that a DNR warden’s preliminary surveillance of Piontek’s property, without a warrant, on Oct. 31, and Nov. 8 and 9, 2019, violated the the judge’s rights to privacy.
The warden later got a warrant, and put cameras on Piontek’s land. The warden noted observing, with binoculars, a cocked crossbow inside the cabin near what appeared to be an open window, as well as the flood lights and the deer bait.
Piontek sought to have not only such preliminary observations declared unconstitutional, but also to suppress his and Tussler’s statements to the warden the night of Nov. 26, and evidence taken from inside the cabin. Piontek let the warden inside after he threatened to obtain a warrant to search the cabin.
Piontek defeated Michael Nieskes for judge in the 2012 election. In December, Piontek announced his retirement effective April 9. Gov. Tony Evers appointed Kristin Cafferty to fill out Piontek’s term, which ends in August 2022.