FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

A defendant in a criminal case has the statutory right to substitute judge once per case, without any need to show the reason or cause for substitution. Such a substitution request merely must meet the statutory requirement and need give no reason of any kind. On September 14, 2022, Judge Conen was acting as a reserve judge hearing cases in Milwaukee County when he stated he was finding an attorney in contempt. The holding came after questioning why an attorney for the State Public Defender’s Office had filed a substitution of judge such that Judge Conen would not be hearing the case in the future.

When Judge Conen persisted in questioning the attorney, the attorney stated that six years previously at a hearing, Judge Conen had called the attorney the dumbest person he had ever met in his life; Judge Conan denied ever saying that. When the attorney maintained he had in fact said it on the record, Judge Conan stated he would be speaking to the lawyer’s supervisor, found the attorney in contempt, and told the bailiff to hold the attorney. The attorney was held in the courtroom's jury box as no holding cell was available. Shortly after the ruling two other attorneys from the State Public Defender’s office arrived in the courtroom to discuss the matter with Judge Conen. The Judge vacated the contempt finding but ordered the attorney to appear before Chief Judge Mary Triggiano in two weeks.

Judicial temperament is important not just to how a Judge handles particular cases but also to how a judge handles the inherent challenges in the job as well as how they treat all the people in their courtroom along the way. The American Bar Association defines judicial temperament as having compassion, decisiveness, open-mindedness, sensitivity, courtesy, patience, freedom from bias and commitment to equal justice. Socrates is quoted as saying “Four things belong to a judge: to hear courteously; to answer wisely; to consider soberly; and to decide impartially.” It is essential to the integrity of our justice system that judges have appropriate judicial temperament. It is not acceptable for a judge to persistently question a defense attorney about why a substitution of judge pursuant to the statutory right is filed and then to hold the defense attorney in contempt for their response. WACDL is asking Chief Judge Triggiano not to employ Judge Conen as reserve judge going forward.