Candidates for judge say drugs are biggest crime issue

MARINETTE – A graduation in Marinette County drug court a couple of weeks ago was an accomplishment not only for the person who committed a drug crime 18 months ago, but also for Marinette County Circuit Court Judge Jim Morrison, who believes in the program because he sees how it has helped people turn around their lives.

“The guy was living in a car. Now he’s buying a truck. He’s sober. He’s respectful,” said Morrison, who is running for re-election in 2025. The deadline for submitting 200 signatures on nominating papers is Tuesday, Jan. 7 for the February primary.

Marinette County District Attorney DeShea Morrow, who is running for judge in Marinette County Circuit Court Branch 1, also has taken an interest in drug court. She said she worked with Morrison about 10 years ago to launch the program in Marinette County. When it needed resources, she sought corporate sponsorships. “That enabled us to start, and we’ve been going ever since,” Morrow said.

With 21 years of law experience in Marinette County to draw from, Morrow has announced she is running for Marinette County Circuit Court judge Branch 1. She will face Judge Peggy Miller, the current Circuit Court Branch 1 judge who is running to retain her seat.

Both of Marinette County’s two Circuit Court branches will be electing a judge in 2025, which isn’t always the case, according to Morrison. Judge Jane Sequin’s retirement from Branch 1, effective this past July 31, allowed Peggy Miller to be appointed judge. The appointment was for one year, with the term ending June 30, 2025, according to Gov. Tony Evers’ announcement about the opening.

Miller, who was born and raised in Green Bay and whose mother lives in Wausaukee, said she is running for election against Morrow to keep her seat.

“I love it here. I love my job. I just hope I get to keep it,” she said. “I’ve had people comment and say, ‘I really appreciate your manner on the bench. It didn’t go well for the person I was there for, but I really appreciated your manner,’” she said.

While Miller would step down if defeated in the election, Morrow would retain her District Attorney position if she isn’t successful in her bid for judge. DeShea has practiced law in Marinette County for 21 years, including serving in private practice and as assistant public defender and assistant district attorney before becoming District Attorney in 2017.

Her trial experience includes dozens of jury trials, including first-degree homicides. She led the prosecution team in the 1976 McClintock Park double homicide case, a case that had sat cold for decades and was featured on Bloodline Detectives. “If I were elected judge, I would be a judge that knows my role, which is to apply the facts in front of me, fairly and impartially. I have a reputation of being firm but fair,” she said.

Morrison, originally from Illinois, was appointed judge in 2012 after serving as a trial lawyer for many years, he said. “I thought I knew what judges did. I didn’t think judges had the chance to move the needle very much, but they do,” he said.

“I really like it,” he said. “It’s been a great experience to have an impact to help people go in the right direction.”

Morrison said he strives to be respectful of everyone in the courtroom, and he brings compassion to Marinette County Circuit Court Branch 2 and the Wisconsin court system. During COVID-19, he was one of eight Chief of Chiefs in the state who made the decision to keep the courts open.

While he strives to be compassionate, Morrison said he isn’t a pushover. He aims to reduce repeat offenses by working with drug offenders to improve their lives. “It’s trying to find motivating factors that will work, so people will take steps they need to not get into this mess again,” he said.

He looks for alternatives to prison sentences, where appropriate, in part because of the cost. “It costs more to send them to prison than to send them to Harvard. We should use those resources carefully, so people come out better.” Prison time doesn’t always cure the offender who might revert to bad habits upon release from prison, Morrison added.

Miller is a proponent of mediation as a way to resolve cases where appropriate. “I’d love to see a medication center here in Marinette for our small-claims cases. Maybe it can expand to divorce or civil cases,” she said.

With mediation, court cases are less about winning or losing and more about coming to a resolution, she said. “Sometimes I order it, but almost always the attorneys want it,” she said. “It’s a great solution as long as everybody comes to the table with an open mind.”

Miller, who returned to school several times while raising three children and working, first received an associate degree as a paralegal, then earned a bachelor’s degree in criminal justice by taking courses at night. She earned a law degree from Marquette Law School while teaching courses to paralegal students at Northeast Wisconsin Technical College.

She served as one of the first civilian dispatchers in DePere, then relocated to Seattle, where her husband was from and worked as a dispatcher in King County. When they returned to the Green Bay area, she went into private practice, where she stayed for 19 years practicing family law and the gamut of cases. She also taught law at several colleges and universities. She also found time for pro bono work. Her work in mediation and litigation led to her appointment as a Family Court Commissioner, Court Commissioner and Register in Probate for Oconto County.

Miller said she was asked to apply for Sequin’s judge position in Marinette County last summer, partly because of the breadth of her work and partly because of her demeanor. She also doesn’t have many conflicts of interest, she said. “Some people like the way I was handling cases. They felt I was prepared and would make a good judge,” she said.

The Circuit Court also hears civil cases, such as divorce, evictions and foreclosures that don’t involve prison sentences. Many civil cases are settled without the need for a trial. “The ones that are tried are the complicated ones. You don’t have a $5,000 fender bender lawsuit any more. You have a $500,000 litigation with injuries,” Morrison said.

Like Morrison and Morrow, Miller also is concerned about the amount of drug crime in Marinette County. “There’s a significant amount of drug crime. When you’re impaired, you’re impaired and you can make dumb decisions. Sometimes it is an addition, and sometimes it is a mental health issue,” she said. She takes into consideration 19 factors before deciding a drug case. “Have they had a long-standing addiction? Was this a controlled buy because they happen to be an informant? There are so many factors we can take into account.”

Not every drug user who gets caught using or dealing a controlled substance in Marinette County will be extended an invitation to go through drug court instead of a traditional circuit court process, Morrison said. “The people who are selected for drug court are in the community. They get their treatment in the community. They develop sober relationships in the community. They get jobs in the community. They do that under close court supervision.”

Drug court can be more work for the court system than a regular trial with possible sentencing in prison, but to Morrison it’s worth it. “We have an excellent success rate,” he said. About 130 people have participated in the program over the past 10 years, he said.

About 70% to 75% of Marinette County criminal cases involve drug offenses, including sexual assault and domestic violence cases, according to Morrow. “A lot of them can be alcohol or substance-abuse related,” she said. She said the drug problem worsened in 2006 and 2007 when a medical doctor in Menominee, Mich. was giving opioids to people for a flat fee. “Those people who were addicted were turning to heroin, street drugs,” she said.

Most drug crime in Marinette County doesn’t involve marijuana, Morrison said. It involves fentanyl, meth, cocaine, heroin and OxyContin.

The drugs are highly addictive. “We sent people to prison, and when they were released, they would go right back to their old habits,” Morrow said.

The drug court was created to help change that, according to Morrow. “It’s a collaborative effort in the community. We’ve had a lot of good support,” she said. It involves weekly meetings to discuss how the individual is doing, she said.

When the offenders meet with Judge Morrison in open court to review their progress, he provides positive reinforcement for their successes. “I review the good things: You worked every day, you passed the drug test,” he said. “I’m tasked with finding three or four things for every negative thing,” he said.
A community monitor also is assigned “to make sure the needs of the public are being met,” Morrow said. “They’re required to work and go to treatment.”

Compared to a prison sentence, drug court supervision is more likely to help break the cycle of drug offenses. “People who go to prisons tend to be back in the prison system committing crimes, 90% are back within three years,” Morrison said. “With drug court, it falls to 50%.”

Marinette County has operated a mental health court for years, but it’s being discontinued because of lack of resources, Morrison said. “Their problems are more complicated. It takes a lot more time. We were running out of people who could help. Some aren’t treated,” he said.

Morrison also helped to bring a Court Appointed Special Advocate (CASA) program to Marinette County, he said. The program works with Menominee County, Mich.’s CASA program and recruits volunteers to meet with children in the juvenile court system.

All three candidates see the value in alternative court programs, such as mental health court. “Almost anyone who commits a serious crime has an element of mental illness,” Morrison said.

Many of the offenders appearing in court have an issue in their background, such as childhood trauma from abuse, neglect and drug use, he said.

Miller said she is concerned about a shortage of attorneys, which is creating a backlog of cases. “People are waiting for public defenders (to be appointed),” she said. “We don’t have enough to go around, so it’s taking an inordinate amount of time to get these cases heard because we don’t have an attorney available for them. The backlog is horrendous.”