Crime and Court Roundup: Racine judge orders man to "stay out of all libraries on the face of the Earth"

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A judge in Racine has ordered a man accused of lewd behavior to quote, “stay out of all libraries on the face of the Earth.” 20-year-old Tyree Carter appeared before Circuit Judge Emily Mueller yesterday, after he allegedly masturbated in the open last week at the Racine Public Library. A witness said he didn’t try to hide it – and prosecutors said he apologized when police confronted him. The order to stay out of all libraries is part of a signature bond on misdemeanor charges of disorderly conduct and exposure. Carter pleaded innocent to both counts, and he’s due back in court April 11th.

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A Madison man who mentored troubled teens in a community program will spend 20 years in prison for a drug-related murder. 32-year-old Victor McKeavin escaped a possible life sentence by pleading guilty to a reduced charge of second-degree homicide. He admitted shooting 31-year-old Derwin Hawkins to death in May of 2011. Prosecutors said the two men were both drug dealers, and they had a disagreement after they got together on Madison’s west side. McKeavin asked the victim’s family to forgive him, and he wants to keep helping kids who get in trouble. Dane County Circuit Judge William Hanrahan said he hoped McKeavin would live up to his words someday, and not quote, “rot in prison.”

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A federal prosecutor admits that a botched sting operation in Milwaukee should have nabbed larger numbers of violent criminals. Assistant U-S Attorney Fran Schmitz also told a judge at a sentencing hearing that the operation was quote, “not the best use of law enforcement resources.” 31-year-old Michael Buford was sentenced yesterday to 10 years in prison for selling cocaine, ecstasy, and guns to undercover agents. His previous record included three other drug convictions, but no violent crimes. Schmitz told Judge J-P Stadtmueller that the investigation by the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives was designed to catch people with violent pasts – but not enough were caught, and Buford was not one of them. Over 30 people were arrested, and 145 guns seized in an operation in which a fake storefront was broken into and weapons were stolen. The Journal Sentinel says it’s extremely rare for a prosecutor to even mildly criticize a law enforcement operation in a public court proceeding before a judge. The A-T-F has launched a full inquiry into the botched sting. And prosecutor Schmitz told the judge quote, “Things will be done differently in the future.”

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Jury deliberations will resume today in the trial of Chad Chritton, the Madison man accused of torturing and starving his teenage daughter. Jurors deliberated for nine hours before telling the judge early this morning that they couldn’t agree on a verdict. Dane County Circuit Judge Julie Genovese told them to keep going. A half-hour later, they asked to go for the night – and she let them. The jurors heard more than two weeks of testimony in the case of the 41-year-old Chritton. He’s charged with a half-dozen felonies and a misdemeanor, for allegedly hiding his daughter in his basement for years. She was 15 when she escaped early last year, and she weighed only 68 pounds at the time. Chritton’s charges include false imprisonment, reckless endangerment, and causing mental harm to a child. His wife still faces the same charges, and the girl’s step-brother is charged with sexually assaulting her.

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A private prep school in Milwaukee has agreed to pay 37-thousand-500 dollars to settle claims that a staff member was fired because she was pregnant. The U-S Equal Employment Opportunity Commission sued the University School of Milwaukee, after the K-to-12 facility let Mallory Barker go. She was a part-time arts-and-crafts director in an after-school program, and the E-E-O-C said her pregnancy is what got her terminated. Under the settlement, the University School must also train its managers and employees about pregnancy discrimination and prevent such actions in the future. The school said it was not admitting liability, but it was in the school’s best interest to settle the case.

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