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“They Have Kept the Community Safe.”
Liberal Judge Susan Crawford is not only doubling down on her four-year sentence for a convicted child molester, she is telling voters that the short sentence made Wisconsin safer.
During Wednesday night’s Supreme Court debate, Crawford answered the question about why she gave Kevin Welton just four-years in prison after he was convicted in 2020 or raping a six-year-old girl at a birthday party.
“I don't regret that sentence,” Crawford said. “Because I followed the law in that case. As I always do . I applied the law which says that judges have to consider every relevant factor in sentencing. You have to consider both the aggravating and mitigating factors, and the Supreme Court has said you have to order the minimum amount of prison time you believe is necessary to protect the public.”
Prosecutors in the case asked for 100-years in prison. Because of time served, Welton spent just two-years behind bars.
Crawford also defended her decision to give Welton just six-years of supervised release after he got out of prison.
“Those have been sentences that have been successful,” she added. “They have kept the community safe.”
Conservative Judge Brad Schimel said the light sentences, and Crawford’s defense of them are telling.
“My opponent just revealed the problem in her judgment,” Schimel said in the debate. “That in weighing all the factors, giving the minimum amount of time to a dangerous sex offender weighs higher than protecting the community. That's what she just revealed.”
Schimel has made an issue out of Crawford’s record on crime during her time as a Dane County judge.
She also gave light sentences to a pair convicted of child pornography possession, and another light sentence to a Madison shooter who went on to commit another shooting just days later.
Tuesday night’s debate was the only debate between Schimel and Crawford. Voters will choose one of them on April 1st.
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