Useful Idiot: Wisconsin State Rep. Samantha Kerkman admits civil commitment is just an extension of prison time

There are a lot of bad things to unpack here, like the use of "pocket parks" to banish Registered Persons from living in the community, but a Republican state rep potentially helps out future lawsuits by admitting civil commitment is being used to incarcerate people beyond their sentences. I'm sure her cohorts in the WI legislature are unhappy she spilled the beans. 

https://www.kenoshanews.com/news/local/new-hearing-set-friday-on-placement-of-two-sex-offenders-in-camp-lake/article_638a7bbc-2bff-596d-8740-855324734219.html

RESIDENTS OBJECT TO SEX OFFENDER PLAN

WATCH NOW: New hearing set Friday on placement of two sex offenders in Camp Lake

JILL TATGE-ROZELL 18 hrs ago

SALEM LAKES — Kenosha County Circuit Court Judge Anthony Milisauskas is scheduled to consider new information Friday about the proximity of parks to a village home where two sex offenders were ordered for placement, District Attorney Michael Graveley told more than 200 people at a meeting on the issue Wednesday night.

“We’re going to see what happens on Friday, but from my perspective you have a reason to be optimistic,” Graveley said, adding he can’t promise anything.

The hearing is set for 8:30 a.m. All parties will be communicating via telephone conference. However, the public will be able to listen if present in the courtroom at the Kenosha County Courthouse.

Both Graveley and Sheriff David Beth said Salem Lakes Village Administrator Mike Murdock supplied information about the location of parks not initially presented to the judges who approved the placement at a home at 2756 Camp Lake Road.

“If there’s a hero today whose here, it’s Mike Murdock,” Graveley said, garnering applause from the public.

Beth said, based on the information provided by Murdock, “detectives were able to determine there are several small parks within 1,500 feet of the residence.” Both state statute and village ordinance prohibit the placement of sex offenders within this range.

“The Sheriff’s Department no longer feels that this house fits for the placement of these two people,” Beth said, also to the applause of the crowd, which did get vocal in opposition to the pending placements at times during the meeting.

A map with a 1,500-foot radius drawn around the home address, on display at the meeting, clearly shows the locations of multiple parks. Graveley and Beth said this information is part of a new report that will be provided to the judge.

Resident Adrienne Kiesler, who spoke to the panel Wednesday, provided a photo showing the line of sight from her pier to the house located 175 feet away.

“My children are their number-one target,” Kiesler said, adding one of her sons in the same age as one of the offender’s victims. “All I can do is beg and plead that this gets to the right people to turn this down.”

Offenders’ records

The sex offenders scheduled for release are Dale H. Peshek, 48, and Brian T. Threlkeld, 39. Peshek was convicted in 1998 for the sexual assault of a 14-year-old boy in 1997, and with child enticement involving the same boy in 1995.

Threlkeld was convicted in 2000 for the sexual assault of a 13-year-old boy, and, according to archival news reports, admitted to assaulting others.

Both Peshek and Brian Threlkeld were found to be “sexually violent persons” by the court under Chapter 980 of state statutes. To be declared as such, an offender must have a mental disorder that predisposes the person to engage in acts of sexual violence and make it likely the person will engage in future acts of sexual violence.

According to the Wisconsin Department of Justice, which handled the petition to declare Peshek as a sexually violent offender, Peshek also committed sexual assaults of younger children in 1986 and 1988 when he was a juvenile.

Sex offenders who are deemed sexually violent begin a civil commitment at a treatment facility in Mauston after they have completed their criminal sentence. It is not for a specific time. The sexually violent offender is reevaluated yearly for supervised release.

Since 2017, an offender’s county of residence has been mandated by law to find a location for placement of upon their release.

Offenders will stay in county

Graveley said should the court decide Friday the home in Camp Lake is not an appropriate placement, another different location in Kenosha County will need to be found.

Representatives from the Department of Corrections, Department of Health Services, and other agencies involved explained the supervised release process and were on hand to answer questions.

State Rep. Samantha Kerkman, R-Salem Lakes, said she and state Sen. Van Wanggaard, R-Racine, “are working together to enhance our 980 statute” with additional notification rules. The legislators’ districts include Salem Lakes.

“We are lucky the statute was put on the books in 1994 because it’s helped keep people who are sexually violent incarcerated for an additional time period,” Kerkman said. “It’s an involuntary commitment essentially to help keep our communities safe.”