Madison, Wisconsin—The opinion by the US Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit that explained the freeing of the innocent state worker Georgia Thompson is being used by the Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel to provide political cover for US Atty Biskupic. 

The Journal-Sentinel editorial, “Mistakes aren't crimes” (April 24, 2007), seized a slender reed at the end of the 14-page opinion that was also used by Biskupic in his own audacious public relations move after the written opinion was issued April 20.

Reads Biskupic’s statement on the Court’s opinion: “We are studying the decision to determine its impact on other cases. Meanwhile, given the initial rhetoric surrounding the result, we are heartened that the opinion notes the good faith legal difference inherent in the case.”

Biskupic and the Journal-Sentinel both attempt to declare Biskupic’s good-faith intentions in bringing the prosecution, called “preposterous” in the opinion, by citing one paragraph criticizing the ambiguity of the parts of the federal statute used by Biskupic.

"Sections 666 and 1346 have an open-ended quality that makes it possible for prosecutors to believe, and public employees to deny, that a crime has occurred, and for both sides to act in good faith with support in the case law."
- 7th Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals Chief Judge Frank Easterbrook

Reads the contorted Journal-Sentinel editorial: “Let's translate: Biskupic was not out of bounds to believe that a crime had been committed. But the court respectfully disagrees - in language in this written decision far more tempered than that which occurred during oral arguments. But disagree the higher court does, even in writing. On the whole, ‘beyond thin’ as a description of the evidence still holds up, it says.”

Not out of bounds? That’s disingenuous.

Finish read at MAL Contends