Kaul Calls out Schimel for Failing to Prioritize Testing of Backlogged Rape Kits Years Ago

MADISON — On this week’s Cap City Sunday, host Emilee Fannon asked AG Brad Schimel about Wisconsin’s backlog of untested rape kits. Instead of admitting that he has mishandled the issue, Schimel made the remarkable claim that “we hit the ground running” in dealing with the backlog and said “we’re having great success.”

Josh Kaul, candidate for Wisconsin Attorney General, released the following statement:

“More than three years into our AG’s tenure, testing still hasn’t been completed on about 2,800 kits in the backlog. Hundreds of kits still haven’t even been submitted for testing. That’s not a ‘great success.’ It’s a failure.”

In his interview, Schimel also said “we know that those kits contain evidence and some of them will help us link offenders to crimes.”

“That’s why our AG should have made this a priority years ago,” Kaul said.

Although Schimel claims to have “hit the ground running,” in February of 2017 — more than two years after he took office — Schimel claimed that “a few hundred” of the thousands of backlogged kits had been tested. The truth quickly came out that only nine kits had been tested at that time.

A few months later, Schimel told Mike Gousha, “It’s not a backlog.” That statement was rated “Pants on Fire” by Politifact Wisconsin.

Josh Kaul served as a federal prosecutor in Baltimore, one of America’s most violent cities. There, Kaul prosecuted murderers, gang members, and drug traffickers, taking dangerous criminals off the street and making communities more secure. He grew up in Oshkosh and Fond du Lac in a family of law enforcement professionals and teachers. He is running for Attorney General in 2018.

For more information, please visit: www.joshkaul.org

Kaul for Attorney General

NOTE: This press release was submitted to Urban Milwaukee and was not written by an Urban Milwaukee writer. It has not been verified for its accuracy or completeness.