Finding Of Child Maltreatment Vacated by Court

While this is not something we do everyday, this was the continuation of a case that started in criminal court. It also shows the extent the government will go in an effort to get a client.

The client was originally charged with Reckless Child Abuse in criminal court. That case proceeded to trial and the client was found not guilty in approximately 5 minutes. That did not end the matter.

The county then decided that even though the client was found not guilty, they would move forward with a claim that the client was a child abuser. The client interacted with kids on a daily basis and was unwilling to accept this finding.

The case initially went to hearing. At the hearing every single witness who testified stated that what had occurred was an accident. Every witness. The Administrative Law Judge disagreed and found that the county had proven their case.

One thing we take pride in at this firm is the willingness to take the cases to places other firms are not, if necessary. So, we appealed the judge's decision. The case moved to the Wisconsin Department of Justice. Finally, an Assistant Attorney General took a look at the case and agreed with our position on appeal that the judge was wrong on the law. The government then moved to dismiss the case with prejudice. It cannot be re-filed and the client is finally free from the shadow the case had cast over him for so long.

Reckless Child Abuse- Found Not Guilty at Trial

Our client, a middle school principal, was charged with child abuse.  A conviction of this offense would not only cause him to lose his job, but as a convicted felon, he would never be able to work with kids again. Our client made a potentially career saving decision in hiring Chirafisi & Verhoff to represent him in this matter. 

The principal was charged with reckless child abuse for washing a child's hand (which had a profanity on it) with gum remover.  The child suffered a chemical burn and the parents called the police.

The facts were not in dispute in this case; the only question was whether the client acted recklessly, or if the burn was an accident?  This case had drawn considerable attention in the community because of the client's job.  Knowing this, a very helpful thing we did on this case was to request that the court send out specific jury questionnaires to gauge the prospective jury members' opinions about the case.

The jury selection ended up taking an entire day--something that is very rare.  However, the questionnaires made it much easier to get the people that we believed would be helpful hearing the case onto the jury.

The case was tried in two days and in the end, the client was found not guilty in approximately 5-10 minutes.  

The reaction of the jury really says it all in the video linked below: 
https://wxow.com/news/top-stories/2018/08/23/amundson-found-not-guilty-of-child-abuse/