Jury convicts former Milwaukee election official of obtaining fake absentee ballots

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A jury found a former Milwaukee election official accused of obtaining fake absentee ballots guilty Wednesday of misconduct in office and fraud, rejecting her arguments that she was trying to expose vulnerabilities in the state’s election system.

Prosecutors charged Kimberly Zapata in November 2022 with one felony count of misconduct in public office and three misdemeanor counts of election fraud. The jury found her guilty in Milwaukee County Circuit Court on all four counts after starting deliberations Wednesday morning.

Zapata faces up to five years behind bars when she’s sentenced on May 2.

Zapata was serving as deputy director at the Milwaukee Election Commission in October 2022 when she used her work-issued laptop to obtain three military absentee ballots using fake names and Social Security numbers, according to a criminal complaint. She sent the ballots to Republican state Rep. Janel Brandtjen, an election conspiracy theorist, two weeks before the state’s gubernatorial and legislative elections.

Brandtjen has advocated for decertifying President Joe Biden’s 2020 win in Wisconsin and has espoused conspiracy theories supporting her position.

Active military personnel do not have to register to vote or provide photo identification to obtain absentee ballots in Wisconsin. Zapata told investigators that she was stressed over death threats commission staff had been receiving from election conspiracy theorists and she wanted to shift their attention to real flaws in the system.

Her attorney, Daniel Adams, had argued during a two-day trial that Zapata saw herself as a whistleblower and didn’t mean to hurt anyone. Assistant District Attorney Matthew Westphal countered that Zapata went rogue and broke the law rather than sharing her concerns with state election officials, reporters or legislators.

“She is not a whistleblower. She’s not exposing information. She’s committing election fraud,” Westphal said during his closing arguments Wednesday morning. “As a society we cannot tolerate people who break the law when there are multiple legitimate means to raise those same concerns.”

Adams declined to comment through a receptionist at his law office after the verdicts were handed down.

The case against Zapata mirrors one against Harry Wait, a Racine man who requested and received absentee ballots in the names of legislators and local officials in July. Wait also said he wanted to expose vulnerabilities in the state’s elections system. He faces up to 13 years in prison if convicted on two misdemeanor counts of election fraud and two felony counts of identity theft.

Milwaukee, home to the largest number of Democrats in Wisconsin, has been a target for complaints from former President Donald Trump and his supporters, who made unsubstantiated claims of widespread voter fraud to attack Biden’s 2020 victory.

Heading into the state’s April 2 presidential primary, Wisconsin is once again one of a few battleground states crucial for both sides in the November presidential election.

Brandtjen faces her own legal troubles. The Wisconsin Ethics Commission last month recommended felony charges against Brandtjen and a fundraising committee for Trump, accusing them of efforts to evade campaign finance laws during an attempt to unseat GOP Assembly Speaker Robin Vos.

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State Supreme Court reverses additional conviction in slaying of Minneapolis real estate agent

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The Minnesota Supreme Court on Wednesday reversed the convictions of the alleged ringleader of a plot to kidnap and kill a Minneapolis real estate agent, marking the second time the high court has ordered a new trial for a defendant convicted in her death.

The justices said that the trial judge gave the jury erroneous legal instructions on the liability of accomplices that might have affected its findings that Lyndon Akeem Wiggins was guilty of first-degree premeditated murder, kidnapping and other counts in the New Year’s Eve 2019 killing of Monique Baugh.

The Supreme Court in January also cited faulty jury instructions when it threw out the convictions of Elsa Segura, a former probation officer. Prosecutors say Segura lured Baugh to a phony home showing in suburban Maple Grove, where she was kidnapped.

Baugh was found shot to death in a Minneapolis alley in the early hours of 2020. Prosecutors said she was killed in a complicated scheme aimed at getting revenge against Baugh’s boyfriend, Jon Mitchell-Momoh, a recording artist who had a falling-out with Wiggins, a former music business associate of his, who was also a drug dealer. Baugh’s boyfriend, whom Wiggins allegedly considered a snitch, was also shot but survived.

The Supreme Court earlier affirmed the convictions of two other defendants who were accused of kidnapping Baugh. Hennepin County District Judge Peter Cahill sentenced all four to life in prison without the possibility of parole.

In its ruling Wednesday, the Supreme Court said the jury instructions for both Wiggins and Baugh, who got separate trials, misstated the law on accomplice liability because the instructions did not specifically require the jury to find either one criminally liable for someone else’s actions in order to find them guilty.

“The error was not harmless because it cannot be said beyond a reasonable doubt that the error had no significant impact on the verdict,” the justices wrote. The court ordered a new trial.

However, the justices rejected Wiggins’ argument the search warrant for his cellphone lacked probable cause.

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Governor signs bills creating electric vehicle charging station network across Wisconsin

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Wisconsin Gov. Tony Evers signed bipartisan bills Wednesday designed to jump-start creation of an electric vehicle charging network along the state’s interstate system and major highways.

The new laws free up nearly $80 million in federal construction aid and makes it easier for gas stations, convenience stores and other businesses to operate the electric vehicle charging stations. The measures were backed by businesses and environmentalists alike and cheered as a way for Wisconsin to expand its electric vehicle charging network.

The funding is designed to support Level 3 charging stations, which will allow for passenger electric vehicles to be recharged in less than an hour. Lower level chargers are designed to recharge a vehicle overnight or throughout the day.

Federal guidance calls for stations no more than 50 miles apart.

“Electric vehicle drivers in Wisconsin will soon be able to travel about 85 percent of our state highway system and never be more than 25 miles away from a charger,” Wisconsin Transportation Secretary Craig Thompson said in a statement Wednesday.

Wisconsin currently has nearly 580 publicly accessible electric vehicle charging stations. The state Department of Transportation has said it expects to use the $78.7 million in federal grants to support building 65 high-speed charging stations in key corridors using the federal funding unlocked through enactment of the new laws.

One bill Evers signed allows for the creation of an EV infrastructure program to help businesses construct charging stations over the next five years. The grants would cover up to 80% of costs; grant recipients would have to put up the remaining 20%.

The funding was part of $7.5 billion included in the 2021 infrastructure law passed to meet President Joe Biden’s goal to build a national network of 500,000 publicly available chargers by 2030. The charging ports are a key part of Biden’s effort to encourage drivers to move away from gasoline-powered cars and trucks that contribute to global warming.

But progress on the network has been slow. Ohio and New York are the only states that have opened charging stations under the National Electric Vehicle Infrastructure program. As of mid-January, a total of 28 states, plus Puerto Rico, have either awarded contracts to build chargers or have accepted bids to do so.

EV charging stations must charge customers by the amount of electricity used, known as a kilowatt-hour. Selling by the killowatt-hour is similar to fueling a vehicle with gasoline.

Wisconsin law only allows utilities to charge per kilowatt-hour. That means any business that wanted to offer a charging station would have to be regulated as a utility.

In order to access the federal money, an exemption to that law was needed. The bill Evers signed allows private businesses to sell electricity at the charging stations by kilowatt-hour and not be regulated as a utility.

Users of the charging stations would be charged a 3-cent-per-kilowatt-hour tax. Local government entities and state agencies would not be allowed to operate public charging stations but could run their own stations to charge their vehicles.

“We don’t have to choose between protecting our environment and natural resources or creating good-paying jobs and infrastructure to meet the needs of a 21st-Century economy — in Wisconsin, we’re doing both,” Evers said in a statement.

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As Twins camp winds down, here’s a look at four relievers vying for a bullpen spot

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FORT MYERS, Fla. — When the Twins reported to camp, it seemed as if two roster spots were up for grabs: one for a bench bat and one in the bullpen. Now, with Opening Day rapidly approaching next Thursday, the Twins have even more decisions to make than when they reported to Fort Myers.

In addition to the last spot in the bullpen, the Twins now have two more openings with both Caleb Thielbar (hamstring strain) and Jhoan Duran (oblique strain) set to begin the season on the injured list.

“We’re going to keep watching this group pitch and I bet some of the decisions may go down to even the last day,” manager Rocco Baldelli said.

The Twins currently have 21 pitchers in left camp, plus Josh Winder, who will begin the season on the 60-day injured list. Four more — relievers Duran, Thielbar and Zack Weiss and starter Anthony DeSclafani — will also start the year on the injured list.

That leaves 17 pitchers for 13 spots, many of which have never been in question. For the remaining three, it seems as if there are four hurlers — all of whom are on the 40-man roster — who have a leg up in the competition. Here’s a look at those four:

Kody Funderburk

If the Twins want to carry two lefties — it seemed as if they were planning on it with Thielbar and Steven Okert — they could included the rookie, Funderburk, on their Opening Day roster. After a strong season spent primarily in Triple-A, the Twins called Funderburk up near the end of last year, getting his feet wet in the majors.

He was impressive during his brief taste of major league action, giving up one run in 12 innings pitched (0.75 ERA). Funderburk posted a 0.917 WHIP (walks and hits per innings pitched) and fanned 19 batters.

Cole Sands

The Twins carried a long reliever in the bullpen for much of last season, and if they wish to have a pitcher occupy this role again, it would appear Sands would be the guy. The Twins have already optioned Brent Headrick to Triple-A and Winder will begin the season on the injured list. The trio often occupied the spot over the course of the year.

Sands, who gave up four runs in two innings against the Washington Nationals on Thursday, broke camp with the Twins last year. He was up and down between the majors and minors but often went several days between appearing in a game because a long reliever wasn’t needed.

Josh Staumont

The veteran reliever was the Twins’ first major league signing of the offseason, and has the most proven major league success of the group. But Staumont is coming off a major procedure — thoracic outlet syndrome surgery — the symptoms of which disrupted both of his last two seasons. Staumont had a combined 6.09 ERA across the last two seasons after being a highly effective reliever in the majors previously.

In 2021, he posted a 2.88 ERA, striking out 72 batters in 65 2/3 innings pitched and collecting five saves. The Twins have seen positive signs from him of late, with his velocity picking throughout the spring.

Jorge Alcala

Alcala was hit on the finger tips with a comebacker on Wednesday, exiting the game early. The report after the game seemed positive, though.

The hard-throwing 28-year-old has missed much of the past couple seasons with injuries, pitching a combined 13 games. But now healthy, he could finally be a contributor once again.

The last time he pitched with any consistency was 2021, during which he flashed his promise, particularly at the end of the year when he finished the season with a 0.96 ERA across the final two months.