Oshkosh man says he paid for shorter jail term

By Alex Hummel of the Northwestern 

In the midst of misconduct allegations against the Winnebago County District Attorney’s Office, an Oshkosh man Saturday said an attorney defending him against drunken driving charges told him to write him a check for $700, sparing him five months in jail. 

Leroy Ruedinger said that attorney is now-Winnebago County Assistant District Attorney Milton Schierland, who was in private practice at the time of the case. Schierland said there was no wrongdoing and couldn’t recall whether Ruedinger was a former client. 

"I couldn’t tell you if this guy was a happy client, a sad client or a disgruntled client," Schierland said Saturday. 

Court records connect Schierland with at least three drunken driving cases when he was a defense attorney in which charges were reduced or amended. 

Ruedinger’s claim comes a day after Winnebago County District Attorney Joseph Paulus said broadcast reports of his office being under investigation by the FBI were part of a smear campaign being orchestrated by a political opponent and a Menasha Police Department officer. The FBI has not confirmed whether an investigation is ongoing. 

Judge Barbara Hart Key told The Northwestern on Friday she has referred a 1999 drunk driving case involving an Oshkosh woman to the state Office of Lawyer Regulation for review of "potential unethical conduct," possibly on both sides of the aisle. Schierland was the defense attorney in that case. 

Ruedinger said prosecutors ordered him to pay $700 as an extra penalty to benefit DARE, an anti-drug and alcohol awareness program in elementary schools. But Ruedinger said, at Schierland’s insistence, he rewrote the check and made it out to Schierland in April 1996. In doing so, Ruedinger’s looming six-month jail sentence for a drunk driving conviction was converted into a 30-day stay behind bars. 

"That check wasn’t going to DARE, and we knew it," Pat Ruedinger, Leroy’s wife, said Saturday, unable to confirm where the check did go. The check was not returned to the Ruedingers. 

The Ruedingers said they were never told the check would be sent to the district attorney’s office as a bribe, but Leroy Ruedinger said he was certain Schierland told him to write the check to him. 

"He (Schierland) said, ‘Make me out another check,’" Ruedinger said. "I said, ‘I don’t have the checkbook with me.’ I said I’d cross out ‘DARE’ and write his name in. He said, ‘I don’t know if the bank will accept it.’" 

Ruedinger, 54, said he isn’t sure what happened to their check after it changed hands. 

He is a three-time convicted drunk driver, with cases dating between 1992 and 1999, according to Internet circuit court records. He and his wife said Saturday that he no longer has a drinking problem. 

Ruedinger is also listed as the defendant in a March 1996 small claims case. The plaintiff listed is Schierland Law Offices, Milton Schierland’s former Neenah law firm. No other information about that case was available Saturday. 

The Ruedingers came forward after reading of allegations against the Winnebago County District Attorney’s Office in The Northwestern Saturday. 

Ruedinger, a 54-year-old boat propeller maker at Mercury Marine, and his wife said they both questioned the legality of writing the check they claim they gave Schierland in 1996. But they said they didn’t act on their concerns. 

Ruedinger said Schierland specifically told him not to mention the payment, and he didn’t for fear of a full six-month jail sentence. 

"At the time, I wanted desperately to call the judge," Pat Ruedinger said. "I wanted to call Judge (Thomas) Williams at home. That’s how illegal I thought this was. But he (Leroy) told me to shut up about it." 

After hearing the reports of the last two days, Pat Ruedinger said she and her husband are skeptical about how their money was used. She said she hoped to report her concerns to Key. She also said she plans to call her bank Monday and see if she could get the original or a copy of the 1996 check, showing how her husband crossed out "DARE" and wrote in Schierland’s name. 

Schierland said he had no recollection of the details of the Ruedingers’ claims. He also dismissed the general allegations hanging over the district attorney’s office. 

"There’s nothing clandestine," Schierland said. "There’s nothing wrong. We (the district attorneys) are taking such a beating with everything out there that’s going on." 

When asked by a reporter if the FBI had interviewed him, Schierland requested to speak "off the record." The Northwestern declined. 

Paulus said the allegations are the tools in a political smear campaign by an opponent seeking his post – Assistant District Attorney Edmund Jelinski -- and a disgruntled, former domestic abuse investigator transferred back to the Menasha Police Department. 

Of the Ruedingers’ claims, Paulus said Saturday he had no knowledge of "the arrangements" between Schierland and his clients while he was in private practice. 

He said the district attorney’s office was not accepting bribes in exchange for less severe jail terms, nor was it guilty of any criminal or unethical activity. 

Oshkosh criminal defense attorney Robert VanderLoop, a board member of the Wisconsin Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers (WACDL), said the Winnebago County District Attorney’s Office is known statewide for cutting deals with favorite private attorneys. 

"Obviously in Winnebago County it creates a problem," VanderLoop said. "I think there are people who think they aren’t being fairly treated. ... They don’t feel that they are getting a fair break." 

VanderLoop said the WACDL has discussed the lawyer biases before. But he said he has no reason to believe cash payments are being made to reduce sentences. 

"Can I say somebody gave somebody money? No." 

The Appleton Post-Crescent reports in today’s edition that the case Key referred to the state Office of Lawyer Regulation involves Connie L. Christensen, then 27, of Oshkosh, who was charged with her third drunken driving offense but reached a plea agreement on a lesser charge. 

Paulus denies any wrongdoing. 

"There was nothing improper in the way the case was handled in court," he told the Post-Crescent Saturday. 

At Christensen’s sentencing hearing Aug. 31, 1999, the DA’s file of the case could not be located. All court files are duplicated and one is kept in the DA’s office and the other is maintained by the Clerk of Courts for use by the judge. 

The two files are not necessarily exact duplicates. The DA’s file often contains police reports and other evidentiary documents that have not yet been made part of the court record. 

The missing file did not pose a problem, Key told the Post-Crescent. 

"I said, ‘I don’t want to approve a written stipulation, I want something stated on the record with a transcript.’ I wanted more specifics for the record, to support the request for the reduction. The state actually made the motion." 

Key then approved the plea agreement, which called for a reduction of the drunken driving charge to reckless driving, a non-criminal offense, resulting in a fine of $209. Had Christensen been convicted of the drunken driving charge, she would have received a jail sentence with about $1,000 in fines and a revocation of her driving privileges for up to three years. 

Key said she since became concerned about the handling of the case file, and that was part of the reason for her referral. She declined to be more specific. 

Schierland was Christensen’s defense attorney. Paulus said Assistant District Attorney Stephanie Stauber handled the plea and sentencing for his office. Stauber could not be reached for a comment.

Alex Hummel: (920) 426-6669 or ahummel@smgpo.gannett.com. 
Dan Wilson, a writer with the Appleton Post-Crescent contributed to this report.