When it was Judge Susan Crawford’s time to talk, she gave child rapist Curtis O’Brien such a weak sentence that he is already free.
The girl who was repeatedly molested by now-freed Curtis O’Brien through age 6 wrote a heartbreaking victim impact statement that was submitted to Dane County Judge Susan Crawford just two years ago. “My favorite color is rainbow color and Christmas. I love spaghetti and mac and cheese with peas and corn and tuna and oatmeal,” it reads.
“My favorite stuffed animals are tigers, lions, lady bugs, narwahls and hedgehogs. My favorite kind of juice is lemonade. My favorite kind of dollars are monster high and even after high. I love pugs,” the letter, which is broken into multiple chapters, continues.
But when it was Crawford’s turn to speak, the liberal judge, who is now running for state Supreme Court, gave O’Brien, now 30 – whom she had already repeatedly allowed to stay in the community on a $500 signature bond and even work out at Planet Fitness – a measly four-year sentence, court records show.
That was less than half of the confinement time requested by the prosecutor, the sentencing transcript reveals. Since O’Brien had already served more than half of it, he is already out in the community today and living in Madison, according to Wisconsin’s Sex Offender Registry. She gave O’Brien another six years of extended supervision. Her concern seemed to be about O’Brien’s future.
“I believe that length of a sentence is less than what the state is recommending here,” Crawford admitted, according to the sentencing transcript. “It will give an opportunity for Mr. O’Brien to receive some rehabilitative services.”
Crawford, who as a private attorney tried to overturn Voter ID and Act 10, admitted that “four years in this case is going to be less than four years” because of a sentence credit. At one point, Crawford needed the other attorneys present to educate her on the law. Crawford asked the attorneys whether, since the charge was a repeated sexual assault, “Is this a lifetime registration requirement or is it within the discretion of the court?” The prosecutor advised her it was a lifetime requirement.
The sentencing transcript shows that the prosecutor asked for a 15-year sentence (10 years confined in prison and 5 years of extended supervision) in the case, which sparked outrage in tiny Black Earth, Wisconsin when Crawford allowed O’Brien to live across from an elementary school while on the $500 signature bond. O’Brien faced 60 years in prison.
The case is one of a string of cases in which Crawford let serious offenders, including violent offenders, off easy. She is running against former Republican Attorney General Brad Schimel for Supreme Court; he has been endorsed by law enforcement leaders throughout the state and is a Waukesha County Judge and former DA.
“This is repeated sexual assaults of the same child,” prosecutor Rebekah Rennicke told Crawford.
The victim was then age 14 and dealing with PTSD, anxiety, depression and self-image issues, the prosecutor said. She “was a 4-year-old when it started,” Rennicke said. The court case dragged on for four years.
But it is the victim’s words that are most haunting. The girl, whose name is being withheld by Wisconsin Right Now to protect her privacy, divided the nine-page victim impact statement into chapters. She was 10 when she wrote it. The statement is marked as a court exhibit in Dane County and was scanned on July 21, 2022.
In the first chapter, the child describes herself. Chapter 2 was labeled “good memories,” but it’s blank. Chapter 3 was labeled “abuser.”
“I woke up one day and went downstairs with my brother. I opened the door because I didn’t know who it was. When I opened the door, it was Curtis.” The document says he lived in the neighborhood.
The statement graphically describes the abuse.
“I got sad. I go off in my head to my wonderland in class and when he abused me. I wanted to go out. I wanted my mommy. I felt like I wanted to punch him in the face. I finally got out of the bathroom.”
Chapter 4 was labeled “the worst time ever.”
“Curtis came over, and I was watching TV and my mom was making lunch and I told mom we’re going downstairs to watch a movie. We watched Backyardigans.” When he molested her, “I felt really scared.”
Chapter 5 was called “the tell chapter.”
“I went upstairs to get my pjs on and mommy talked to me and that’s when I told. I wanted to tell her because I felt not safe. She told my dad to come in. I told my dad and they were mad and called the police. I felt scared that she would say, ‘I don’t believe you,’ but she did believe me. I felt happy.”
Chapter 6 consisted of happy facts about (victim) and being at therapy.
“It’s ok to feel sad, mad or happy. Sometimes you have to cry because it really hurts. I got through this by putting in the work. I wrote a story about the abuse,” she wrote. “The advice I would give to other kids is if you have a new friend, he might try to get you to trust him and you might have bad things happen. I would say tell your mom and then I would walk with them give them a hug and tell them they can do it.”
Chapter 7 was labeled “the worser days.”
“This is the worst days that ever happened to me. My thoughts are that I really wanted to grab a knife and hurt him because I was super scared. My other thoughts were that I was going to die if I told anybody. I think he told me that he would hurt me,” the girl wrote. “I felt scared and I didn’t know what to do because I was tiny then. It was weird because I didn’t know what I was doing do. It felt like I was doing something wrong. It hurt sometimes.”
Chapter 8 included “ways to help with anxiety or abuse.”
“The ways to help with abuse first just go in your bed and cry if you really feel sad or mad at yourself or the person. Tell your mom or dad or a trusted adult. If you need to scream into your pillow, you can,” the girl wrote. “Play with your brother with video games or other toys or watching youtube. Don’t be scared of everything because you can tell anybody if you are scared and they will help you. Play with a pet if you are scared.”
She concluded the statement, “THE END.”
Susan Crawford Speaks
When it was her time to speak, Crawford admitted that the victim “clearly has suffered a great deal of trauma from this sexual assault or series of sexual assaults,” according to the sentencing transcript.
Crawford said she had ruled O’Brien competent to stand trial but thought it was a “close question.” His mother is his guardian.
“It is apparent to me that Mr. O’Brien, regardless of his involvement in the criminal justice system would need quite a bit of assistance and supervision in day-to-day life,” she said.
She noted that the presentence recommendation asked for a significant prison sentence and that O’Brien had not expressed “any kind of remorse, repentance or cooperativeness.”
But then she gave him the short sentence.
Crawford acknowledged that O’Brien stood before the court convicted of a class B felony, one of the most serious crimes under Wisconsin’s statutes. She also admitted it was an “aggravated type of sexual offense.”
The Victim’s Mother Speaks
The victim’s mother also described the heartwrenching abuse and how it had harmed the family.
“We went from having a family that is, was like a family to having an entire neighborhood ostracize my daughter. Kids weren’t allowed to play with her anymore, parents wouldn’t talk to me anymore,” the mother told Crawford, the sentencing transcript shows.
“My daughter found out what a pelvic was at the age of six or seven and I had to hold her in the exam and it was extremely traumatizing and then all the stress we had to go through,” she told the court, according to a sentencing transcript.
Wisconsin Right Now is withholding her name to protect her daughter’s privacy.
The child “developed extreme anxiety for years, and taking her to school every day was a chore, and some days I ended up crying from doing it because she didn’t want to leave me so bad. She would clutch and grab on the side of the van,” added the distraught mother.
“He got to run around free and do what he wanted while we were suffering in pain,” the mother told the judge of O’Brien.
“It will never go away for her. She wakes up every day knowing what was done to her, and remembering whether she wants to or not because it will always be there and always be there for all of us,” the mother said. “I just ask that he is punished fairly.”
The prosecutor went through O’Brien’s criminal history: In 2015, he was convicted of “take and drive” without consent. His probation was revoked. In 2018, he was convicted of disorderly conduct while armed after he “pointed the gun at the victim’s face,” said the prosecutor. In 2017, he stole from a bowling alley when the owner was letting him clean it. He was charged with felony bail jumping.
Although he has disabilities he “knows the difference between right and wrong,” said the prosecutor, calling them “very hands-on charges” that involved both vaginal intercourse and oral sex.
The defense attorney said O’Brien was lonely, had cognitive and mental health issues, and wore “something around his wrist” that would shake every 15 minutes to help him refocus. His family put a GPS bracelet on him. “He has also been traumatized by this,” the defense attorney stated.
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