Wisconsin Attorney General Josh Kaul has badly mismanaged the state crime lab, a new report from his office shows, especially in the key area of DNA, where delays jumped significantly over his predecessor, Brad Schimel.
This has been the case ever since Kaul took office in 2019. Although he defeated Schimel largely by hammering the Republican on crime lab delays, Kaul, five years into office now, has failed to get his hands around the lab backlogs. And his old excuse of COVID has long ago run out.
Kaul said in the November 2024 report that he couldn’t “meaningfully” reduce crime lab backlogs without getting more spending/staff, and he’s tried to say he’s doing better than some other crime labs. However, the fact is evident from his own reports: the Democrat Kaul is presiding over a crime lab that is far less productive than it was under Schimel, while still not turning evidence around as fast in multiple key areas.
This matters because Kaul said the crime lab was one fundamental way the public should measure an AG’s worthiness to remain in office. Schimel is now a Waukesha County judge running for state Supreme Court.
Overall cases handled by the Kaul-run crime lab dropped 28 percent since 2016. That’s according to Kaul’s report. Kaul is also doing much worse processing controlled substances, trace evidence, and toxicology cases than Schimel did.
Kaul’s office released the 2023 report in November 2024.
DNA analysis is where the rubber meets the road. Delays can keep criminals on the streets to re-offend and stall justice for victims. Simply put, crime lab backlogs and delays imperil public safety. In fact, Kaul’s mother, the late Peg Lautenschlager, lost the AG office in part because a DNA case delay left an offender on the street who was involved in the murder of a state drug agent.
Yet Kaul’s office is taking much longer to process DNA than Schimel’s, even though Schimel handled almost twice as many cases. The turnaround time increased under Kaul by 35 percent. What is turnaround time? According to Kaul’s report, “Turnaround time: DFS defines the turnaround time on a case to include a start time from when the laboratories accept a case for testing and initiate an assignment to when a report is issued.”
The same trend is found when it comes to the DNA databank. There was a 41 percent increase in turnaround time, even though Kaul handled fewer cases.
DNA CASEWORK
The numbers represent “mean turnaround time”
Schimel final year (2018): 80 (8626 cases)
2021: 128
2022: 84
2023: 108 (4439 cases)
DNA DATABANK
The numbers represent “mean turnaround time”
Schimel final year (2018): 29 (29,900 cases)
2021: 44
2022: 26
2023: 41 (24547 cases)
OVERALL CASES ACCEPTED – Way down under Kaul
In 2023, 44 percent of the cases involved controlled substances. The other categories included things like homicide, weapons, and sexual assaults.
SCHIMEL
2016: 13029
2017: 15795
2018: 12680
KAUL
2019: 10613
2020: 8985
2021: 9297
2022: 9297
2023: 9386
CONTROLLED SUBSTANCES – 155 percent increase over Schimel in delays
The turnaround time for controlled substances increased in 2023 by 80 percent. It increased 155 percent over Schimel’s last year.
Schimel last year (2018): 43 (5283 cases)
2021: 61
2022: 84
2023: 110 (4561)
TOXICOLOGY – Delays increased 73 percent over Schimel
2018: Schimel last year 37 (3897 cases)
2021: 48
2022: 84
2023: 64 (3042)
TRACE Evidence: Delays increased 185 percent Under Kaul even though Schimel handled more cases
2018: Schimel Final Year 71 (126)
2021: 85
2022: 79
2023: 202 (88 cases)
LATENT PRINTS – This one is mixed. Turnaround times under Kaul dropped 71 percent, but Kaul’s office handled 41 percent fewer cases.
2018: Schimel final year 224 (1304)
2021: 71
2022: 68
2023: 66 (775 cases handled)
FOOTWEAR – Kaul improved on Schimel here, handling more cases and decreasing turnaround time by 73 percent
2018: Schimel final year 263 (19 cases handled)
2021: 136
2022: 59
2023: 71 (30 cases handled)
FORENSIC IMAGING: Turnaround times under Kaul increased 27 percent, but cases grew by 19 percent.
2018: Schimel final year 62 (total cases 62)
2021: 70
2022: 83
2023: 79 (total cases 74)
TOOLMARKS: No delays for either, but more cases handled by Schimel
2018: Schimel final year 0 (25 cases)
2021: 38
2022: 5
2023: 0 (5 cases)
FIREARMS – 15 percent drop in turnaround time under Kaul
2018: Schimel final year 209 (446)
2021: 157
2022: 167
2023: 177 (499 cases)
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