PFC puts complaint on hold

The Madison Police and Fire Commission last week delayed hearing a complaint brought by Isthmus news editor Bill Lueders against Lt. Dennis George Riley, a police supervisor, until after the completion of criminal proceedings against a Madison woman named Patty who alleges that she was raped, then coerced by police into saying that she made it up. (See "Cry Rape," 2/13/98.)

"[W]e regard the relationship of Board proceedings to pending criminal proceedings as a threshold problem with extremely serious implications," wrote Commissioner Mario Mendoza in an order dated May 28. It states that the PFC process, scheduled for evidentiary hearings beginning June 8, can resume upon resolution of the criminal matter or on motion from either party. (Jury selection for Patty's trial on misdemeanor charges of obstructing an officer is set for Aug. 3.)

Mendoza's order came a day after a PFC panel he headed heard oral arguments on two motions: Deputy District Attorney Jill Karofsky's attempt to quash subpoenas requiring her to produce police reports in the case against Patty and Lt. Riley's attempt, through attorney Paul Schwarzenbart, to prevent the PFC from hearing testimony regarding such underlying facts as whether Patty was indeed raped, or whether her confession was coerced.

Karofsky argued that releasing these records would compromise her efforts to convict Patty of a crime. Schwarzenbart argued that these records were not relevant to deciding the substance of the PFC complaint against Lt. Riley: whether he broke department rules in not forwarding and later denying knowledge of two letters from Patty alleging that she was coerced into confessing. Lueders argued that Lt. Riley's knowledge of the underlying facts in the case is potentially key to assessing the propriety of his conduct.

Isthmus last Friday asked Karofsky whether, after the conclusion of the criminal case, she would make the reports available or continue to seek to block their release. She did not respond.