Them's the breaks
Did cops get child-care provider to confess to something she didn't do?
By Bill Lueders
Madison police and the Dane County District Attorney's Office are tightlipped about a case in which charges were dismissed against a child-care provider who purportedly confessed to breaking the leg of a 1-year-old infant last August. But the woman's attorney, former District Attorney Hal Harlowe, says his client is innocent: "Susan Pankow is a good and decent woman who was unnecessarily caused considerable suffering."
Last Thursday, Dane County DA Diane Nicks dismissed felony child-abuse and neglect charges against Pankow, saying the investigation was being reopened due to new medical evidence. The implication was that someone other than Pankow was suspected, although Nicks left open the possibility--and police are strongly suggesting--that Pankow will be charged again.
Nicks refuses to respond to questions regarding the reliability of the confession obtained from Pankow by Madison Police Detectives Tom Woodmansee and Lauri Schwartz. In February, Harlowe filed a motion seeking to suppress Pankow's statements on grounds that she was "subjected to intimidating and coercive techniques."
Woodmansee is also the detective who allegedly coerced a woman named Patty into confessing that she made up a reported rape (see "Cry Rape," 2/13/98) and who allegedly berated a high school student over her desire to press charges against a boy who fondled her (see "Cop Draws Another Complaint," 3/6/98). He did not respond to an interview request. Says Det. Schwartz, "It's a pending investigation, and I can't comment.
At a preliminary hearing last December, Woodmansee said he questioned Pankow at length. Pankow reported that the child appeared fussy and that she (Pankow) was in a hurry when she changed its diaper. He asked whether she heard a crack when she abruptly lifted the infant's leg, and she said it was possible. She exclaimed, "My God, if I did this...."
Harlowe asked Woodmansee whether he had planted the suggestion that Pankow was to blame. "I wasn't suggesting," Woodmansee replied. "I was agreeing with her that it was possible her actions caused the injury."
Nicks, rapidly emerging as the area's least-accountable public figure, also refused to comment on whether there is any connection between her decision to dismiss charges last Thursday and the decision of Judge Michael Torphy the day before to grant permission to Courtroom Television News of New York to televise Pankow's trial, which was set to begin this week.
Harlowe is also defending Patty, who is being criminally prosecuted by the DA's office for recanting her report. The case is headed for final pretrial next Tuesday, with jury selection slated for May 11. A vigil in response to this prosecution will be held this Friday, April 24, outside the Police Department's headquarters at 211 S. Carroll St.