Cry Rape: The True Story of One Woman's Harrowing Quest for Justice

20. Healthy Outrage

20 Healthy Outrage Patty was in over her head, and she knew it. The Madison Police and Fire Commission, contrary to its statutory charter, had evolved into a forum that only a lawyer could love. Patty and Bobby were ill equipped to conduct discovery, defend against motions, prepare legal briefs, and subpoena and question witnesses. Riley and Woodmansee each had lawyers, paid for by the city and police union, respectively, authorized to devote as many billable hours as necessary to defeat Patty’s complaints. And that’s what they set out to do. Riley, through attorney Schwarzenbart, submitted a baleful affidavit : “I am surprised in her decision to file charges given that she was present during undisputed testimony in the [earlier] matter that upon my receipt of her letter in late October 1997 I had spoken to my commanding officer, Captain Jeff LaMar, [who] agreed with my assessment that the letter should not be treated as complaint requiring referral to the Professional Standards Unit.” Riley’s recollection of this conversation was now fully restored. Chief Williams, also via affidavit, echoed “disappointment” over Patty’s complaint and certified Riley’s recent retirement , meaning he was no longer subject to PFC discipline. Patty and Bobby prepared a discovery request. It asked whether Woodmansee was aware of and obliged to follow department rules regarding truthfulness, discourtesy, “tyrannical, overbearing and oppressive conduct,” and filing complete, accurate reports. It also asked about the various things he’d done that appeared to violate these rules, such as lying about rubber residue and then not mentioning this in his report. Finally, it sought certain documents, including his list of forty-one 149 points. Woodmansee’s attorney, Gary Young, thumbed his nose at this request, contending that making his client comply with discovery was like compelling him to testify against himself. But Young did produce a voluminous reply to Patty’s complaint. It denied that she was a victim of sexual assault, saying she had admitted lying about this in what Judge Aulik deemed a voluntary confession. It confirmed that Woodmansee had brought up Patty’s past suicide attempts and raised the prospect of holding her on “suicide watch,” but claimed this was done in a caring rather than coercive way. Young’s filing argued, essentially, that the Madison Police Department rule requiring officers to be truthful “at all times and under all circumstances” did not mean what it said, in light of police practice and Judge Aulik’s ruling, which was attached. And it challenged her standing to complain , saying she was not an “aggrieved person” within the meaning of the law. Was anyone? Even before she undertook the painstaking task of reading this document on her visual-aid machine, Patty knew she needed help. “I don’t think I can do this,” Bobby confided, perhaps a bit late. Patty asked an attorney friend if he could represent her. He declined, but suggested an acquaintance named Mike Rieselman, formerly an attorney in California . Rieselman, on hearing details of Patty’s case, was immediately interested—not in the PFC process but in filing a lawsuit. Rieselman, then thirty-five, fancied himself a “civil rights lawyer” and boasted that he had taken eight cases to jury trial in three years in California, winning one of them “without any evidence.” But then his marriage ended, his luck went south, and he ended up in Madison, doing odd jobs. Rieselman thought the PFC was a waste of time, especially since complainants could not get compensation from which to pay attorney fees. He was also worried about his ability to appear before it, because he was not licensed to practice law in Wisconsin. Late in the afternoon of January 11, 1999, less than an hour before the PFC’s initial hearing on Patty’s complaints, Rieselman called an acquaintance, Mike Short, who had a Wisconsin bar card. Michael John Short, also thirty-five, was a Wisconsin native and UW–Madison graduate who had tried his hand at various jobs before heading to Gonzaga University in Washington State for his law degree. He put in a year each with the public defender’s office in Spokane and 150 Against All Odds • as a criminal defense lawyer in Reno. Returning to Madison in late 1997, he passed the Wisconsin bar exam and began taking cases, working out of his apartment. When Rieselman called out...