John’s Conviction Timeline: 1998-2004
Joe Paulus’ Fall: 1990-2006

I posted this as a reminder to all who have been wrongfully convicted, and as a continued wake up call of how easy it is to convict an innocent man.

Prosecutors have something extremely powerful — absolute immunity — for their actions in a courtroom, and while preparing a case for trial. That means “they’re completely protected.” 
Because of this absolute immunity, there are countless cases where they falsified the evidence, cases where they coerced witnesses, cases where they solicited perjured testimony, and where they withheld exculpatory evidence.

And yet this was the man and driving force behind convicting John:

• Drunken driving cases were being “hidden” in Winnebago County or “if you paid a certain amount of money, it went away.”
• Funneled cash payments from attorney clients went to Paulus in exchange for sweetheart deals 
• Requesting officers to lie on the stand 
• Secret but legal recordings of Paulus bragging about having sex in the district attorney’s office.
• Paulus plead guilty to filing a false tax return and taking nearly $50,000 in bribes on at least 22 cases
• Paulus lost his Wisconsin law license and served six years in federal prison, including two years on state charges of misconduct in public office and obstruction of justice.