4 reach plea deal in tire slashings

Politicians' sons agree to misdemeanors

By DERRICK NUNNALLY and GRAEME ZIELINSKI
dnunnally@journalsentinel.com

Posted: Jan. 20, 2006

After a two-week felony trial culminating with notes from a conflicted jury, four Kerry-Edwards campaign workers - including the sons of U.S. Rep. Gwen Moore (D-Wis.) and former Acting Mayor Marvin Pratt - had their charges in the Election Day 2004 tire-slashing reduced to misdemeanors and accepted the deal.

Election Day Vandalism

Photo/Rick Wood Milwaukee County Circuit Judge Michael Brennan listens as prosecutor David Feiss explains plea agreements reached in the 2004 election day tire-slashing case after the jury struggled in its deliberations. Four of the five defendants pleaded no contest to misdemeanors and the pending felony counts were dropped. The fifth, Justin Howell, was acquitted by the jury.

Photo/Rick Wood Sowande Omokunde, son of U.S. Rep. Gwen Moore (right), hugs Malika Williams, a family friend, on Friday after pleading no contest to misdemeanor property damage.

Photo/Rick Wood Acquitted defendant Howell (from left), Sowande Omokunde, son of Congresswoman Gwen Moore; and Michael Pratt (bald head above) hug after the plea bargain was announced.

Quotable

This case shows that Democrats will stop at nothing to undermine efforts by Republicans to get-out-the-vote on Election Day. - Rick Graber, Chairman, state Republican Party

More Information

Criminal complaint

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Tire-Slashing Case: Previous coverage

The fifth Democratic staffer accused of crippling Republican vans won a jury acquittal by sticking with a fight against the felony charge.

"Any other case like this, they would have made the offer (to reduce charges) right away, but for the people involved," said Adam Essling, attorney for Lavelle Mohammed, one of the four men who made no-contest pleas Friday afternoon.

If they pay a collective $5,317.45 restitution by their April 26 sentencing, Assistant District Attorney David Feiss will recommend all four get probation. Misdemeanor property damage carries a possible maximum penalty of nine months in jail and a $10,000 fine.

The sudden plea offer came at 2 p.m., after the jury - which had been deliberating since Thursday afternoon - sent a note that "people that are adamant about their decision and are not budging."

Although Circuit Judge Michael B. Brennan ordered them to keep deliberating, earlier notes Friday had indicated jurors were divided about guilt on the felony charges.

All five defendants had been charged with damaging 40 tires on 25 rented vans parked outside Republican Party offices on W. Capitol Drive, hours before they were to be deployed for electioneering. The repair costs easily exceeded the felony threshold of $2,500, yet there was little evidence about what each man had allegedly done.

Prosecutors built most of their case on testimony from out-of-state Democratic operatives who had come to work on the Wisconsin campaign alongside the defendants - Michael Pratt, 33, Lewis G. Caldwell, 29, Lavelle Mohammad, 36, Justin Howell, 21, and Sowande Omokunde, 26. The witnesses said the local men boasted about their crippling attack on the Republican vehicles.

Defense attorneys tried to characterize the party professionals as liars who set up the defendants - loosely tied to the scene by cell-phone records and the hazy memory of a security guard - as fall guys for the crime.

After the jury's deadlock became apparent, Feiss conferred with his boss, District Attorney E. Michael McCann, a Democrat who endured two-plus months of partisan criticism for the pace of the investigation before he announced the felony charges in January 2005.

Feiss said the plea offer came directly from the discussion with McCann and what both thought about the stalled jury's notes. Defense attorneys shared the sentiment.

"This jury made that deal," said Craig Mastantuono, attorney for Caldwell.

In a grimy Safety Building stairwell, the defense lawyers discussed the deal with their clients and whether it was a better bet than counting on the holdout jurors to cause a mistrial and ultimately dismissal. Only Howell - the sole defendant to whom no vandalism braggadocio had been directly attributed - gambled that he would win.

"It was too much of a risk to take when we didn't know enough about what was going on in the jury room," said Rodney Cubbie, attorney for Michael Pratt.

The plea bargain was formally accepted with slight reaction from the courtroom gallery, then Brennan notified the jury to contemplate only the felony charge against Howell. They came back in eight minutes with a not-guilty verdict, and applause erupted in the gallery.

The reaction was less approving in other quarters.

State Republican Party Chairman Rick Graber, in a statement, called for Brennan to disregard the probation recommendation and instead impose "a sentence of jail time" against the four misdemeanants.

"This case shows that Democrats will stop at nothing to undermine efforts by Republicans to get-out-the-vote on Election Day and has shed light on the extent they are willing to go for their own political gain."

Omokunde's attorney, Robin Shellow, responded that her courtroom claims that the damage was masterminded by the out-of-state Democratic operatives stemmed from her belief that the vans were intended to haul Republican election challengers - not voters - to polling places.

"That (Republican) office was set up as a challenge office" in a heavily Democratic neighborhood, Shellow said.

After the trial, the defendants, their parents and supporters gathered in a prayer circle, shepherded by Caldwell's mother, Pat McFarland.

Afterward, she characterized the plea deal as "risk management."

"An injury to one was an injury to all," she said, maintaining her son's innocence and praising the defendants as having courage.

Marvin Pratt said, "We're glad it's all over." He also maintained his son's innocence, as did Gwen Moore.

In Shellow's law office, Moore was visibly spent but gave interviews.

She praised her son, Omokunde, though said she may not necessarily have made the decision he made.

"I'm kind of a hard-core person. I would have probably held out to the last minute," she said.

Asked about what kind of toll the trial took on her and her family, Moore said: "I'm an optimist. I'm going to go forward and work to improve the criminal justice system so that it operates fairly."

She said she did not believe Brennan's political affiliation - on record as a George Bush donor - played a role in the trial.

"I have had a very successful career because I have not been a rabid partisan," she said.