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Wisconsin Watch partners with Gigafact to produce fact briefs — bite-sized fact checks of trending claims. Read our methodology to learn how we check claims.

No.

Milwaukee County Circuit Judge Janet Protasiewicz, one of four candidates running for Wisconsin Supreme Court, has sentenced no more than 3,827 defendants in felony, misdemeanor and traffic cases.

That’s according to records provided Feb. 8, 2023 by the Milwaukee County Clerk of Circuit Court. Wisconsin Watch requested the records.

The clerk’s office said the tally might be an overcount. The records indicate when Protasiewicz was listed in connection with a sentencing but, since some cases are handled by more than one judge, it’s possible that Protasiewicz did not actually hand down the sentence in each case.

The records list for Protasiewicz 353 sentencings in 2014; 1,213 in 2015; 806 in 2016; 532 in 2017; 291 in 2018; 336 in 2019; 104 in 2020; 99 in 2021; 86 in 2022; and seven in 2023.

The Supreme Court primary election is Feb. 21. The top two vote getters will compete April 4.

This Fact Brief is responsive to conversations such as this one.

Sources

Google Drive: Protasiewicz sentencings

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Tom Kertscher joined as a Wisconsin Watch fact checker in January 2023 and contributes to our collaboration with the The Gigafact Project to fight misinformation online. Kertscher is a former longtime newspaper reporter, including at the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, who has worked as a self-employed journalist since 2019. His gigs include contributing writer for Milwaukee Magazine and sports freelancer for The Associated Press.