The Milwaukee County District Attorney is a state constitutional officer responsible for criminal prosecution in Milwaukee County , Wisconsin . The current district attorney is John T. Chisholm , who has served since 2007.
7-498: The first Milwaukee County District Attorney was Charles James, who served a two-year term beginning in 1848. District attorneys from then until 2008 also served two-year terms in office. Since that year, the district attorney serves for four years. The position is not, and has never been, subject to term limits. In the first decade of the 1900s, district attorney Francis E. McGovern and his office investigated and prosecuted corrupt city officials. The administration of Mayor David Rose
14-408: Is assisted by a relatively large support staff, and has ten investigators, who are law-enforcement officers. Francis E. McGovern Francis Edward McGovern (January 21, 1866 – May 16, 1946) was an American lawyer and politician from Wisconsin . He served as the 22nd Governor of Wisconsin from 1911 to 1915. In 1911 especially he sponsored a major series of progressive achievements through
21-471: The Republican nomination. LaFollette did support McGovern's reelection in 1912. La Follette worked to defeat him in 1914, in conjunction with anti-tax conservative Republicans, who opposed McGovern's introduction of the state's income tax . He ran for U.S. Senator in 1914 and was defeated. After leaving the governorship, he resumed the practice of law. When World War I began he entered the U.S. Army as
28-679: The legislature. Originally a close ally of Senator Robert M. La Follette , the two progressive leaders held an uneasy truce for McGovern's reelection in 1912. The two became bitter enemies in 1913-1916 and McGovern lost his bids for office and retired from politics. McGovern was born in Elkhart Lake , Sheboygan County, Wisconsin . He graduated from the University of Wisconsin in 1890, and served as high school principal in Brodhead, Wisconsin and Appleton, Wisconsin . He studied law and
35-422: The office prosecute offenses such as violent crimes, sexual assault, domestic violence, white-collar crimes , and drug-related crimes , among others. The office also contains a unit devoted to prosecuting misdemeanor offenses. The district attorney's office is composed of about 125 assistant district attorneys, who are supervised by four deputy district attorneys and a chief deputy district attorney. The office
42-721: Was admitted to the bar in 1897. He began the practice of law in Milwaukee, Wisconsin . He was elected District Attorney in Milwaukee in 1904, and served as District Attorney from 1903 to 1904 and from 1905 to 1908. In 1908, he ran for U.S. Senator but was defeated. He was elected Governor of Wisconsin in 1910 and 1912. McGovern supported the La Follette progressive wing of the Republican Party . He broke with La Follette in 1912 by supporting Theodore Roosevelt for
49-521: Was notorious for this, often ignoring illegal activity. Rose, although termed by McGovern "the self-elected, self-appointed attorney general" of local crime, was not indicted but was defeated in the 1910 mayoral election by Socialist Emil Seidel . The district attorney's office is responsible for prosecuting state-level criminal offenses committed in Milwaukee County. The office also prosecutes county ordinance violators. Separate units within
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