Alison Dirr

Appleton Post-Crescent

FOX CROSSING – A three-judge panel has determined that misconduct by outgoing Fox Crossing Municipal Judge Len Kachinsky toward his court clerk merits a suspension from serving as a reserve municipal judge for one to three years.

In a filing last week, the panel also recommended that he not be allowed to serve as a reserve municipal judge in the village as long as his court clerk, Mandy Bartelt, remains employed in her current position. He was accused of harassing her and retaliating against her beginning in 2017.

"It takes little discussion to conclude that Judge Kachinsky's conduct toward Bartelt was such that it would cause persons to question his character and even more so, lose respect for his willingness and ability to comply with and enforce restrictions to make this a society of laws and justice rather than one of selfish indulgence for a person's own desires," the panel wrote.

The report by Court of Appeals Judges Mark Gundrum, Joan F. Kessler and William Brash III followed a two-day hearing in early February in the case filed against Kachinsky by the Wisconsin Judicial Commission. The Commission investigates allegations of misconduct by judges and found that Kachinsky had violated rules governing judicial conduct.

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The panel's recommendations will be reviewed by the state Supreme Court, which will determine an appropriate disposition. Judges who are found to have committed misconduct can be reprimanded, censured, suspended or removed.

The filing details repeated efforts since 2017 by Bartelt, village leaders and ultimately the court system to require Kachinsky to keep contact with Bartelt work-related after she began feeling uncomfortable with his behavior. He refused to comply, the filing states.

He instead went further, threatening her employment, filing letters of reprimand against her and trying to intimidate her, the panel found.

The panel found that he violated supreme court rules requiring that judges "uphold the integrity and independence of the judiciary" and avoid impropriety or the appearance of it.

The panel wrote that this was "irresponsible and improper conduct and conduct unbefitting of a judge."

His conduct eroded public confidence in the judiciary, the panel wrote.

The panel also found that he did not violate other rules governing judicial conduct, including when he emailed a Village Board member about the Judicial Commission's complaint against him. Kachinsky wrote in the email that the Village Board should consider de-funding the village if it was pursuing the Judicial Commission complaint.

Kachinsky is not running for re-election, and his term ends on April 30. He has been suspended from the bench since July, when he was arrested on preliminary charges of stalking and violating a temporary restraining order, also related to Bartelt. He was charged and acquitted by a jury in Winnebago County court but was not reinstated.

Kachinsky is a longtime attorney in the Fox Cities who garnered national attention when he was featured in the Netflix documentary series "Making a Murderer." He had served as an attorney for Brendan Dassey before being removed from the case.

Alison Dirr: 920-996-7266 or adirr@gannett.com; on Twitter @AlisonDirr