Judge lets charges stand against former Walker aide

[hue]

http://www.jsonline.com/news/milwaukee/judge-lets-charges-stand-against-former-walker-aide-g17fdvo-176978541.html



A judge Friday ruled against a bid by a former aide to Gov. Scott Walker to have his felony embezzlement charges thrown out based on an ethical transgression by a defense attorney.

That means former Walker aide Timothy D. Russell will stand trial starting Dec. 3, unless a last-minute plea deal comes through. Russell worked as deputy chief of staff and housing director while Walker was Milwaukee County executive.

It was also disclosed Friday that a plea bargain had been offered to Russell but that he hadn't accepted it. He's charged with two felony embezzlement counts accusing him of stealing more than $20,000 from a veterans group and taking more that $2,500 from a county supervisor candidate whose campaign Russell was helping. He's also charged with a misdemeanor, accused of embezzling a smaller sum from another candidate.

Defense lawyer Parker Mathers said he was still holding out hope he might discover evidence that would clear Russell in a batch of emails he hasn't fully reviewed.

Mathers and Milwaukee County Assistant District Attorney Bruce Landgraf declined to say what evidence Russell hoped to find in the emails, which were provided to him by prosecutors on a compact disc. Russell's home and work computers were seized by prosecutors last year as part of a secret John Doe investigation.

At an earlier hearing, Landgraf said Russell was claiming that money he's accused of stealing from the Heritage Guard Preservation Society was actually payment for work he did for the nonprofit.

The Heritage Guard group was taken over by Russell at Walker's direction to serve as a financial arm to handle donations collected for Operation Freedom, Walker's annual veterans fair at the zoo while he was Milwaukee County executive.

Landgraf has subpoenaed Russell's tax records, which would be provided at his trial.

Landgraf also has included Walker on a lengthy witness list for Russell's trial and would subpoena the governor to testify on the authenticity of an Oct. 20, 2009, document in which Walker transferred control of Operation Freedom to Russell as president of the Heritage Guard group.