Waukesha County DA calls out need for more prosecutors

While running for office last year, Waukesha County District Attorney Lesli Boese said she campaigned on holding criminals accountable.

Now, just four months into her new role, she’s sounding the alarm about the need for more prosecutors in her office. 

There are currently 16 assistant district attorneys with the Waukesha County District Attorney’s office. That’s 10 fewer than recommended in a 2024 Wisconsin Department of Administration analysis.

“It’s frustrating because I ran on holding defendants accountable, yet the state is not giving me the resources in order to do that,” Boese said. 

Mindy Tempelis, the president of the Wisconsin District Attorneys Association, said the state is short 126 prosecutors in district attorney’s offices across Wisconsin.

Waukesha County is just one county that has a “significant need,” according to Tempelis. She said some prosecutors are dealing with case loads of over 200 pending criminal cases. 

“When you’re short prosecutors, the case loads are significantly high,” Tempelis said.

“Counties are really struggling to have adequate staffing and don’t have enough prosecutors in order to deal with the cases,” she added. 

Milwaukee County District Attorney Kent Lovern said his office is at risk of losing 12 prosecutors that were funded through a federal grant. That grant expires in July and without more state funding, Lovern said the office will lose around 10 percent of its attorneys.

“The work has gotten more difficult than ever, and the needs are greater than ever,” Lovern said. “And this is an imperative priority, not only in Milwaukee County, but obviously throughout southeastern Wisconsin and in other parts of the state as well.” 

The state has been dealing with shortages among public defenders and prosecutors for years.

State lawmakers included pay bumps for public defenders, assistant district attorneys, deputy DAs and DAs in Wisconsin’s biennial budget in 2023. The raises brought the new starting pay for assistant DAs, deputy DAs and assistant public defenders to $36 an hour.

That came after the State Bar of Wisconsin said the state’s shortage of public attorneys was approaching a “constitutional crisis.” 

Gov. Tony Evers’ budget proposal calls for funding 47 more assistant district attorney positions. It would also fund nearly 30 district attorney positions that were paid for through federal grants, according to the governor’s office.

Tempelis said she’s been meeting with members of the Joint Finance Committee to voice support for those proposals in the budget.

“We have been actively working with lawmakers to address the needs of the criminal justice system in Wisconsin to make sure that it runs as effectively, as efficiently and as justly as possible,” she said. 

Lovern said he supports the continued funding of prosecutor positions that were paid through federal grants.

“I think it’s absolutely necessary … to meet the public safety needs that we have in our region,” Lovern said. 

Boese says some cases won’t be prosecuted

Boese is worried about the ability of her office to handle their caseload with their current staffing.

“If there’s more cases than DAs that can handle them, obviously some cases can’t be prosecuted,” Boese said. “And that is not a position any prosecutor wants to be in.” 

Boese has been with the Waukesha County District Attorney’s Office for over 30 years. She said the office has fewer prosecutors now than when she first started, despite the county population increasing by nearly 80,000 residents.

“We can’t continue to do more with less,” Boese said.