MADISON, Wis. (AP) — Wisconsin judicial regulators have filed a misconduct complaint against a Dane County judge who allegedly left court to try to arrest a hospitalized defendant and got into an argument with a defendant in a child sexual assault case.
The state Judicial Commission filed the complaint against Ellen Berz on Thursday, the Wisconsin State Journal reported. The state Supreme Court on Friday ordered Maxine White, chief judge of the state appellate courts, to set up a judicial panel to review the complaint and make discipline recommendations to the justices.
According to the complaint, Berz was presiding over an operating-while-intoxicated case in December 2021. The defendant did not show up in court on the day the trial was set to begin. His attorney told Berz that the defendant had been admitted to a hospital.
Berz had a staff member investigate and learned that he was in a Sun Prairie emergency room. The judge tried to order her bailiff to leave the courthouse and go arrest him, but she was told the bailiff couldn’t leave, according to the complaint.