Efforts to reopen investigation into 20-year-old police killing take novel turn • Wisconsin Examiner

The Kenosha man who is demanding a new investigation into the police death of his son two decades ago is pursuing his goal with an unprecedented strategy: He is using a Wisconsin agency created to represent the interests of crime victims.

Retired Kenosha police officer Russell Beckman, a longtime ally of Michael M. Bell, has filed a petition on Bell’s behalf with the Wisconsin Crime Victims Rights Board. Beckman’s petition targets Wisconsin Attorney General Josh Kaul and another Justice Department official. The petition argues that Bell is the victim of a crime committed by public officials, including Kaul, who ignored Bell’s requests to reinvestigate his son’s death.

At a hearing in Brown County District Court on Wednesday, a judge could decide whether to allow the project or ultimately block it.

“It’s a very novel case,” Beckman said in an interview this week.

A Kenosha police officer shot and killed Michael M. Bell’s adult son, Michael E. Bell, in November 2004 after the younger Bell was taken into police custody in the driveway of the home where he lived with his mother. Kenosha police conducted their own investigation and exonerated the officers in less than three days. In 2010, the city of Kenosha agreed to a $1.75 million settlement in a civil lawsuit filed by Michael M. Bell over his son’s death.

Bell continued to advocate for a law in the state of Wisconsin that would require external investigations into deaths involving police officers.

Despite the settlement, Bell Sr. continued to call for a new investigation into his son’s death.

The officer who shot Michael E. Bell did so after another officer at the scene thought the younger Bell had taken the second officer’s service weapon.

Michael M. Bell claims there are significant discrepancies between the police report and other evidence of the incident. Based on that other evidence, the elder Bell argues that the officer who fired the fatal shot should have known that he was not in danger, despite his colleague’s panic.

By investigating these discrepancies, Bell claims, Kenosha police could learn more about the incident and possibly make procedural changes to prevent a repeat.

What really happened the night Michael Bell’s son died?

Bell argued that both the Kenosha Police Department, Kenosha District Attorney Michael Graveley, and the Kenosha Mayor’s office effectively covered up the circumstances of his son’s death.

City and county officials have repeatedly denied Bell and Beckman’s claims.

After Bell asked Attorney General Josh Kaul ten or more times in 2021 to investigate the case, A complaint filed against the Attorney General with Governor Tony Evers. Evers subsequently the complaint rejectedand in a letter to Bell, Evers’ then-chief legal counsel Ryan Nilsestuen raised the possibility that Bell might pursue his case through the Crime Victims Rights Board (CRVB).

The legislature created the Crime Victims Rights Board in 1997 “with legislative authority to impose sanctions for violations of statutory or constitutional victims’ rights by public officials, agencies or employees,” according to the Wisconsin Department of Justice. says on the website.

In December 2022, Beckman, who had worked with Bell to gather new evidence in his son’s shooting death, filed a complaint with the committee on Bell’s behalf.

“Wisconsin Attorney General Josh Kaul, Wisconsin Department of Justice Director Tina Virgil, and other senior officials of the Wisconsin Department of Justice violated crime victim Michael Bell’s rights under the Wisconsin Constitution by refusing to respond to numerous attempts by Mr. Bell and his ‘legal representative’ to consult them regarding newly emerging information about the crime,” the complaint states.

The complaint also argues that the failure to act amounts to more than just a violation of state law. Under the 2020 amendment known as “Marsy’s Law,” which gave the state’s victim protection laws more weight by adding them to the Wisconsin Constitution, the violations are constitutional in nature, the complaint says.

In November 2023, the CVRB found that there was “no reasonable grounds” for the complaint. The court summarized the complaint’s allegations as follows: Department of Justice officials “failed to respond to (Bell’s) citizen complaint, thereby participating in an effort to cover up the events of that day in 2004.”

Nevertheless, “the panel does not find that the conduct charged is a crime that confers victim status,” the CVRB concluded. The real victim, the panel said, is the government.

“The panel does not find that the alleged acts, if committed, would be committed ‘against’ the complainant,” the CVRB said. “The alleged conduct is directed against the government and its administration, not against individuals.”

This conclusion shocked Beckman. “This ruling could actually apply to teachers who sexually harass their students,” he said.

Beckman has sought judicial review of the panel’s conclusions, while the CVRB and the state Department of Justice are seeking a court dismissal of the motion. “The attorney general has ignored our extensive and well-documented efforts to contact him and report these crimes,” Beckman said.

At a hearing on Wednesday in Brown County District Court, a judge will decide whether to dismiss the lawsuit or renew it.

“This case is not about money,” Beckman said. “This is about protecting the constitutional right of all Wisconsin citizens to Marsy’s Law.”

Beckman, who is not a lawyer, is representing himself in the lawsuit. He hopes that will change.

“I tried very hard to get representation,” Beckman said. “But I had no luck.”