Madison, Wis. – The Wisconsin Supreme Court ruled Thursday that an order barring an anti-abortion protester from coming close to a Planned Parenthood nurse violated his First Amendment free speech rights and must be overturned.

The court, controlled 4-3 by liberals, ruled unanimously in ordering that the injunction be dismissed.

A Trempealeu County judge in 2020 barred Brian Aish from being near nurse Nancy Kindschy who sometimes worked in a small family planning clinic in the western Wisconsin city of Blair. Kindschy said Aish threatened her by saying bad things would happen to her or her family if she didn’t quit her job.

Aish had argued that his comments, made from a public sidewalk, were protected free speech under the First Amendment. The Wisconsin Supreme Court agreed.

Aish regularly protested between 2014 and 2019 at the clinic, primarily holding up signs quoting Bible verses and preaching his Christian and anti-abortion beliefs, according to the court ruling. But starting in 2019, Aish began directing his comments toward Kindschy, targeting her with messages that she argued were threatening.

In October 2019, Aish said that Kindschy had time to repent and “it won’t be long before bad things will happen to you and your family” and that “you could get killed by a drunk driver tonight,” according to the court.

The Trempealeu County judge issued a four-year injunction barring Aish from being near Kindschy. Aish appealed. A state appeals court upheld the injunction against Aish in 2022, but the Supreme Court on Thursday ordered that it be dismissed.

While the Wisconsin case was pending, the U.S. Supreme Court issued a ruling in 2023 that made it more difficult to convict a person of making a violent threat. That case involved a Colorado man who was convicted of stalking a musician.

In that case, the nation’s highest court said prosecutors must show that “the defendant had some subjective understanding of the threatening nature of his statements” and that “the defendant consciously disregarded a substantial risk that his communications would be viewed as threatening violence.”

The Wisconsin Supreme Court cited that ruling in its order Thursday, saying the lower court had failed to find that Aish “consciously disregarded a substantial risk that his communications would be viewed as threatening violence.”

“Aish’s statements could not be true threats of violence because he disclaimed any desire for violence to befall Kindschy,” Justice Rebecca Bradley wrote in a separate opinion, concurring with the majority one written by Justice Rebecca Dallet.

Attorneys for Aish and Kindschy did not return messages.

Kindschy has since retired and the clinic where she worked is now closed.

SUPERIOR, Wis.– Two democrats vying for for Wisconsin Assembly Dist. 73 held a public forum in Superior this evening.

This comes after Republican Representative Angie Sapik announced she would not seek re-election after the redistricting maps were approved.

District 73 now covers the northern portion of Douglas and Bayfield counties.

Wednesday evening, Candidates John Adams and Angela Stroud answered submitted questions from residents.

The two appearing to agree on the majority of the topics. They both are against the proposed Nemadji Trail Energy Center, they agree there’s a serious need for affordable housing and are on the same page with tougher gun control regulations.

“This is a country with a 2nd amendment that the court has defined as an individual right. We have a strong gun culture, we also can absolutely regulate guns,” said Stroud. “There is nothing in statute that says that regulation is a violation of our second amendment.”

“I think the responsibly of a legislator is to finally craft those red flag laws that keep oversight on a judge that’s going to have to make that difficult decision to take away a person’s gun,” said Adams.

The republican candidate for District 73 is Frank Kostka, who says one of his goals is to support good paying jobs in Northern Wisconsin.

The primary election is August 13, the general election–November 5.

MILWAUKEE, Wis. (WBAY) – A man from Utah has been sentenced to over a year in prison for wire fraud and impersonating a federal officer.

Juan Carlos Martinez-Napoles, 38, of Utah was sentenced to 15 months in federal prison on Tuesday. He’s also been ordered to pay restitution to his victims and will serve two years of supervised release.

According to court documents, between September 2018 and December 2019, Martinez-Napoles posed as an immigration agent from the United States Citizenship and Immigration Services and told victims he could assist them in achieving legal status in the U.S. for a fee. He convinced three Wisconsin families to pay him around $45,000, and threatened to have members of one of those families deported if they didn’t pay him.

“Fraudulently posing as a USCIS agent, Mr. Martinez-Napoles took advantage of vulnerable individuals, whom he convinced to pay a total of over $45,000 for his ‘help,’” said U.S. Attorney Haanstad. “In reality, he was simply lying to these individuals to line his own pockets. And when a victim questioned his activities, Mr. Martinez-Napoles even threatened to have the victim’s family deported. I commend the hard work of everyone who helped bring Mr. Martinez-Napoles to justice and commend the victims for their willingness to cooperate with the legitimate federal authorities in this matter.”

“Posing as a government official as Martinez-Napoles did for the purposes of exploiting and victimizing other individuals is intolerable,” said Special Agent in Charge Sean Fitzgerald of HSI Chicago. “HSI will continue to work with our law enforcement partners to hold such offenders accountable for their crimes.”

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