Wisconsin Supreme Court candidate and Dane County Circuit Court judge Jill Karofksy sentenced a serial child sex offender to just a year in jail and five years' probation when the maximum sentence called for 66 years in prison.
Micknvgm M. Keodouangsy, 37, was convicted of two misdemeanor counts of fourth degree sexual assault in 2015. According to a criminal complaint, he groped two teenage girls outside of Madison East High School. Dane County Circuit Court Judge David Flanagan sentenced Keodouangsy to 60 days in jail with Huber work release privileges and placed him on probation for two years.
In 2017, he was before Judge Karofsky and pleaded guilty to a charge of battery (domestic abuse). Karofsky sentenced him to nine months in jail and placed him on probation for an additional two years.
While still on probation for both prior convictions, Keodouangsy groped a 12 year-old girl as she walked to school. He was charged with first degree child sexual assault, a Class B felony in Wisconsin that carries a maximum penalty of 60 years in prison. However, Keodouangsy was charged as a repeat offender, meaning that he could have faced a maximum sentence of 66 years.
In spite of this, Karofsky sentenced him to just a year in jail and five more years of probation. Even though he had violated probation twice before and had groped three girls in the span of less than three years, Keodouangsy spent just a year behind bars and was released last year. According to the Wisconsin Sex Offender Registry, he is homeless and thus could be anywhere in the Greater Madison area.
Karofsky, who has served on the Dane County Circuit since 2017, and Marquette University Law Professor Ed Fallone are challenging incumbent Supreme Court Justice Daniel Kelly in the Spring Election.
Kelly, an appointee of Governor Walker, is seeking election to a full 10-year term. He is part of the Court's 5-2 conservative majority and is considered a strict constructionist in his interpretation of constitutional law. Karofsky and Fallone are both considered political and judicial liberals who believe in an activist judiciary.
The three candidates will appear on the primary ballot on February 18, with the top two vote-getters moving on to the general election on April 7.