Ethics referee recommends former Kenosha County DA be suspended

A retired circuit judge has recommended that former Kenosha County District Attorney Robert Zapf be suspended from practicing law for a year and never be allowed to act as a prosecutor again.

Reserve Judge Dennis Flynn, acting as the referee in an Office of Lawyer Regulation complaint against Zapf, made the recommendation in an 84-page report Thursday. 

The Wisconsin Supreme Court makes the final determination whether Zapf should face sanctions.

The complaint, filed in December, accused Zapf of three counts of professional misconduct related to the 2015 prosecution of two men involved in a 2014 shooting death. It came 16 months after a Kenosha activist and two lawyers filed their own complaints with the OLR over the case.

Flynn presided at a hearing over the complaint in July. In his report he found misconduct in two of the three allegations, which revolved around when Zapf knew and should have disclosed to the defense that a Kenosha officer had planted evidence where the homicide suspects had been arrested, and later resigned over it. Zapf kept the officer's name on the prosecution's witness list well after that.

Finally, five days into the trial, Zapf told the judge about evidentiary problems. The former officer later testified to his misdeeds and resignation. He later pleaded guilty to misconduct in publicoffice and was sentenced to probation.

In recounting details of events, Flynn also concludes that the evidence suggests there was an effort among Kenosha police to cover up the evidence-planting by its officer.

Zapf had announced in March 2016 that he would not seek re-election that fall.