Rebecca Dallet and Michael Screnock rip each other over sentencing in state Supreme Court race

MADISON - The judges running for state Supreme Court took swings at each other Monday over sentences they've handed down.

Milwaukee County Circuit Judge Rebecca Dallet launched an ad slamming Sauk County Circuit Judge Michael Screnock with for a pair of sentences, including one in which he imposed nearly the maximum amount of jail time after downgrading a criminal charge.

Screnock's campaign shot back with a statement saying Dallet's two-year sentence for a man convicted of attempted sex abuse was "shocking" because she could have given him far more time behind bars.

Dallet's ad is the first either side has broadcast since Dallet and Screnock made it through a primary last month.

The ad is running statewide and Dallet plans to remain on the air through the April 3 election, according to her campaign. Screnock's campaign said it would roll out its first ad of the campaign this week, as well.

Dallet has been a Milwaukee County judge for a decade and before that was a prosecutor. Screnock has been a judge for three years and before that was a lawyer and municipal administrator.

Dallet’s ad noted Screnock has never prosecuted a case and criticizes him for two of his sentences as a judge. In one, he gave five years of probation but no jail time to a man who had repeatedly sexually abused a child, as prosecutors recommended.

In the other, he gave eight months of jail time to a 24-year-old man convicted of sexually assaulting a 16-year-old after buying alcohol for her and drinking with her and her under-age friend.

Initially, prosecutors charged the man with a felony, but Screnock agreed to reduce it to a misdemeanor at the request of prosecutors. His sentence was aligned with the one the prosecutors recommended.

Screnock campaign consultant Sean Lansing noted Dallet released her ad the same day she is holding a fundraiser in San Francisco.

In a statement, he said Dallet was "ignoring her own dismal record when it comes to protecting our communities from child predators and dangerous criminals."

He called it "shocking" that Dallet had sentenced a man in 2011 to two years in prison for attempting to sexually assault an 8-year old when she could have sentenced him to 20 years. Dallet, who also gave the man five years of extended supervision, followed the sentencing recommendation of prosecutors in that case.

Here's Dallet's ad: