02-03-2018 Update: WPR Rebuttal scoops Wisconsin Public Radio!
Only here can you read the January 19, 2018 letter, sent by the St. Croix County District Attorney's Office, declaring Ashland Deputy Brock Mrjdenovich free from wrongdoing in the November 8, 2017 incident involving Jason Pero:
/Update
Exclusive to WPR Rebuttal: The following is an exhaustive analysis of the officially-released Department of Justice files pertaining to the investigation of the Ashland County Sheriff's Department's lethal response to an impromptu public disturbance staged and reported by Jason Pero, Jr.
Such synopsis takes an exegetical approach by referencing other parts of the report to answer questions raised by earlier portions. In addition, redactions to the Department of Justice accounts are predominantly explained by a letter from the Office of Open Government. (See the "Footnotes" section for this, and other, related information.)
The Wisconsin Department of Justice (WisDoJ) Department of Criminal Investigations (DCI) "investigative file public record" of the November 8, 2017 incident between Brock Mrdjenovich and Jason Pero spans 248 pages.
By combing this official overview, WPR Rebuttal compares findings of independent witness interviews pertaining to the events immediately leading-up-to, as well as following, the fatal encounter between a normally-sanguine, 14-year-old 8th-grader who loved video games (Jason Pero) and a fairly-recent Criminal Justice graduate of Vitterbo University who apparently panicked too much to use a Taser or pepper spray (Brock Mrdjenovich).
In the wake of shots fired, some angry neighbors refused to be interviewed until a warrant had been served... Several Ashland Middle School teachers were interrogated about Jason's demeanor that dour morning... And Jason Pero's purple sweatshirt goes missing, alarmingly absent from the coroner's inventory and crime-lab evidence lockers!
As of 01-23-2018, WPR Rebuttal has taken notes on the first 55 pages of the 248-report. Bookmark and share this page for further updates!
Interesting findings include:
• The "scene walk-through" was not completed until 5:20 p.m. (p. 4). When did it begin, and why was it so-long delayed after the noon shooting?
- The "walk-through" included only two witness interviews as part of the "neighborhood canvass." These took under an hour, combined (pp. 46-50).
- The earlier of the recorded "canvass" interviews began at 3:30 p.m. (p. 46); and the latter began at 4:00 p.m. (p. 49).
- The only other witness interview took place a few hours after the "scene walk-through" had finished (p. 43).
- This allowed plenty of unaccounted-for time, during which evidence might have been contaminated, planted, or hidden.
• Every law-enforcement officer who is involved in a fatal incident is body-photographed to document what s/he was wearing during the episode (p. 6).
• Among Deputy Mrdjenovich's equipment on-his-person was a "Kydex Taser holster with X-26 Taser" (p. 6). Why was this not utilized prior to the firearm?
-A possible justification: "Deputy Mrdjenovich believed that a safe distance to have between himself and a suspect with a knife was at least 20 feet[,] based on his training" (p. 58).
-Compare this "20-foot safe distance" to the normal maximum operative distance of an X-26 Taser, which is 15 feet;[1] and the wires of a Taser probe might break during a struggle, thereby rendering the Taser ineffective.[2]
• There were 6 documented witnesses to the November 8, 2017 incident (pp. 13-14).
- However, only three of these witnesses were formally interviewed as part of the investigation: two during the afternoon "neighborhood canvass" (pp. 46-50), and one during the evening under a search warrant (p. 43).
• The DCI sent a "preservation request" to Facebook and another to Snapchat so that Jason's account credentials, as well as any possibly-uploaded video of the incident, will be preserved for at least 90 days from the date of receipt (pp. 19-22).
• When calling 911, Jason pretended to be a bystander indoors who was reporting a knife-wielding stranger outside dressed in what turned-out to be the same clothes (light-grey pants and a purple sweatshirt) Jason would be wearing when seen by law enforcement (p. 24).
• Every 911 phone call produces a comma-delimited text file of meta information about the call (p. 25).
- However, the values in these data fields (caller's phone number, etc.) were redacted by the Office of Open Government.
• Jason's purple sweatshirt was -not- among the items inventoried by the coroner during the autopsy (pp. 28-29). Who has it?
• The interactions among FWS officer Jim Stone and the 3 EMTs are redacted (p. 33). Why are their conversations around the dying Jason deemed sensitive?
- Legal justification for this redaction is mentioned in the January 19, 2018 letter from the Office of Open Government to the State Attorney General's Office, namely that certain medical interventions are redacted to "protect the privacy and confidentiality" of the patient's medical records.[3]
• What first-responder Darrell Burns did after seeing "a big butcher knife laying on the ground approximately two feet from Pero's hand" is redacted (p. 35). What sensitive actions might have been taken between Burns seeing the weapon and the arrival of the other EMTs?
• "Coroner [Barbara] Beeksma made arrangements for a post-mortem examination... When examining Jason Jr.'s body, she noted and wanted [Special Agent Jay] Smith to see that [Jason] had approximately 14 light cuts on his left forearm...and approximately 19 light cuts on his right forearm...consistent with self-administered 'hesitation' cuts" (p. 38).
• "Members of the fmaily asked to view Jason Jr.'s body. [Special Agent Jay] Smith explained to them that because they were conducting a criminal investigation, they needed to conduct an autopsy... Therefore, only immediate family would be allowed to see him, and they would not be allowed to touch him... [Accordingly,] they could not remove the intubation" (p. 38).
- Although intubation is most-commonly used to assist patients who are otherwise-alive but unable to breathe normally, such breathing tubes are also utilized to siphon liquid from the lungs of deceased individuals, via static capillary action, to measure how much fluid was present when the individual passed-on. Comparable intubation is inserted to the bladder for the purpose of measuring fluid therein.
• Part of the "remarks" field of Jason's body-bag tag is blotted-out with black squares that were clearly super-imposed onto the photo, as the squares overlap parts of the picture beyond the tag itself (p. 39).
- As a coroner's note, this blacked-out scribble falls within the classification of "patient medical information" that is protected by Wis. Stat. 256.15(12) and 146.82(5)(c), the laws under which the EMTs' attempted care for Jason Pero was redacted from the public investigative file.
• "Holly Hagstrom, the guidance counselor, reported that Jason Jr. was a good kid who...had a lot of friends and made people laugh" (p. 41).
- Hagstrom's assertion that Jason had "many friends" would be contradicted by one of Jason's unidentified uncles, who would assert Jason had only "a few friends." Perhaps Hagstrom confused acquaintances with friends; it is a common error.
• [Health aide Kathy Pingel] "called (Jason's) grandmother, Cheryl, at her place of employment... Cheryl made arrangements for his uncle, [name redacted], to come pick (Jason) up. At approximately 9:37 a.m., Jason Jr. left her office and waited in the cafeteria to get picked[-]up" (p. 41).
• "Deb Meierotto was Jason Jr.'s 8th-grade homeroom teacher and had him in class every morning... However...he was withdrawn and quiet by the afternoon. [Redacted passage.] The teaching team thought this was unusual, because Jason Jr. did not really display those kinds of troubles; he was a typical 14 yoa (sic; 'y.o.') boy" (p. 41). What incident had been described in the redacted passage?
-It might possibly reveal clues as to the rapid onset of Jason's depression and why he would act-out this internal conflict by calling the police on himself. A violent horror movie involving cell phones as a plot device, such as the Scream film, might have "triggered" underlying impulses.
• "[Homeroom teacher Deb] Meierotto felt bad because she now realized that (Jason) was lying about being sick [on Wednesday, November 8;] and she didn't recognize it [until Jason had left school]" (p. 42).
-Even worse is that health aide Kathy Pingel did not seem to recognize the deception. It would therefore seem Jason had successfully feigned illness so that he could go-home early.
• "Bev Dahl was Jason Jr.'s afternoon math teacher... About a month ago, she learned that he was being treated for depression... During the past several weeks, Jason Jr. missed several days of school and made no attempt to make[-]up his work, which Dahl thought was a change... He was now withdrawn and quiet" (p. 42). What might have possibly caused this deterioration in Jason's affect and motivation?
-A possible answer: "On Tuesday, [November 7,] Meierotto had told Dahl that she had [redacted] learned that Jason Jr. had been on medication for three weeks" (p. 42).
-While not ouright-stated, it is implied the "medication" was anti-depressants: "On Monday, [November 6,] Dahl told Meierotto to relay to the [unnamed] doctor that Jason Jr. said he didn't want to be in school and was not socializing with friends" (p. 42).
-Further complicating discussion of the meds (e.g, the extent to which chemical imbalances may have arisen therefrom) is the fact that the Office of Open Government (-not- the St. Croix D.A.'s Office) redacted "prescription information for Jason Pero from photos and reports."[4]
• "[Jason Pero's uncle's name, redacted in the report] said Pero has several friends[,] but usually doesn't have friends over to his house; he will usually go to their house. [The uncle] didn't know the name of any of Pero's friends" (p. 45).
• "Deputy Mrdjenovich attended Viterbo University, [in] La Crosse, WI in 2011 and graduated [in] 2015 with a Bachelor['s] of Science degree. [He] majored in Criminal Justice[,] with a minor in Legal Studies[,] and also completed the Reserve Officers' Training Corps (ROTC)" (p. 52).
• "Deputy Mrdjenovich stated [that] the deputy assigned to the south area for the county had called[-in and] had the day off[; and a result,] the north squad car was reassigned to the south" (p. 55).
- While not outright-stated, the implication is that Mrdjenovich would have been patrolling the other part of the beat if the other, unnamed deputy had not called-in absent.
-The outcome of the encounter could have nonetheless been the same, with a different deputy pulling the trigger.
• "Deputy Mrdjenovich said he noticed the suspect did not have any shoes on[;] and that scared him even more[,] as it was cold" (p. 55).
-That's all for now. If you enjoyed, appreciated, or were interested by this synopsis of the first 55 pages of that 248-page report, then "like" this post and I might summarize more!-
[Footnotes:]
[1] "The TASER X26C uses...insulated conductive wires[,] with a maximum length of 15 feet." Taser X-26 Operating Manual, p. 5.
[2] "If a wire breaks (e.g. during a struggle), [then] the current will not flow to the probes." Taser X-26 Operating Manual, p. 18.
[3] Paul Ferguson, Assistant Attorney General, Office of Open Government: "Specific information regarding [the EMTs'] assessment and treatment of Jason Pero...has been redacted from the records[,] in accordance with Wis. Stat. 256.15(12) and 146.82(5)(c)." Jan. 19, 2018 Letter to Wisconsin Attorney General Brad Schimel. p. 5.
[4] Paul Ferguson, Assistant Attorney General, Office of Open Government: "I applied the Wis. Stat. 19.35(10(a) public records balancing test and determined that the public interest in treating surviving loved ones of the deceased with respect for the privacy and dignity outweighed any public interest in disclosure of the following records... [including] prescription information for Jason Pero from photos and reports." Jan. 19, 2018 Letter to Wisconsin Attorney General Brad Schimel. pp. 1-2.
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