Part-Time Prosecutor Also Defends; Municipality is 'Client for That Day'
A prominent Wisconsin businessman, Robert John “R.J.” Manders, has been something of a business-generating machine for attorney Tim Kay.
Last month, for instance, Kay both defended Manders in a drunken driving case in Waukesha County Circuit Court and, a week later, served as prosecutor in an unrelated trespassing case against Manders in municipal court in the Town of Oconomowoc, reports the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel. Kay has also prosecuted Manders previously in municipal ordinance violation cases dating back to 1999.
Kay also entered an appearance at the end of December to represent Manders in a divorce case.
Such about-faces are appropriate, Kay tells the newspaper, because when he serves as a part-time prosecutor, “That municipality is our client for that day.”
But municipal Judge Douglas Stern, who dismissed the trespassing charge against Manders on Dec. 26 at Kay’s request, expressed doubt about the arrangement. Stern said he was “not pleased” to learn of Kay’s undisclosed relationship with Manders after the trespassing case had concluded, the Sentinel writes.
