Senior Producer Steve Walters interviewed Department of Health Services Deputy Secretary Kevin Moore on May 16, 2013 regarding the sexual predator law that has been in place for 20 years.

Senior Producer Steve Walters hosted a Legally Speaking episode on the U.S. Supreme Court ruling requiring a warrant to draw blood from suspected OWI drivers on May 15, 2013 at the WisconsinEye studio in Madison.

In a March 18 edition of Legally Speaking, four officials discussed why federal, state and local law enforcement agencies have formed an informal task force to deal with the growing problem of human trafficking in Wisconsin. Panelists were Shira Phelps, anti-human trafficking coordinator for Project Respect; John Vaudreuil, U.S. Attorney for the Western District of Wisconsin; Asst. Atty. Gen. Karie Cattanach, and Madison Police Detective Maya Krajcinovic.

Wisconsin was one of the first states to guarantee rights to criminal victims, and three professionals talked about how they do that in a Feb. 4 edition of Legally Speaking. Often, victim advocates are the “bearer of bad news,” said Waukesha County Victim Witness Coordinator Jen Dunn. Laurie Anderson, president of the Wisconsin Victim Witness Professionals, said demands range from helping sex assault victims, families of murder victims, victims of identity theft and victims of thefts and home burglaries. Jill Karofsky, director of the state Justice Department’s Office of Crime Victim Services, said programs in larger counties have more ways to help victims than in rural counties.

The decades-long shortage of assistant district attorneys has meant that fewer misdemeanor crimes are being filed, more crimes are being referred to municipal courts, and crime victims receive less help,  two district attorneys and the president of the Wisconsin Victim Assistance Professionals said in the January edition of Legally Speaking. Adam Gerol, Ozaukee County DA and president of the Wisconsin District Attorneys Association; Waukesha County DA Brad Schimel and Jefferson County Victim Assistance Coordinator said they are more hopeful than ever that Gov. Scott Walker and legislators will authorize more prosecutors and agree to raise the salaries for current assistants. A first-year ADA earns about $49,000 and, after several years on the job, will only be paid $52,000, Schimel said.

A $198,000 drop over two years in the Crime Victim and Witness Assistance Surcharge has hurt statewide programs that help crime and sexual assault victims, according to three experts interviewed during a Legally Speaking show taped on November 20, 2012. Not all judges are assessing the $92 felony/$67 misdemeanor fee after someone is convicted, and there is no one responsible for making sure they are collected. Panelists were Jill Karofsky of the state Department of Justice, Waukesha DA Brad Schimel and Jennifer Dunn, Waukesha County victim witness coordinator.

Senior Producer Steve Walters interviewed Iowa County Court Chief Judge William Dyke on August 30, 2012 in Dodgeville. The Wisconsin's Committee of Chief Judges elected Judge Dyke as "chief of the chiefs" to serve as chair of the group of ten chief judges, each of whom is selected by the Wisconsin Supreme Court to help oversee a judicial administrative district.

In May, the Wisconsin Supreme Court ruled that a combative 85-year-old Alzheimer's patient had to be treated under the "Chapter 55" standard, instead of the "Chapter 51" process reserved for the mentally ill who are treatable. As Wisconsin and the nation ages, the number of Alzheimer's patients is projected to soar. The ruling, and how current laws should be changed, were the subject of Legally Speaking, a monthly WisconsinEye feature on legal issues. Panelists were Nino Amato, president of the Coalition of Wisconsin Aging Groups; Tom Reed, First Assistant Office of the Public Defender; attorney Carol Wessels of the Elder Law Section of the State Bar of Wisconsin; Galen Strebe, assistant corporation counsel for Dane County, and attorney Dan Borowski, who represented the Wisconsin Counties Association.

In February, there were a record 15,842 calls to the Wisconsin Department of Justice's Hotgun Handline, a state service that operates 360 days out of the year. In the May edition of Legally Speaking, Brian O'Keefe, administrator of DOJ's Division of Law Enforcement Services, said the soaring number of Handgun Hotline calls -- 88,896 in 2011 -- resulted from Wisconsin's new law allowing those with permits to carry concealed weapons. Handgun buyers must wait 24 hours, and clear the background check triggered by the Handgun Hotline call, before they can obtain the weapon. O'Keefe talked about what happens when licensed firearms dealers call the Hotline and the denial rate that averaged 1% in 2010 and 2011.

WisconsinEye Senior Producer Steve Walters sat down with law enforcement and legal professionals on April 20, 2012 in the WisconsinEye studios to discuss the proposed DNA "Test-on-Arrest" policy, requiring the collection of DNA samples after someone has been charged with a felony.

Two former Supreme Court Justices -- Janine Geske and Jon Wilcox -- predicted that two current Court controversies will not be resolved by the seven-member court. In the March edition of Legally Speaking taped at the Marquette Law School, Geske and Wilcox said a misconduct complaint filed by the Judicial Commission against Justice David Prosser and a conflict-of-interest complaint against Michael Gablemen for accepting free legal work cannot be resolved because the other justices are too directly involved in those controversies. Geske and Wilcox split on whether it was wise for the court to recently decide to return to secret administrative conferences, reverseing a policy started in 1999.

Senior Producer Steve Walters interviewed defense attorney Stephen Meyer; Rock County District Attorney David O'Leary; Director of Office of Crime Victim Services at the Wisconsin Department of Justice, Jill Karofsky; and First Assistant at the Office of the Public Defender Thomas Reed on February 27, 2012 in the WisconsinEye studios.

WisconsinEye Senior Producer Steve Walters held a panel discussion on January 24, 2012 at the Dane County Courthouse in Madison, to discuss the topic of courtroom security. Walters' guests included: Director of State Courts A. John Voelker, Dane County Circuit Court Judge Sarah O'Brien, David Callender of the Wisconsin Counties Association, and Tony Gibart of the Wisconsin Coalition Against Domestic Violence.

Senior Producer Steve Walters hosted a Legally Speaking program on the topic of veterans courts on November 30, 2011 at the Rock County Courthouse with guests, Rock County Circuit Court Judge James P. Daley; John Solis, Rock County Veterans Service Officer; and Denise Davidson, Rock County Veterans Court Head Mentor. The program was taped at the Rock County Courthouse.

On Aug. 24, U.S. 7th Circuit Court of Appeals judges ruled that four Wisconsin newspapers violated existing Wisconsin Interscholastic Athletic Association (WIAA) contracts when the newspapers Internet videostreamed four high school football tournaments in 2008. The editor who decided to videostream the games to serve newspapers' coverage, Dan Flannery, a regional editor for Gannett Newspapers;  the lawyer who represented Gannett, Robert Deps, and UW-Madison media law professor Robert Drechsel explained the national importance of the case in an Oct. 7 Legally Speaking show.