Lawyer for former Walker aide wants charges tossed

MILWAUKEE (AP) -- Misconduct charges against a former aide to Gov. Scott Walker should be thrown out because the case hinges on testimony she had given under a non-prosecution agreement, her defense attorney said in a court filing this week.

Kelly M. Rindfleisch, who used to work for Walker when he was the Milwaukee County executive, faces a pre-trial hearing next month on charges she conducted campaign work on county time. She has pleaded not guilty to four counts of misconduct in office,
felony charges that carry a maximum combined penalty of six years in prison and a $40,000 fine.

Defense attorney Frank Gimbel filed motions asking for the charges to be dismissed and prosecutors to be barred from bringing new ones. He said the case is based on information Rindfleisch gave under protected circumstances. He also said investigators violated her privacy when they used an overly broad search warrant to access her personal email accounts.

Rindfleisch was Walker's deputy chief of staff in Milwaukee County. She's one of six Walker associates facing charges in a secret investigation, although Walker himself has not been charged with wrongdoing.

Rindfleisch already lost a bid to have the proceedings moved from Milwaukee County to Columbia County, where she lives in Columbus.

In his latest motion, Gimbel argued that some of the allegations in the criminal complaint were based on statements Rindfleisch made to investigators in 2002 under the promise of immunity.

"This prosecution is rooted in immunized testimony and therefore (should be) barred,'' he said. He also asked that the district attorney's office not be allowed to bring additional charges based on that testimony.

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