"If there's anyone who deserves the maximum sentence, it's you:" So why did Tom Herro get just one year?
MILWAUKEE COUNTY (WITI) -- "If there's anyone who deserves the maximum sentence, it's you." That's what a judge said to an Oak Creek man as she sent him to prison for domestic violence. But in this case, even the maximum sentence may not be enough.
"Your honor, I've made some mistakes in my past," Tom Herro said in court.
To say that Tom Herro has made some mistakes is like saying the New York Yankees have won a few baseball games.
"The defendant has an extremely lengthy prior criminal history," Assistant District Attorney Kristin Schrank said.
Over the past 20 years, Herro has been convicted of abusing at least four different women, and choking his own son.
"He'd either slap me, pull my hair, spit in my face, wreck the vehicle I was driving," Bridgit Walters said.
Walters was Herro's third wife -- but the first to speak out publicly about Herro's lifetime of abuse.
"What is the court waiting for? For him to actually kill someone before they actually lock him up and make him sit like he should?" Walters said.
Every time Herro goes to jail, Walters says he gets back out and reoffends.
"You've been on probation seven times!" Judge Mel Flanagan said in court.
Herro was on probation last August, when he got arrested again -- for abusing wife number five.
"Ms. Herro locked herself in a bedroom out of fear," Assistant District Attorney Kristin Schrank said.
Herro pushed her down, threatened her with a chair, smashed it on the ground, and whipped a glass candle at her that barely missed her head.
Lori Herro called police the night it happened -- but like victims of family violence often do, she pleaded with the judge to go easy on her husband.
"I love my husband, I believe in him. Or I wouldn't be sitting here," Lori Herro said in court.
"I just want to apologize to my wife for any hurt. And my family. And my grandkids," Tom Herro said in court.
The court ordered Tom Herro to have no contact with his wife -- but a FOX6 Investigation found them together last month -- in apparent violation of the order.
When Herro was supposed to be sentenced last month, he failed to appear.
"I want to apologize to you for not showing up on May 23rd, like I should`ve," Herro said in court.
At first, Herro said his car had broken down, but he now admits he skipped court on purpose to take care of financial issues with the heating and cooling business he owns in West Allis.
"You write your own rules and you do what you want. And you always have," Judge Flanagan said in court.
Judge Flanagan told Herro in court she wanted to bring the hammer down on him -- but since his latest conviction is a misdemeanor, it's not a big hammer.
"The maximum sentence is two years. But if there's anyone who deserves the maximum sentence, it's you!" Judge Flanagan said.
Judge Flanagan sentence4d Herro to two years in prison -- which is really just one year behind bars and one year out -- on extended supervision.
Herro told state investigators he recently had an epiphany -- and intends to finally change his ways.
Bridgit Walters isn't holding her breath.
"He's not gonna stop," Walters said.
After all, at the age of 39, it's hard to turn your life around.
Herro's one-year prison sentence could be even shorter once the judge determines how much credit he should get for the time he's already served in this case.
After FOX6 News broke the story in May, the Wisconsin Department of Corrections apparently changed course.
It has decided to begin revocation proceedings against Herro for violating his probation on the child abuse case.
That means he could get more time tacked on.
A revocation hearing is scheduled for August.