Wisconsin Judgment Day, the Sequel

Flash to vivid color pictures of Gableman in his judge's robes. We're told that he put many child molesters behind bars, keeping our families safe.

Fade back to creepy black-and-white with eerie music. "Louis Butler worked to put criminals on the street," the narrator tells us. "Like Reuben Mitchell, who raped an 11-year-old girl with learning disabilities. Butler found a loophole. Mitchell went on to molest another child."

Some of the ad's statements are true. But the conclusion a viewer would naturally draw from the construction of the ad – that Mitchell was freed as a result of Butler's legal finagling (or maybe a decision he made since he became a judge), and used that freedom to commit more crimes – is not.

Butler was a public defender for part of his career. His job as a defense lawyer was to protect the rights of the accused. His job now as a judge is different. To say he "worked to put criminals on the street" while showing him in a judge's robes hoodwinks the viewer on two counts.

In 1987, Butler was assigned to represent Mitchell in an appeal of his conviction for raping the girl.

Here's what happened: In most states, including Wisconsin, evidence of a complainant's prior sexual conduct is generally not admissible at trial. The theory is that sexual assault victims shouldn't be subjected to embarrassing and detailed examination of their prior sexual conduct unless it is relevant to a particular set of circumstances.

Sometimes, though, the rape shield law can be used to the defendant's advantage, and that's what happened here. At the trial, Mitchell's lawyer didn't want members of the jury to hear that the victim was a virgin, because he was afraid it would prejudice them against his client. The judge allowed it anyway. Butler then raised the same issue when he was assigned to the appeal, and the three-member appellate panel agreed with him: Not only should the jury not have heard that information, the panel said, but there was a good chance it might have affected the outcome. The judges reversed the verdict and ordered a new trial.