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Maloney, a detective in the Green Bay PD, and an arson investigator, was convicted of strangling his estranged wife, Sandy, and setting her body on fire.  Maloney was a suspect because of their impending divorce, ongoing child custody battle, and history of domestic disputes.  Sandy was a heavy user of prescription pills and was very drunk at the time of her death.  She apparently tried to hang herself shortly before her death, but the cord broke causing her to bruise her head on a coffee table.  She then apparently started a fire by careless smoking or perhaps deliberately.  The state maintained that Maloney hit her on the head, strangled her, and then set a fire that was staged to look like the result of careless smoking.

Special prosecutor, Joe Paulus, (DA of Winnebago County), withheld evidence.  Initially the fire was labeled an accident but circular reasoning developed:  "The fire guys decided it must be an arson because it was murder.  The coroner decided it must be a murder because it was arson."  (TruthInJustice) (Article 2)  (Article 3) (48 Hours)  [11/05]

John A. Johnson was convicted of the kidnapping and murder of seven-year-old Annie Lemberger.  Annie had been kidnapped from her home at 2 South Francis St. in Madison.  Her body was found three days later in Lake Manona with a head wound.  Since an autopsy found no water in her lungs, it was assumed she died from the wound prior to being thrown into the lake.

On the morning of Annie's disappearance, Annie's mother told police that upon retiring for bed the previous night she locked all the doors and windows in her home.  Annie slept in a cot in the same room as her nine and six-year-old brothers who slept in another bed.  The door to their parents' room was left ajar.  In addition the family owned a terrier who barked at the slightest sound.  The next morning, all the windows and doors still remained locked except the window closest to Annie's cot, which had a triangular hole broken out of the glass.  The hole was reportedly too small for even a woman's hand to fit through, so it was initially thought that a group of boys may have committed the crime.

One of the suspects arrested by police was John A. Johnson.  He asserted his innocence during an all night grilling by police and was released.  However he was rearrested after police learned of his past record of two commitments to insane asylums for taking liberties with girls, and one sentence for the nonsupport of his wife and two daughters.  Johnson continued to maintain his innocence and his wife and daughters attested that he was at home and could not have left without them knowing about it.  In court Johnson pled "not guilty."  However, after being returned to jail, officers learned that Johnson had once seen a black man lynched.  The lynching made such a deep impression on him that the mere mention of it made him cringe.  Sometime thereafter officers informed him that there was a mob waiting outside the jail waiting to get at him.  They warned Johnson to stay away from the jail windows because there were men on nearby buildings waiting to get a shot at him.

After Johnson became livid with fear of being lynched, an officer told him he could escaped being lynched by giving a confession.  Johnson then fully confessed to the crime in court, insisted his trial be held immediately, and that he be sentenced and taken to Waupun penitentiary that same day.  He was sentenced to life imprisonment at hard labor and upon arrival at the penitentiary he proclaimed his innocence but said he nevertheless was greatly relieved.

Some years later Johnson wrote letters complaining that he was wrongfully convicted.  A former judge who received a letter looked into Johnson's case and became completely convinced of his innocence.  In late Sept. 1931, hearings were held on a pardon application for Johnson.  Testimony emerged that Annie's father had thrown a beer bottle at her in a drunken fury and hit her.  He placed her back in her cot from which she had originally arisen, but she was later found dead by her mother.  Annie's father was then arrested for Annie's murder, but because the statute of limitations for second-degree murder had expired after 10 years, charges had to be dropped.  In Feb. 1932, Governor Blaine commuted Johnson's sentence to time served.  (CTI)  [6/08]

Zimmerman, a former Augusta, WI police officer, was convicted of murdering his former girlfriend, Kathleen Thompson.  Thompson had had a violent fight with her husband just hours after their wedding.  Following the fight, both were taken to the Eau Claire County Jail.  Thompson was last seen walking away from the jail at 3 a.m. and later was found strangled on a Eau Claire street.  Her husband was never considered a suspect as he was in jail at the time of her murder.  Zimmerman’s conviction was based on allegedly inconsistent statements he gave to Eau Claire police about his whereabouts around the time of the murder.  None of Zimmerman’s interrogations were taped.

Zimmerman's son, Shannon, said the alleged inconsistencies were due to his father being in an alcoholic haze at the time of the crime and during subsequent police interviews. He said the case against his father consisted of "out-of-context statements, misleading statements and very, very shaky facts."  With the help of the Wisconsin Innocence Project, Zimmerman’s conviction was overturned.  At retrial in April 2005, the prosecution’s case did not proceed well, and in mid-trial the prosecutor asked the judge to throw out the case, saying he lacked the evidence to show “beyond a reasonable doubt” that Zimmerman had killed his former girlfriend.  The judge agreed and acquitted Zimmerman.  Zimmerman had served 3 1/2 years in prison for the crime.  (Wisconsin State Journal)  [1/08]

Lawrencia Bembenek, also known as Bambi, was convicted of murdering Christine Schultz, her husband's ex-wife.  Bambi's husband Fred Schultz was a police officer as was his ex-wife.  Bambi had become a police officer and was stunned by the amount of graft going on in the department: officers selling pornography from their cars, accepting oral sex from hookers, frequenting drug hangouts, and harassing minorities.

When Bambi was fired for supposedly knowing that another officer had marijuana at a rock concert, she filed a lawsuit, charging discrimination.  In Oct. 1980, she came into possession of photos of male police officers dancing nude in a public park.  She gave them to Internal Affairs.  She was also at the heart of a federal investigation into the misuse of department funds.

Bambi, then 21, had once posed in a slinky dress for a beer calendar and had worked for a few weeks as a waitress at a Playboy Club.  Because of this, the crime became a media sensation.  Fred owned an off-duty gun that was stored in his and Bambi's apartment.  Shortly after the murder, Fred had his partner check it out.  The partner determined that the gun had not been fired, but he did not record the serial number.  Two weeks later, it was determined that the murder was performed with Fred's gun.  Fred had an alibi for the time of the murder.  Although three other people had access to the apartment, Bambi was charged with the murder because she claimed she was at home sleeping that night.  Bambi was convicted and sentenced to life in prison.  Years later, it was discovered from autopsy photos that the murder weapon could not have been Fred’s gun.  The barrel of the murder weapon left a burn mark when it was fired at point-blank range into the victim.  This burn mark could not have been produced by Fred’s gun.

After Fred divorced her, Bambi became engaged to the brother of a fellow inmate.  With his help, she escaped prison in 1990, and the two ran north to Thunder Bay, Ontario.  Many people in Milwaukee sided with her and supported her escape.  Most said that, should they see her, they would not turn her in.  People protested openly on her behalf and even came up with a song, “Run, Bambi, Run.”

Three months later, a tourist who had seen a story about Bambi on "America's Most Wanted" recognized her fiancé and turned the couple in.  The Canadian police arrested the couple just minutes before they were set to flee again.  On Bambi’s return to Wisconsin, a judicial inquiry was convened that excluded the district attorney.  The inquiry detailed seven major police blunders during the investigation.  Bambi cut a deal in 1992 that let her off with time served in exchange for a no contest plea.  (CrimeLibrary)

Hudson was convicted of the murder of Shanna Van Dyn Hoven, a 19-year-old UW-Madison student.  Police alleged that Hudson, then 31, was caught with blood on his hands, chest, and legs after leading them on a high-speed chase.  They also said he confessed to the crime.  Prosecutors said Hudson stabbed Van Dyn Hoven, a stranger, in a fit of misplaced rage, and then tried to put her in his truck.

Hudson said he tried to help the woman when she fled from the woods, covered in blood.  She sat briefly in his truck, but fled when David Carnot, a retired police detective's son, came out from the woods.  Hudson drove off because he feared Carnot would attack him, and fled from police because he had marijuana on him, had an expired license, and had been drinking.  After he was pulled over and arrested, Hudson fell asleep in the back of a police cruiser but awoke to find a Kaukauna police officer pouring a red liquid on him that appeared to be blood.  After telling the officer to stop, Hudson was moved to a second police cruiser where another officer smeared something on his chest and hands.  Hudson has maintained this story from the hours following his arrest.  He also denied making any confession.

Despite Hudson's bloody hands, no blood was found on his steering wheel or gearshift.  Tests revealed animal blood was on Hudson's foot.  Other tests revealed no DNA in blood samples.  A lab analyst suggested the samples could have been chemically contaminated so that the DNA in the material could not be tested.  Transcripts and a tape of the 911 communications that day omit nearly all transmissions mentioning the murder and chase.  A recently uncovered dispatch log and 911 tape shows that two Grand Chute police officers who said they were involved in Hudson's chase and arrest, did not arrive until 90 minutes afterward.  Other evidence discrepancies exist with a knife, vials of Van Dyn Hoven's blood, and a missing window crank from Hudson's truck, allegedly found next to the victim's body.  The DA in the case, Vince Biskupic, had been cited for a number of unrelated ethics violations, as was his former boss, Joe Paulus, who was sent to prison on bribery related convictions.  (TruthInJustice)  [9/06]