MADISON, Wis. — A millisecond in time is at the center of a felony case against a state law enforcement agent for his role in the shooting of Quadren Wilson in early 2022.
Despite attempts from Mark Wagner’s defense attorneys asking a judge to have the Dane County District Attorney’s office recused from prosecuting the case–as well as to dismiss the case altogether–Dane County circuit court judge Chris Taylor denied those requests, and the criminal charges against Wagner took the next step towards a trial on Thursday morning.
At the heart of the case where the Division of Criminal Investigation agent is charged with second-degree endangering the public: the moments before he fired at Quadren Wilson, who was in his car after a ream of law enforcement agencies had just finished the dangerous S.I.C. maneuver in an attempt to arrest Wilson, who was wanted on drug charges.
Court documents say Wagner fired twice and the officer behind him fired five times into Wilson’s car after it had been pinned between two law enforcement vehicles. In almost three hours of hearings on Thursday morning, Wagner’s defense team argued that Wagner used deadly force in the way that is common for law enforcement across Wisconsin: Wagner believed Wilson was shooting at him, so he fired back.
“This is different than someone just firing a gun on the street and endangering people in regard to that because we train officers to use force in certain circumstances,” defense attorney Michael Steinle said. “The law in Wisconsin is clear that deadly force even can be used by a police officer if he believes that it’s necessary to use the force.”
District Attorney Ismael Ozanne, however, argued that because a gun was never found in Wilson’s car and no one but law enforcement had fired, it was impossible that Wagner was in danger and therefore he recklessly endangered Wilson’s life by shooting at him.
“The only rounds fired were by law enforcement into the vehicle,” Ozanne said. “[Wagner] says he fired once. He fired after being fired upon. We know that not to be true.”
The criminal complaint, which Wagner’s defense team said they believed was insufficient and does not show a felony being committed, described how Wagner thought he heard a gunshot and believed Wilson was firing at him before pulling his trigger and falling backward. That then prompted the agent behind him to fire into the car; two rounds were ultimately missing from Wagner’s gun, and five from the agent behind him.
“There is nothing in this complaint that says that in fact the amount of force that Mr. Wagner used in this case as reaction to what was happening was somehow unreasonable,” his defense attorney said.
While both parties noted competing inferences arising from the criminal complaint, Judge Taylor ruled that there was enough evidence to bind Wagner’s case over for trial.
COPYRIGHT 2022 BY CHANNEL 3000. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED. THIS MATERIAL MAY NOT BE PUBLISHED, BROADCAST, REWRITTEN OR REDISTRIBUTED.
