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In complex cases, justice can be expensive

LAKE GENEVA -- It began as an innovative way to fund a complex criminal case, but ended up raising questions about the cost of justice and who should foot the bill.

In 1999, Linda Goes and several of her neighbors believed an unscrupulous contractor who did work on their Geneva Lake properties victimized them. Goes says the contractor took her for close to $100,000.

According to an investigation by Fox 6 News (video above), the group convinced the Walworth County District Attorney's office to prosecute. Because the case was so complex, however, all agreed they needed an expensive expert witness to sort out the details for the jury.

The Walworth County DA's office came up with a novel solution: ask the victims to chip in to pay for the expert witness.

The contractor eventually pled guilty, and justice appeared to have been served. That's until the victims received their bill for the witness. Goes says she agreed to pay $5,000, but the total eventually ran into the tens of thousands of dollars.

Goes balked, and now Walworth County is suing her for the money.

That's how a case that at first was under the radar is now attracting lot of attention.

I suspect this isn't the first time the District Attorney has been called upon to prosecute a case that the victims saw as a slam-dunk.

But often what seems simple to non-lawyers can be difficult to prove in a criminal court.

But the real story here may not be the county suing the victim for her share of the expenses. The real story may be the whole notion of requiring victims to pony up to prosecute their victimizers.

If victims are expected to bear the expense of witnesses, it's easy to see the slippery slope that's laid out before the criminal justice system.

Really, it's one of the few areas of government untainted by accusations of influence by money.

In this case, the victims were asked if they would help pay. But down the road, could a prosecutor decide to require a victim to pay? The contractor is now appealing, arguing that wealthy people shouldn't be able to buy access to justice.

The county has since offered to settle with Goes for $1,000, but against the advice of her attorney, she turned down the offer as a matter of principal.

This case is one of the most complicated cases of theft by a contractor Walworth County has ever seen, and prosecutors were caught between many conflicting demands.

But after seeing how poorly this all played out, all would be wise to end the practice.