MILWAUKEE — The Department of Corrections is reversing course following a TMJ4 investigation.
We introduced you to Dorothy Hacket last week. She’s the mother of a Milwaukee man who was killed by a 14-year-old fleeing police after committing an armed robbery.
Hacket was furious after learning the Department of Corrections planned to release the teen back into the community just nine months after he was sentenced in juvenile court.
“If it would have been his first offense, I would have said, ‘OK, I can see giving him a break, but this was his third offense,” Hacket said. “He had been given a couple of breaks. And you can’t tell me that he was rehabilitated in 9 months.”
Just days after that story aired, Hacket was alerted by the D.O.C. saying the teen’s release had been placed on hold.
She received a letter from the state saying the teen, who was scheduled to be released back into the Milwaukee community this week, has been placed on hold pending an administrative review.
“Our state needs to wake up,” Hacket said. “We need to change something.”
Hacket has reached out to TMJ4 each time she’s felt wronged by the juvenile justice system in Wisconsin. This time, she thinks the Department of Corrections made the right choice.
Rather than releasing the teen who killed her son to a foster home, group home, or a child caring institution, the latest letter Hacket received from the Department of Corrections says the teen will remain at a juvenile correctional facility as D.O.C. leaders reevaluate their decision.
Hacket’s been fighting for justice since January 2023 when her son Marquis was t-boned by a 14-year-old who was fleeing police in a stolen car after committing an armed robbery.
Hacket died on impact.
Court records show the teen was charged with nearly identical crimes a few months before the deadly crash including armed robbery, fleeing police, and stealing a car.
The teen was prosecuted in children’s court. TMJ4 is not naming him because he wasn’t charged as an adult.
He was sentenced in January to the Serious Juvenile Offender Program. It comes with up to five years of confinement, but as little as one year.
Court records show that, with time served before sentencing, the teen has been in custody for less than two years.
"I thought it was too short, that’s my honest opinion,” said Rep. LaKeshia Myers.
Myers thinks D.O.C. made the right choice by re-evaluating its decision.
“You have to think about this in respect of if it were your own family and knowing my family if I was taken away from them or someone significant was taken away from me — I would want to see there be some real sentence that was imposed there,” she said. “Something to make you feel as though you had some level of justice.”
The Department of Corrections says it can’t comment on this or any juvenile case.
We also reached out to the teen’s mother to see if she wanted to share her perspective. She declined as well.
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