MILWAUKEE — The Milwaukee County District Attorney's Office says it is changing how it maintains a list that tracks police officers with credibility concerns — and 13 current and former officers across Milwaukee County have been added to it in the past year. Two Milwaukee police officers were removed.
The changes come after TMJ4's investigative team, Lighthouse, exposed concerns about the list's accuracy in a partnership with the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel and Wisconsin Watch.
Watch: One year after Brady list was exposed, has the Milwaukee Co. DA made any changes?
"We want the process to work as perfectly as possible, and on occasion it doesn't, and when it doesn't, we have to address it," Milwaukee County District Attorney Kent Lovern said.
It’s called the Brady list, and it gets its name from the 1963 U.S. Supreme Court case Brady v. Maryland. The ruling requires prosecutors to disclose an officer’s Brady violation if they are a witness in a criminal case.
Milwaukee County’s Brady list tracks around 190 current and former police officers with credibility concerns due to past crimes, untruthfulness, or other integrity issues.
New additions to the list
Among the new additions is former Milwaukee Police Officer Josue Ayala. He is facing criminal charges after prosecutors say he used MPD's license plate reader to spy on his partner and that person's ex more than 170 times. The DA’s office confirms Ayala was added to the Brady list in December after MPD launched an internal investigation into the alleged misconduct.
When TMJ4 asked whether he could be trusted in court given his placement on the Brady List for credibility concerns, Ayala did not respond.
MPD confirms he resigned hours before his initial court appearance on Wednesday.
Police documents show MPD Officer Andrew Stanton logged 5 cell checks he never did while an inmate in his care tried to harm himself.
According to body camera video and police records, now-former MPD Officer Christopher De La Vega lied about drinking and asked an officer to turn off his body camera during an off-duty drunk driving arrest three years ago in Illinois.
"I think this is a situation where a violation of law was very clear," criminal defense attorney Caitlin Firer said.
MPD records show Officer Ferrance Barton was also internally investigated after he was accused of firing shots while off-duty after another driver cut him off. The DA’s office declined to charge him due to a lack of evidence.
MPD Officer Eian West was added to the list after internal police records showed he failed to make a mandatory domestic violence arrest. Three days later, police records show the victim told police that the suspect "took the shovel and hit her with it”. She also informed police that her unborn child died in a miscarriage, according to MPD documents.
Changes since our reporting began
Public defenders who represent defendants say they have seen a difference since our team started reporting on the Brady List.
"We've received more of them. We have seen improvement in it since last year, but there's still a lot more work they can do," Angel Johnson of the State Public Defender's Office said about receiving more Brady notifications.
Lovern says he assigned two staffers to regularly review and update the Brady List. The move comes after our investigation in partnership with the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel exposed inconsistencies. The first list we received in September 2024 included 5 officers who were dead, and the employment and allegation columns of the DA's spreadsheet were largely missing. Lovern says that has been corrected and the changes are reflected on the last Brady list we received in September 2025.
"I think we have, in terms of having more eyes on it, I think that has improved it. I think making sure the information is as current as possible is an improvement," Lovern said. "We have an ongoing obligation as prosecutors to turn over potentially exculpatory information."
See the full list:
A list that wasn't up to date
Our investigation also proved the list wasn't up to date after we received a tip about MPD Officer Jacob Baczek. Court records show he was convicted of disorderly conduct more than a decade ago in Waukesha County, but he wasn't added to the list until TMJ4 asked the DA's office why. Lovern says MPD failed to notify them.
"It's self-evident, it's something that should have been disclosed a long time ago," Lovern said.
It is up to law enforcement agencies to alert the DA's office of internal integrity violations. When asked whether MPD has made any changes to how it notifies the DA's office of potential Brady material, Milwaukee Police Chief Jeffrey Norman said no.
"You always can improve," Norman said. "We try to be as thorough as possible, but we'll be the first to say that we're not perfect."
Of the 8 MPD officers added to the list between September 2024 and September 2025, a department spokesperson says 6 remain on the force as of early February. Norman says it isn’t a fireable offense.
"If there's the ability that, {at} some point, even if they say they're going to be the last person called, that means that there is still a heartbeat, that heartbeat of saying that you have the ability to do your respective duties," Norman said.
When asked whether he would hire an officer already on the Brady List, Norman said, "Would that raise my eyebrows? Will that give me pause? Absolutely."
Norman says MPD still only refers potential Brady offenses after an officer is disciplined. He acknowledged that those investigations can take up to two years and added that officers deserve due process.
"My clients also deserve due process, and if there's an officer that has credibility issues and they're going to testify in a proceeding against my client, they have the same right to due process as well," Johnson said.
Bridget Krause, deputy state public defender, agreed.
"I think the community has a right to know," Krause said.
An online resource for the legal community
As our Brady List investigation continues, defense attorney Firer says it comes with an important resource for the legal community — an online Brady List database.
"If I'm watching a body camera and it's striking me as something's not right, I will run that officer's name on the Brady list," Firer said.
Firer believes the database brings transparency to the process.
About this project
“Duty to Disclose” is an ongoing investigation by TMJ4 News, the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel and Wisconsin Watch into Milwaukee County’s closely-guarded list of law enforcement officers deemed by the Milwaukee County District Attorney’s Office to have credibility issues. The office publicly released the list in full for the first time in late 2024 after pressure from the news organizations.
TMJ4 investigative reporter Ben Jordan, Journal Sentinel investigative reporter Ashley Luthern and Wisconsin Watch investigative reporter Mario Koran spent months verifying the hundreds of officers on the list and finding examples of those who are missing. The Fund for Investigative Journalism provided financial support for this project.
If you have any tips related to the Milwaukee County Brady list, please email Investigative Reporter Ben Jordan at Ben.Jordan@tmj4.com.
Project credits
Reporters: Ashley Luthern (Milwaukee Journal Sentinel), Ben Jordan (TMJ4), Mario Koran (Wisconsin Watch)
Contributing reporter: Dave Biscobing (ABC15)
Photos and video: Angela Peterson, Bill Schulz, Sherman Williams (Milwaukee Journal Sentinel); Ariel Campos, Jeremy Dunk, Andrew Huggins (TMJ4)
Graphics and illustrations: Khushboo Rathore, Andrew Mulhearn (Wisconsin Watch)
Editors: Daphne Chen, Rachel Piper (Milwaukee Journal Sentinel); Tim Vetscher, Nicole Buckley (TMJ4); Jim Malewitz (Wisconsin Watch)
Digital design and production: Spencer Holladay (USA TODAY Network), Ridah Syed (Milwaukee Journal Sentinel)
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