MILWAUKEE — A Milwaukee County supervisor officially requested a full report and audit on Thursday to find out why the county's Behavioral Health Services Division did not notify the district attorney's office when a murder suspect was released into the community.
Prosecutors say 24-year-old Amando Lang stabbed a man six years ago in Greenfield. He never went to trial because he was ruled mentally incompetent.
County Supervisor Kathleen Vincent is calling on Behavioral Health Services to provide a report shortly, detailing what led to this specific misstep. She hopes an audit in the coming months brings their policies and procedures to light to make sure this doesn’t happen again.
“Everyone’s saying how could this happen? And I don’t know how it could happen, but I do want it to be fixed,” Vincent said.
Watch: Milwaukee County Supervisor demands audit detailing failure to notify DA about alleged killer's release
As the county supervisor who represents the area of Greenfield where 49-year-old Ben Christianson was murdered in 2019, Vincent says her number one priority right now is finding out why Lang was released back into the community two years ago without authorities notifying the DA’s office.
Greenfield police and prosecutors didn’t find out Lang had been living in a group home for the past two years until officers were called to his mother’s apartment complex on Father’s Day where Lang was having a mental health crisis.
“It should have never been a surprise to the law enforcement of Greenfield showing up on the scene that day,” Vincent said. “You could actually see it physically in their faces and from the body cam video.”
The county’s Behavioral Health Services Division admitted their office failed to inform prosecutors that Lang was released from Mendota Mental Health Institute. Vincent sent an email requesting answers on Behavioral Health’s policies and procedures.
That email reads in part, "I am deeply concerned about the implications of such communication failures and want to ensure that safeguards are in place to prevent similar situations in the future."
“What are you trying to find out?” Reporter Ben Jordan asked.
“So I think the main thing that we need to find out here is where the breakdown was,” Vincent said.
Vincent says if Behavioral Health had notified the DA’s office two years ago when Lang was released back into the community, prosecutors could have called an emergency hearing then to have Lang’s competency re-evaluated.
Instead, the DA’s office had to wait until three days ago to hold that hearing. If Lang is ruled mentally competent, the DA’s office could proceed with prosecuting the first-degree intentional homicide charge against him.
“My concern is there could be other incidents that this is happening so I just really want to have a close look at the department about how these kinds of matters are being handled," Vincent said. “It’s not that I’m trying to expose the county to bad publicity or anything, but is this something happening and is this something happening around the state?”
Vincent says several supervisors support her push. In order for the audit to take place, the full county board would have to pass a resolution.
The Milwaukee County Department of Health and Human Services declined TMJ4's interview request on this matter.
The Behavioral Health Services director has yet to respond to our request for an interview.
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