OSHKOSH, WI (WTAQ-WLUK) — The fallout from disgraced Winnebago County District Attorney Joe Paulus’ actions continues to have an impact in Winnebago County.
In a ruling Wednesday, the state Court of Appeals ruled convicted murderer Mark Price deserves a new hearing on if his sentence for selling drugs to hire someone to kill Paulus should be modified.
Price, 62, is serving a life sentence for the 1989 kidnapping and murder of Michael Fitzgibbon. Price has lost his appeals in that case.
In 1994, Price was charged with drug distribution and solicitation of first-degree intentional homicide. Price was accused of wanting to sell marijuana and using the proceeds to pay others to kill Paulus, who had prosecuted Price. Eventually, Price pleaded no contest to drug delivery and threatening to injure a public official. He was sentenced to 14 years in prison, to be served consecutively to his murder sentence.
In 2004, Paulus was convicted of bribery, tax evasion, and various other crimes in federal court for taking money to reduce or dismiss cases. Additionally, in Price’s case, it was revealed that Paulus withheld exculpatory evidence from Price and his counsel while pursuing the above charges. Paulus’s successor as district attorney, William Lennon, concluded there was prosecutorial misconduct in Price’s case.
As a result, a circuit court vacated Price’s plea on the threat to injure a public official charge, and dismissed that count in 2007. The drug conviction was not addressed.
In 2019, Price asked for a modification of the maximum 9-year sentence he received on the drug count. The motion was denied, however, with the judge saying it should have been addressed in 2007. Price’s appeal of that decision is what the court decided Wednesday.
In the 9-page ruling, the appeals court says because the length of the sentence on the drug count was “highly relevant” to the now-dismissed threat to Paulus charge, and the 2007 hearing did not address the issues, Price is allowed to appeal it now.
“In short, the parties’ 2007 stipulation was silent as to sentence modification; it was not discussed or considered at the hearing, nor was the sentence on the remaining count addressed when the court entered the judgment dismissing the threat to injure a public official charge. Indeed, as noted above, the State concedes on appeal that “Price is right that the plea withdrawal hearing did not discuss sentence modification.” As such, we have been provided with no legal basis to preclude Price from seeking modification at this time based on the new factor—dismissal of the threat to injure charge. We also conclude that the circuit court relied on the threat to injure a public official conviction when determining Price’s drug delivery sentence The reversed conviction was highly relevant in Price’s drug delivery sentencing consideration,” the court wrote.
The appeals court directed the circuit court to examine whether that new factor — the dismissal of the threat count — justifies a sentence modification, but did not order it to make a change.
“The circuit court maintains discretion to decide whether the new factor justifies sentence modification,” the decision states.
No hearing has been scheduled on the issue.
Price is currently serving his sentence at the Stanley Correctional Institution. He is eligible for parole in 2025, Dept. of Corrections records show.
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