For all the wrong reasons, I’m sure, the Wrongful Death Civil Lawsuit that was filed against the six of us almost 20 years ago by Bruce Bachhuber’s law firm, Hanaway & Ross, on behalf of Tom Monfils’ wife and family, was finally dismissed – with prejudice and without expense. (Prejudice means that it cannot be re-filed or re-opened) Note; for unknown reasons Dale Basten isn’t named on the dismissal order, probably a typo. [Another example of their combined lack of proficiency?]

In May of 1993 the wrongful death lawsuit was filed against Keith Kutska, Randy Lepak, Reynold Moore, Michael Hirn, Dale Basten, Michael Johnson, and I, Michael Piaskowski. Later, Marlyn Charles, the Union, and several insurance companies were added to the lawsuit.

After years of delays and legal wrangling; including depositions, interrogatories, amendments, and other ways of wasting time and money; some of the named defendants ‘settled’ rather than continue to rack up undue expenses. We six wrongfully convicted men, along with Randy Lepak; were all that was left “holding the bag” for more than a decade. Several times over the years individual requests to be dismissed from the lawsuit were summarily dismissed. After I was exonerated, my request to be dismissed “in the interest of justice” was met with scorn and the threat to re-open the suit; calling my request “frivolous” and an “insult”.

Although I had the opportunity to attend the recent hearing, as it states in the court order, I preferred not to attend and instead, submitted a letter to the Court that was to be read into the record. My letter to the court follows;

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Michael Piaskowski’s Statement to be read into the record for the July 18, 2012 Hearing referencing the Civil Case Number; 93-CV-765

My name is Michael LawrencePiaskowski. I am the same Michael L. Piaskowski that is named in the Wrongful Death Civil Lawsuit case number 93-CV-765. I am the Michael L. Piaskowski that was unfairly convicted in 1995 of being Party to the Crime of First Degree Intentional Homicide in the 1992 death of Thomas J. Monfils (95 CF 239): The same Michael L. Piaskowski that was later exonerated of this crime five and a half years later by the United States District Court – Eastern District of Wisconsin (99 C 1428), upheld on appeal by the United States Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit (01-1159). See; Piaskowski vs. Bett, 256 F.3d 687(Seventh Circuit 2001).

I wish to make the following statements for the court record of 93-CV-765;

My Great Grandparents, Joseph and Dorothy Piaskowski, came to Wisconsin from Poland in 1891. After a short stay in South Milwaukee they moved their family to the 600 block of Main Street here in Green Bay where they owned and operated several small businesses over the years. The original building still stands today (618 Main St) and is one of the oldest buildings in downtown Green Bay. The Piaskowski family has resided in and around the Green Bay area for over one-hundred and twenty-one (121) productive years. Our family has a long, storied, and proud history of being high quality, honest, law abiding, blue-collar working, United States citizens; always willing to step up and do the right thing. I (Michael L. Piaskowski) am no exception.

Sixty-three years ago I was born to Francis and Cleo (Kramer) Piaskowski. I attended several different catholic and public schools before graduating from Green Bay West High School in 1967. I had a Press Gazette paper route and worked part-time at St Vincent’s Hospital after school. After graduation I worked at Auto Glass Specialists and on the Chicago and North West Railroad section crew before enlisting into the United States Army in late 1968. I was honorably discharged in December of 1971. I am a Vietnam Veteran.

In early 1971 I married my high school sweetheart, the former Margie Kraning. On August 28, 1971 our beautiful daughter Jennifer was born. In 1972 Margie and I bought six acres of land on White Pine Road in the town of Suamico where we built a home later that summer. In February 1972 I began my paper making career at the American Can Company’s paper mill on Day Street (eventually James River), now Georgia Pacific East. I worked in the Third Floor Converting Department for approximately one year before transferring to the Paper Machine Department. For the next twenty plus years I worked my way up from the spare-hand position up to the top job on the paper machines as the Paper Mill Specialist; including a stint as a fill-in foreman and a year as the Hourly Facilitator for the Quality of Work Life Program (a joint company/union venture). We were living the American dream.  I had no criminal record and considered myself an above average employee and citizen, in fact, I still do.

Having stated the above as a base, I will get to the point.

As we all know, in November of 1992 Tom Monfils went missing and was later found deceased.  I think we all know what the accusations against the six of us were, and what the results of the trial were, but what most do not know, or what some people do not want to hear or recognize, is the truth.

The truth is that these six convictions were so wrong that they are most likely the largest unrecognized man-made miscarriage of justice in Wisconsin’s history –maybe in the entire United States of America.

I won’t rehash the details but I will say this; other than Tom Monfils’ death, the very worst part of this tragedy is that we, (Michael Hirn, Michael Johnson, Rey Moore, Keith Kutska, Dale Basten and I) were all convicted of something that never happened: Yes, you heard me right, it never happened.

Now that’s not to say that Tom’s death didn’t happen; Tragically Tom is, in fact, dead. What I am saying is this; the very thing that we were convicted of doing—did not happen. The so-called ‘bubbler confrontation’; where the six of us were supposed to have assaulted Tom and then carried his beaten and unconscious body off  to a paper pulp storage tank to be disposed of: That’s what NEVER HAPPENED… I as there that day. I was the lead man on the job. I was responsible for the paper machines production and operation. If any kind of a physical assault on Tom would have taken place I would have seen it or heard about it. Nothing like that happened — not with my knowledge, not without my knowledge – not with me present, not without me present. There is a reason why the investigators never found any physical evidence of an assault anywhere around my area of responsibility; nothing happened there. Whatever it was that happened to Tom, HAD to have happened to him someplace else in some other way. Tom’s body was found two buildings away. First the investigators got it wrong, then the prosecutors got it wrong, and then the jury got it wrong.

This brings me to the wrongful death lawsuit that this hearing is about; For almost twenty years this ill-advised lawsuit has been causing stress to all of the named defendants and their families, while doing absolutely nothing to help seek justice for Tom. The only thing this lawsuit has done was to help promote the unbelievable injustice that Tom’s death has turned into. It was unfair, it was premature, and it was a complete mistake from the very beginning. The courts never should have allowed it to exist for a minute, much less for all these years. From a personal standpoint it has also kept me, an exonerated and innocent citizen, from exercising my Constitutional Right to pursue the American Dream unencumbered.

Obviously we all want to have this part of this major injustice over-with in order to end the stress and suffering. So for that reason, and that reason alone, I do not contest the long overdue dismissal of this irrational lawsuit with prejudice and without costs to any of the named defendants only.

Respectfully Submitted,

Michael L. Piaskowski