MADISON, Wis. — The man identified by authorities as the person who broke into the Juneau County home of a former judge and killed him was previously sentenced to prison by that judge, court records show.
The alleged gunman, 56-year-old Douglas K. Uhde, was sentenced to six years in state prison and nine years of extended supervision by Judge John Roemer in November 2005 on charges of armed burglary with a dangerous weapon in a case that was originally filed in August of 2001. The case began under the eye of a different judge before Roemer took over the case in February 2005, according to court records.
According to Wisconsin Department of Corrections records, Uhde was sent to Dodge Reception to begin his sentence before he was transferred to Fox Lake Correctional Institution on January 13, 2006. However, about two months later, Uhde escaped the minimum-security facility. Additional court records indicate Uhde walked away from a job site in Baraboo on March 27, 2006 before being taken back into custody on April 17, 2006 in Adams County.
Uhde was taken from the Adams County Jail to the Columbia Correctional Institution on April 20, 2006, before being transferred to other facilities across the state in 2006 and 2007, including the Wisconsin Secure Program Facility and the Stanley Correctional Institution.
Uhde was also found guilty in March of 2007 of driving a vehicle without consent, eluding an officer while driving a vehicle, and obstructing an officer. He was sentenced by Judge Charles A. Pollex on April 10, 2008 to an additional one year and six months in state prison and an additional two years of extended supervision to be served consecutive to a nine-month sentence he received in Dodge County for his escape.
DOC records indicate Uhde was at the Stanley Correctional Institution before being released on extended supervision on July 7, 2015, but he found himself back in jail in Adams County in March of 2019, again spending time at Stanley Correctional Institution and Dodge Correctional Institution before being released again on extended supervision on April 14, 2020.
Roemer retired from the bench on August 10, 2017, and had previously worked as an assistant district attorney in Juneau County and as an assistant state public defender. Wisconsin Supreme Court Chief Justice Annette Kingsland Ziegler said Roemer was known by his colleagues for his “sharp legal mind” and said his work “made a tremendous difference in the lives of many people in Juneau County and elsewhere in the state.”
The Wisconsin Department of Justice, which is handling the investigation into Roemer’s death, has not confirmed reports that Uhde may have been targeting other high-ranking officials, such as Wisconsin Gov. Tony Evers and U.S. Senate minority leader Mitch McConnell, but the spokesperson for Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer did confirm to the Associated Press that she was among the names on Uhde’s list.
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