News

Court fines DePula

Judge Diane Nicks, of the Dane County Circuit Court, convicted a former county supervisor of misdemeanor defamation after an April 2004 incident where the defendant conducted an e-mail smear campaign against County Supervisor Don Eggert.

Patrick DePula faced a felony charge for identity theft from the incident, but the state of Wisconsin reduced the charges to a class A misdemeanor. Nicks expressed the seriousness of the crime despite the reduction of charges to a misdemeanor.

"Though the charges were lowered, there are still numerous kinds of harms that go along with this offense," Nicks said. "Harm to the person, harm to the government and harm to the community have come as a result of Mr. DePula's actions."

Eggert, who DePula accused of bestiality in the e-mails, speculated that politics were a reason for the untruthful attack.

"I had defeated [DePula] in the 2002 Dane County Supervisor elections," Eggert said. "I'm sure that had something to do with it."

Nicks said she thought anybody who had withstood this attack would be personally hurt and embarrassed by the e-mails.

"Mr. Eggert, for the rest of his life, will be associated with the accusation of bestiality," Nicks said. "Whenever someone mentions his name, people are going to say, 'oh yeah, he's the one the bestiality e-mails were about.'"

Rick Petri, DePula's attorney throughout the trial, had argued unsuccessfully that his client be protected under the First Amendment, saying DePula just has an edgy sense of humor.

"When I read the e-mails, I laughed. I thought they were funny," Petri said. "It didn't make me think any less of Mr. Eggert as a politician or as a person in any way. I just thought they were funny and somewhat childish."

Petri requested Nicks assess a minimal fine to accompany the misdemeanor. DePula said he had suffered enough as a result of the ordeal.

"I just want this whole thing to be over," DePula said. "I've lost my job as a result of this trial; my wife has lost her job. I just want to wake up tomorrow and not think about the present or past, but the future."

Nicks assessed a $1,000 fine and 250 hours of community service to DePula for the conviction. According to Nicks, the community service would act to pay back Dane's citizens after all the headaches he has given them as a result of the incident.

"The fact that the use of a public communication system was perverted is very damaging to the community," Nicks said. "I think Mr. DePula's actions, whether intended or not, have also hurt Dane County's government by discouraging people from running for office. The 250 hours of community service will serve as some repayment to the community and government."

DePula will not serve time in jail for the conviction and will not be placed on probation. Nicks explained her reasoning regarding the sentence.

"The court is directed to impose the minimum penalty necessary to bring justice," Nicks said. "It doesn't seem to me jail is necessary because there is no real danger of Mr. DePula doing this again and because of that, sentencing him to probation would just act to unnecessarily use our resources."