A Supreme Court justice is facing a formal ethics complaint and potential sanctions after he allegedly placed his hands around the neck of another justice in a confrontation last June.

The Wisconsin Judicial Commission, an independent state judicial conduct organization, alleged in a complaint filed last Friday that Justice David Prosser willfully violated provisions of the Wisconsin Code of Judicial Conduct when he put his hands around Justice Ann Walsh Bradley’s neck in her chambers last June with four other justices present.

The complaint said the incident occurred after a heated discussion concerning when the dissenting opinions Bradley and Chief Justice Shirley Abrahamson were writing would be completed and when a notice Prosser and his colleagues wanted would be released.

According to the complaint, at some point during the discussion, Bradley asked Prosser to leave her chambers and when she directed him to the door, Prosser put his hands around her neck as if he were going to “choke” her.

According to the complaint, during a Dane County Sheriff’s questioning about the incident Prosser said while his hands came up when Bradley approached him, it was a “total reflex.”

Prior to the incident, the complaint also said Prosser had demonstrated incivility by telling Abrahamson while other Justices were present she was “a total bitch.”

Prosser said in a statement he was innocent and called the charges of the Judicial Commission untrue and partisan.

“[The Wisconsin Judicial Commission] has not been interested in discerning the truth. It has been committed to making a political statement,” Prosser said in the statement. “The Judicial Commission is trying to accomplish through this prosecution what some of its members failed to achieve at the ballot box.”

Prosser said in the statement no contact would have occurred between him and Bradley if Bradley had not charged him with her right hand in a fist. He said she did not demand him to leave her office until after contact occurred and that he never intentionally touched her neck.

He added in his statement he never “choked” Bradley or put her in a “chokehold” and Bradley’s assertions that he did are false.

Franklyn Gimbel, the prosecutor appointed by the commission, said Prosser’s accusations of partisanship are not valid. He said the Wisconsin Judicial Commission is an independent state institution.

“There’s no factual basis for that kind of statement,” Gimbel said.

Gimbel said he requested the case to come before a three judge panel of appellate court judges. The court will hold a trial and determine whether the allegations stand or not. 

After they determine that they can recommend sanctions, but only the Supreme Court could decide if a complaint is sustained and enforce the sanctions, Gimbel said.

Jay Heck, executive director for Common Cause in Wisconsin, said of the seven Supreme Court justices on the court, four are conservative and three are moderate to liberal. He said because of this divide, the chances of judges voting to sanction Prosser are “doubtful.”

Heck said while people have filed ethics complaints for judges on partiality in cases, no ethics complaints have been filed against them before for behavioral complaints.

“To me, it’s like a soap opera,” Heck said. “This is something you would expect on an elementary school playground, not from the Supreme Court.”