Squeezing Justice ... or, We Don't Play That Way in Wisconsin.

The federal prosecutors who put Georgia Thompson in prison, on charges later overturned by an appeals court as lacking in merit, repeatedly offered to go easy on her if she were to implicate others in the administration of Wisconsin Gov. Jim Doyle.

"They said she would have to testify before the grand jury against [former Department of Administration Secretary Marc] Marotta and Gov. Doyle," says Stephen Hurley, Thompson's attorney.

Did they specifically name Doyle?

"We knew what they were talking about," says Hurley, making his first public comments on the conduct of prosecutors in the Thompson case, which in recent weeks has become the subject of national media attention and congressional inquiry.

According to Hurley and co-counsel Marcus Berghahn, U.S. Attorney Steven Biskupic and others in his office made offers of leniency prior to filing charges against Thompson and again before the start of her trial.

"I began to get the impression that the indictment was being used to squeeze her," says Hurley, noting that these overtures continued even after Thompson's sentencing.

"It was the only time in my career that, after the person was sentenced, the prosecutor has called to renew the discussion," says Hurley, who's been a criminal defense attorney for more than three decades. "I've never had that happen before."

Hurley is a well-known Madison defense lawyer, akin to Earl Gray in the Twin Cities. He comes off as tough, smart, and honest. He teaches Evidence at UW Law, and is more a real-world than a classroom teacher, if you understand the distinction.

Georgia Thompson just impresses me as tough, in a quiet, stubborn kind of way. Contributions to justice come in all suit sizes, and playing defense against even the most credentialed and seemingly clever opponents often works in real life. (Sorry suits. Can't always buy a win, gotta earn it sometimes :)