“The dignity of a wise and righteous judge needs not the artificial safeguarding which is a heritage of the old days when if dissent found a tongue the public executioner cut it out. The Bench will be sufficiently respected when it is no longer a place where dullards dream and rogues rob . . .That the corrupt practices in our courts of law be uncovered to public view, whenever that is possible, by . . . the press.“ —Ambrose Bierce

KENOSHA, Wis. — “I have not violated a single law. Every word I’ve published is constitutionally protected reporting on an elected Kenosha County Circuit Court judge. In six years covering dozens of judges, this is the only one who has ever tried to have me imprisoned for it. Apparently this isn’t America. I have prison hanging over my head for accurate reporting on a sitting judge.”

That’s how Kenosha County Eye editor Kevin Mathewson responded to news that Wisconsin State Capitol Police Detective Bryn Callen-Blank has referred one felony stalking charge and two misdemeanors, including harassment, against him to the Kenosha County District Attorney’s Office. The complaining witness: Kenosha County Circuit Court Judge Chad Kerkman.

Mathewson said he expects he could be formally charged in the coming weeks or months, but maintains he has committed no crime.

“In a perfect world, this complaint should have been closed by the detective,” Mathewson said. “But I understand that police tend to treat judges with white gloves.

A Requested Gag Order as a Bail Condition

The referral paperwork forwarded to the DA’s office allegedly asked that whichever judge or commissioner handles Mathewson’s initial appearance impose a condition of bail barring him from writing about Kerkman going forward.

Mathewson and legal observers say such a condition would almost certainly amount to an unconstitutional prior restraint on protected speech.

“They want a judge to order me to stop reporting on Chad Kerkman as a condition of my freedom,” Mathewson said. “That tells you everything about what this is actually about.”

The charges were referred to the DA’s office roughly three weeks ago. Rumors of the referral began circulating throughout the Kenosha legal community around that same time, well before Mathewson says he was able to confirm it, suggesting a leak either from within the Wisconsin State Capitol Police or from Kerkman himself.

Attorney Pushes Back

Mathewson’s attorney, Michael Cicchini, has laid out in writing, both to Detective Callen-Blank during the investigation and, more recently, to Kenosha County prosecutors, why the case fails as a matter of law. Cicchini has pointed to Wis. Stat. § 940.32(4)(a)1, which exempts from the stalking statute any conduct protected by the constitutional right to free speech, including gathering and publishing information. He has also cited the commentary to Supreme Court Rule 60.03, which, states that judges “must expect to be the subject of constant public scrutiny” and must accept restrictions “that might be viewed as burdensome by the ordinary citizen.”

“No reasonable prosecutor would charge this,” Mathewson said. “But I think prosecutors are going to be sympathetic and give this judge the same white-glove treatment. And then eventually I’ll be in front of another judge, and judges stick together, in my estimation, so I expect kid-glove treatment there too. But where the Constitution and the buck actually stop is with a jury of my peers. I don’t see any chance a jury convicts me of stalking for writing truthful stories about a judge.”

A Detective With a Pattern

Mathewson says Detective Callen-Blank’s handling of this case fits a broader pattern. Callen-Blank previously referred stalking, harassment, and misconduct-in-public-office charges against State Representative Sylvia Ortiz-Velez following a political dispute, after Callen-Blank’s own superiors at Capitol Police had already concluded there was insufficient evidence of a crime and characterized the underlying statements as political rhetoric rather than a true threat. Prosecutors in that case declined to adopt Callen-Blank’s recommended charges.

“This is a pattern,” Mathewson said. “This isn’t the first time she’s pushed for serious charges on behalf of a prominent person over something that isn’t a crime, and it won’t be the last.”

Years of Escalation

The stalking referral is the latest chapter in 12 years of hostility from Kerkman toward Mathewson, predating KCE’s founding, which apexed on Sept. 5, 2025. Mathewson, whose outlet has a monthly circulation of over 1,000,000, first ran into open conflict with Kerkman that day, when Court Commissioner William Michel II, acting under Kerkman’s direction, denied Mathewson’s request to photograph intake court, ending a five-year streak in which Mathewson had been credentialed under Supreme Court Rule 61 without issue. The denial applied only to Kenosha County Eye; other outlets continued to receive same-day approvals. The ban came shortly after Kerkman’s own longtime bailiff had been charged with felony identity theft, a case Kenosha County Eye had also covered.

The intake court ban did not come out of nowhere. Kenosha County Eye has reported for years on Kerkman being reversed multiple times by higher courts for what appellate judges found were serious errors of judgment, including taking a child away from a parent without due process. The outlet has also documented what courthouse sources describe as in-court meltdowns, including episodes in which Kerkman berated litigants, prosecutors, and attorneys from the bench. Mathewson also reported on an alleged improper relationship Kerkman had with his former clerk. Mathewson says his coverage of Kerkman’s conduct, on and off the bench, goes back years and extends well beyond any single story.

Mathewson wrote a story about Kerkman banning him from photographing intake court, and it was that story Kerkman demanded be taken down. The very next day, Kerkman sent Mathewson a notarized demand, notarized by former Assistant District Attorney Tom “T. Clair” Binger, demanding he remove parts of the article about the ban. Among the material at issue was Kerkman’s campaign finance registration, a document every elected official in Wisconsin is required to file publicly, which included Kerkman’s personal email, phone number, and home address, the same information available for any elected official. Mathewson redacted the address immediately upon Kerkman’s request, even though he was not required to do so under law, but declined to remove the rest of the article. Under 2023 Wisconsin Act 235, effective April 1, 2025, judicial officers have been able to have their personal information, including their home address, removed from public records. Kerkman didn’t redact his personal information as allowed for roughly five months, until this dispute arose.

Mathewson responded to the ban by filing a federal civil rights lawsuit, Mathewson v. Kerkman, et al. (2025CV1492), in the Eastern District of Wisconsin on Sept. 29, 2025, alleging First Amendment retaliation, equal protection violations, and due process violations over the photography ban. The case is assigned to U.S. District Judge J.P. Stadtmueller and remains pending.

Separately, on Sept. 12, 2025, Kerkman reported Mathewson to the Kenosha County Sheriff’s Office, classifying his reporting as “threats.” The Sheriff’s Office took no law enforcement action and referred the matter to Corporation Counsel, who agreed that publishing the document was lawful. Kerkman didn’t like the Sheriff’s response and escalated to the Wisconsin State Capitol Police, the same agency now recommending charges against Mathewson.

Weeks later, longtime courthouse bailiff West Jacobs, a 75-year-old Air Force veteran, told Kenosha County Eye he was fired on Dec. 3, 2025, for sharing Kenosha County Eye articles on Facebook. Jacobs said the directive to fire him flowed from Kerkman to Clerk of Circuit Court Rebecca Matoska-Mentink to his supervisor, and that no misconduct or performance issue was ever raised against him.

Records reviewed by Kenosha County Eye also show Kerkman requested and received deputy bodyguard escorts, approved by Sheriff David Zoerner, to at least two Judiciary and Law Committee meetings, and coordinated a courthouse security assessment through the Capitol Police at public expense.

Fired Commissioner Says Kerkman Was “Obsessed” With Mathewson

Former Kenosha County Court Commissioner William Michel II, who was recently terminated after being placed on a performance improvement plan in his final months on the bench, told a courthouse insider that meetings meant to address his own performance repeatedly veered off course.

According to Michel’s account, relayed to Kenosha County Eye through that courthouse insider, the conversations kept turning to Mathewson, specifically to whether people believed Kerkman was gay because of photographs Mathewson had published showing the judge shirtless, embracing other men, and wearing LGBTQ pride items. (These photos were publicly shared by Kerkman on social media, accessible to anybody on earth with an internet connection.) Michel described Kerkman during these conversations as “obsessed” with Mathewson.

“A Ludicrous Charge”

Mathewson calls the stalking allegation itself absurd.

“When people think of stalking, they think of driving by someone’s house, threats, that kind of thing,” Mathewson said. “I haven’t set foot in this guy’s courtroom in more than five years. He handles family cases I have zero interest in. I have a constitutional right to sit in his courtroom like any member of the public, and I choose not to. Calling that stalking is ludicrous.”

Mathewson also questions why Kerkman never pursued a civil remedy if he genuinely felt threatened.

“He’s a judge. He knows exactly how a restraining order works,” Mathewson said. “If he actually believed I was stalking him, why didn’t he just go get one? Instead he ran to the Capitol Police.”

Mathewson also points to the timeline. Kerkman first reported him to law enforcement in September 2025, yet the case did not result in a charging referral until nearly a year later.

“Why did it take a detective the better part of a year to refer charges if this was actually urgent?” Mathewson said. “None of this makes sense. The writing is on the wall. Judge Kerkman is weaponizing a state police department to silence his biggest critic ahead of his election in April.”

“I’m Not Going Anywhere”

Mathewson said the case will not change how Kenosha County Eye covers the courthouse.

“Everything I did was completely legal, and Kenosha County Eye is not going anywhere,” Mathewson said. “This judge is not going to intimidate me into silence.”

Kenosha County Eye will continue to update readers as this matter develops.