MILWAUKEE — Public defenders and a former defendant want to know why two Milwaukee police officers are not on the Brady list despite being deemed not credible in a criminal case by a Milwaukee County judge.
The Brady list tracks officers with alleged credibility concerns due to accusations of past crimes, dishonesty, bias or other integrity issues.
"I feel like {there] still needs to be justice towards them officers,” said former defendant Lewis Moore. “Why would you want to destroy a whole other family? You’re supposed to be here to serve and protect."
It’s a night Moore will never forget. Moore said he was driving his girlfriend’s car on March 3, 2019, near Teutonia and Capitol.
According to the criminal complaint, Milwaukee police officers Chad Boyack and Anthony Milone pulled Moore over for allegedly driving double the speed limit.
"Just step out real quick,” Officer Boyack said during the traffic stop.
“Did I do anything wrong, sir?” Moore asked.
"Well, you were flying, man,” Officer Boyack replied.
"They told me I was doing 60 in a 30,” Moore said. “That's the reason they was stopping me, and I did try to argue with them like, ‘Officer, I know for a fact I was not doing no 60 miles per hour.’”
Body camera video obtained by TMJ4 showed Moore was asked to get out of the car. He was then patted down and put in the back of a squad without an explanation at the time.
While in the back of the squad, Moore told Officer Milone his girlfriend’s gun might be in the car.
"Officer, my girlfriend, she's CCW,” he said.
"So there’s a gun in the car?" Officer Milone asked.
"I don't know if she either {has} it in the car,” Moore replied. “I could call her right now."
Watch: Public defenders question why 2 officers deemed 'not credible' in criminal case aren’t on Brady list
At the same time, body camera video showed Officer Boyack searching Moore’s car.
“Do you think they had probable cause to search the vehicle?” TMJ4 Lighthouse reporter Ben Jordan asked.
"I don’t,” replied public defender Caitlin Hazard Firer. “They pulled Mr. Moore over for speeding. In my experience when I've been stopped, I've never been put in the back of a squad car for speeding."
Body camera video showed Officer Boyack locating a handgun in the center console.
"Do you know what I'm getting arrested for?” Moore asked.
“Oh, for being a felon and having a gun in the car,” Officer Boyack replied.
"Wait, officer, it's not my gun,” Moore said.
Police records showed officers spoke with Moore’s girlfriend who told them the gun was hers. The police report said she told officers she leaves it in her car to "keep the gun away from her children."
Moore was charged with possession of a firearm by a felon and he was sent to jail.
"He was on probation, very close to finishing his probation and because of this arrest he was revoked and went to prison,” Hazard Firer said.
As the case made its way through the court process, court records showed the judge identified "inconsistencies" with the officers’ testimony. The judge said there was "no independent evidence" inside the squad that showed Moore was speeding.
No radar gun was used. The only evidence of speeding was the squad speedometer which briefly showed the officers drove two miles over the limit to catch up to Moore.
"If he were going 60 miles an hour, those officers would not have had to go 32 miles an hour,” Hazard Firer said.
Additionally, the judge determined the officers provided conflicting testimony about their probable cause to search the car. Body camera video showed Officer Boyack explaining to Moore why he searched the vehicle as they were driving to the police district station.
"Oh, I could smell marijuana in there and I could see some marijuana on the floor as well,” Officer Boyack said.
Documents showed Officer Boyack found .03 grams of marijuana in the car, an amount court records show Officer Milone described to be the size of "only a few" grains of rice.
According to a transcript of Officer Boyack’s testimony in court, he said he never saw any marijuana in the vehicle before searching it.
Officer Milone told a judge he didn’t see or smell marijuana when he approached the vehicle with the window down.
"The truth is slowly coming out now,” Moore said.
Court documents show the judge suppressed the evidence, tossed the case and said, “I don't find these officers credible in this case."
"There {are} people that really need y'all help and really pressing 911 for a reason, for emergencies, and you officers stop me and pull me over for doing 32 miles,” Moore said.
Officers Boyack and Milone are not on the Brady list.
“Do you think that’s Brady material?” Jordan asked.
“Absolutely,” Hazard Firer replied.
“Why is that?” Jordan asked.
“Because Judge Yamahiro made an affirmative finding that he did not find the officers' testimony to be credible,” Hazard Firer said.
During TMJ4s interview with Milwaukee County’s top criminal justice leaders, District Attorney Kent Lovern said that isn’t Brady material.
“D.A. Lovern, one of your prosecutors was in the courtroom at the time, did they bring this credibility issue to your attention?” Jordan asked.
“No,” D.A. Lovern replied.
“Why not,” Jordan asked.
“Because credibility determinations are made all the time in courtrooms in specific issues related to a specific set of circumstances related to a traffic stop for example as we have here, and that doesn't necessarily mean that that officer then, one or two of the officers, were dishonest about their testimony,” D.A. Lovern explained.
Chief Judge Carl Ashley agreed with the district attorney.
"I believe in this case the judge said I don't find the testimony of the officers to be credible, and we do that all the time,” Chief Judge Ashley said.
Hazard Firer said that hasn’t been her experience.
“I would like to see them,” she said. "This is the only decision—in May it will be 21 years of practice—where I have had a judge make an adverse credibility finding.”
TMJ4 took the case to the leaders of Milwaukee County’s Public Defender’s Office.
"If one judge found them not credible and that what they were saying was untruthful, that should be something that should be disclosed to us in the future on our cases,” Angel Johnson said.
Rachel Moran is a professor at the University of St. Thomas in Minnesota. She’s studied Brady list material across the country.
"That's almost the most classic form of Brady material, is evidence that an officer has engaged in deception and that a judge concluded the officer isn't credible,” she said.
Police records show officers Boyack and Milone were never disciplined for being found not credible in this case. Milwaukee Police Chief Jeffrey Norman said it wasn’t brought to the department’s attention.
Officers Boyack and Milone never responded to TMJ4’s interview requests. The Milwaukee Police Department declined a request to make them available for an interview.
"I believe 100 percent sure these officers—both Boyack and Milone—should be on that Brady list,” Moore said.
Moore thinks this situation raises serious questions about the completeness of Milwaukee County’s Brady list and whether credibility concerns in court are investigated.
If you want to see all of the current and former officers on Milwaukee County’s Brady list, our database in partnership with the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel and Wisconsin Watch can be found below.
See all Duty to Disclose stories as they are posted here.
The Brady list is a compilation of current or former law enforcement officers deemed by the Milwaukee County District Attorney’s Office to have credibility issues. The underlying allegation can range from lying on exams to violent crimes. Just because an officer is on the list does not mean he or she was necessarily convicted or charged with a crime, or found guilty of internal misconduct. According to the office of District Attorney Kent Lovern, some cases may have resulted in an acquittal, been dismissed, or were amended to non-criminal offenses. The office says, "the database is accurate to the best of our knowledge as of February 27, 2025."
About this project
“Duty to Disclose” is a joint investigation by TMJ4, the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel and Wisconsin Watch. The collaboration was prompted by the Milwaukee County District Attorney’s decision in 2024 to release its “Brady List,” a closely-guarded list of law enforcement officers with alleged credibility issues, after pressure from the news organizations.
TMJ4 Lighthouse reporter Ben Jordan, Journal Sentinel investigative reporter Ashley Luthern and Wisconsin Watch investigative reporter Mario Koran spent four months verifying the hundreds of officers on the list, discovering that it is frequently incomplete and inconsistent.
Readers with tips about the Brady List are encouraged to contact reporter Ben Jordan at ben.jordan@tmj4.com.
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