MILWAUKEE — In part two of our special Lighthouse investigation, ‘Duty to Disclose,’ we’re revisiting the case that sparked our interest in obtaining Milwaukee County’s full Brady list in the first place, in partnership with the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel and Wisconsin Watch.
“There’s no way I would even trust his testimony,” said Monica Nash. “His testimony shouldn’t even be considered at this point.”
Nash wants to know why the same deputy who botched her hit-and-run investigation, Shawn Bacich, was never referred to the district attorney’s office for Brady consideration despite being suspended for allegedly making ‘racially inflammatory remarks’ to Black people years earlier.
The Brady list is a record of current and former officers with credibility concerns due to allegations of past crimes, dishonesty, bias, or other integrity concerns.
Prosecutors have to keep track of these officers because of a landmark U.S. Supreme Court case called Brady v. Maryland.
Watch: MCSO on why deputy suspended for alleged racial remarks isn’t on Brady list
After nearly a year of dodging our interview requests, Milwaukee County’s sheriff finally agreed to sit down for an interview.
Before becoming an emergency manager in the Air Force, Monica Nash spent eight years, so she knows about Brady lists.
“Were you aware that racial bias is a qualifier for the Brady list?” Lighthouse reporter Ben Jordan asked.
“Absolutely,” Nash replied. “That pretty much tops everything.”
Last month, Nash met us halfway between Milwaukee and her military base in southern Missouri.
“You drove a long way to speak with us today. Why did you want to be a part of this story?” Jordan asked.
“In hopes that the sheriff’s department will actually take a look at their actions, actually take a look at their force and consider the hearts of the community,” Nash replied.
For years, Nash has fought for answers from the Milwaukee County Sheriff’s Office about why a mysterious hit and run was never solved.
“This was a clear-cut case,” she said. “It was no hard work needed to be done because the person who hit me, his vehicle was left on scene. There were multiple witnesses there who had interactions with him prior to him even leaving the scene.”
Most concerning to Nash, she’ll never learn why the suspect demanded she hand over her newborn baby before he took off in a getaway car.
“He’s saying give me the baby! Give me the baby! And I’m like, I’m not giving you my baby,” Nash said.
The deputy assigned to investigate the crash that January night in 2020 was Shawn Bacich. The now-former deputy declined our interview request to be part of this story.
Records show Bacich never followed up with key witnesses to Nash’s crash and he neglected to place DOT video into evidence. It resulted in a suspension. Sheriff Denita Ball was the chief deputy at the time.
“Sheriff Ball, why did it take so long to have this conversation? We reached out to you on multiple occasions last year and you declined our interview requests. Why didn’t you want to talk about this?” Jordan asked.
“There wasn’t anything to add,” Sheriff Ball replied. “The deputy did a poor investigation."
While Nash was furious about how the investigation was handled, her anger only grew when she learned what we uncovered about Bacich’s past.
Internal affairs records show he was disciplined eight times in his career at M.C.S.O., including five suspensions.
Internal records show Bacich was suspended five days for an off-duty incident in 2016 when he went to a Walgreens drunk and made ‘racially inflammatory remarks’.
A store employee called the sheriff’s office and claimed Bacich asked her, “Why does Black lives matter? What the **** do I owe you people? What? Two hundred? Three hundred years?”
Records show Bacich told investigators the conversation was about him being “sick of taking care of Black people.”
He went on to tell investigators, “I did make racial comments that were, as far as me paying taxes for minorities."
“As a Black woman yourself, how does that make you feel knowing this is the person assigned to investigate your crime?” Jordan asked.
“It just brings a whole other level of anger, like, why is a person like that allowed to be on the sheriff’s department?” Nash replied.
Bacich also got suspended after he was accused of passing a counterfeit bill at a Fond du Lac bar.
“Do you think Deputy Bacich should have been put on the Brady list?” Jordan asked.
"Well, that was before I was sheriff and I won't comment on what went into the decision as to why he was not referred to the district attorney's office,” Sheriff Ball replied.
Sheriff Ball says that decision wasn’t up to her at the time and she says there’s no going back now that she’s in charge.
“But what about the previous case involving racial bias?” Jordan asked.
“So we’re going to go back and relitigate those cases? That’s not what we do,” Sheriff Ball replied. “Someone else had made a decision regarding the disposition of that case and if they felt like it should not be referred to the district attorney’s office which apparently is the case, then it was not referred to the district attorney’s office.”
Jordan then asked District Attorney Kent Lovern who’s in charge of maintaining the Brady list.
“D.A. Lovern, do you think Deputy Bacich should be on the Brady list?” Jordan asked.
"I wouldn’t make a decision based on the brief conversation we’re having here today about that."
Jordan also asked Milwaukee County’s Chief Judge Carl Ashley.
“I really have to defer to the DA’s office to make those decisions and law enforcement,” he said.
We took their responses to Rachel Moran.
"I am concerned about the sheriff's decision,” she said.
Moran is a professor at the University of St. Thomas in Minnesota who specializes in police accountability research and Brady list studies in particular.
“The fact that someone else made a decision doesn't alleviate the current D.A. and the current sheriff from deciding whether information should potentially be shared,” she said.
Civil rights attorney William Sulton says it’s something jurors deserve to know if Bacich were called to testify.
“That is exactly the kind of information that must be turned over to lawyers and the fact that it isn’t is very, very appalling,” he said.
Sulton says the case raises serious questions about the accuracy of Milwaukee County’s Brady list and if law enforcement agencies are fulfilling their duty to disclose potential Brady material to the D.A.’s office.
“If Bacich isn’t on there, then you know that there are dozens and dozens of other officers that should be on that list that are not,” he said.
"This is who you are,” Nash said. “How does that not fit the characteristics of being on the Brady list?"
Nash hopes when she does one day return home to Wisconsin, Milwaukee County’s Brady list will be better scrutinized and maintained.
“To say that he doesn’t belong on the Brady list, then I’m terribly concerned about who else is not on the Brady list,” she said.
If you want to see the former Officer Bustos and the other 190 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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