THE BRIGHT SIDE

An audit of Wisconsin’s crime labs recommends the State Department of Justice do more to ensure timely analysis of evidence in criminal cases.
This is causing a lot of cases to be pushed back which is deepening the grief for many families. The average turnaround time for completing analyses increased from 39 days in the 2019-20 fiscal year to 58 days in the 2022-23 fiscal year, an increase of 48.7 percent. That’s despite requests for testing being down 13 percent.

This should be unacceptable. It is recommended the DOJ hire more forensic toxicologists, set productivity standards for analysts, and improve how information is tracked and reported. A new law taking effect July 1 requires sexual assault kits to be processed within six months. However, auditors found that of the 146 kits sent to private labs that then required further DOJ analysis, almost all took longer than six months, with a median processing time of 292 days. This ties up the hands of the judges, attorneys, and victims of these crimes.

Unfortunately for two local families, that delay causes heartache. Gina, tending bar at the Sports Page Barr on Feb. 1, 2024, was allegedly shot by Routt. Routt then allegedly shot Gina’s husband, Emerson, before firing at a witness and fleeing the scene. Routt was charged roughly two weeks later and allegedly confessed to shooting the couple while robbing the bar. With the double homicide trial involving Thomas Routt Jr. now postponed until June of 2025 due to evidence processing delays, the families of Emerson and Gina Weingart are frustrated. Partly because of the delay, in part because of other states processing cases faster, and perhaps in part of the pain and suffering that is being extended with the delay. The families asked for expediency in the trial – purposely worded to allow for the trial to move as quickly as possible but with all the evidence to support the charges.

With all the delays from the state, this is no longer an option. Jeff Weingart, Emerson’s father, went on to say that the grief runs deep for all the family members of Emerson and Gina and that there is a huge sense of loss.