MADISON, Wis. – The Wisconsin Supreme Court has no sympathy for moral turpitude by judicial officers. The Court refused to reinstate the law license of James Ritland, a former county attorney in Black River Falls, who was convicted of attempted adultery and disorderly conduct in 2021. He had been accused of telling female prisoners that he would post their bond or give them drug money in exchange for sexual favors. In denying to renew Ritland’s license, the Supreme Court said Ritland’s sexual misconduct demonstrated an “inability to recognize right from wrong and good from bad.”
Verbatim
Court: “Ritland’s continued failure to recognize the connection between his sexual misconduct and his status as an attorney reflects his general inability to recognize right from wrong and good from bad as it relates to the victims of his misconduct. His view that the victims of his exploitive sexual misconduct were somehow pleasured by his conduct or enjoyed it signals either distorted thinking or a general lack of empathy, either of which would prevent him from appreciating the full degree of harm he caused by his actions. This shows a stunning lack of moral character.”
Ritland. Age 70. His career as attorney has dead-ended.