Woman Slams Liberal Wisconsin Supreme Court Candidate for Letting Off Her Abusive Ex-Husband

A lady who was shot and gravely injured by her abusive ex-husband has spoken out against liberal Wisconsin Supreme Court candidate, Janet Protasiewicz. She holds Protasiewicz accountable for giving her ex-husband, who had a history of domestic abuse and was a repeat felon, a light sentence for brutally assaulting her in an earlier domestic abuse case. She believes Protasiewicz is unfit to serve on the highest court of the state.

Protasiewicz is facing criticism over her sentencing record in the contentious Wisconsin Supreme Court race. She gave probation to a child sex offender who later committed murder and let off a domestic abuser who later committed a double-homicide. The April 4 election, which pits Protasiewicz against conservative former justice, Dan Kelly, will determine the ideological breakdown of the highest court of the swing state and could have national implications for the 2024 presidential race.

Tamika Finchis’s ex-husband, Lazarick Spade, was charged with domestic violence battery after he attacked her on a public sidewalk a week before Christmas in 2015, which left her with facial fractures. But in July 2016, Protasiewicz sentenced him to just six months in prison, which the victim thought was a light sentence due to Spade’s lengthy criminal history and the severity of the assault. Shortly after being released from jail, Spade ambushed Finchis outside her home in Milwaukee and shot at her 19 times. Miraculously, she survived.

Spade was convicted of attempted homicide and is now serving a 40-year sentence for the shooting. Finchis stated that Protasiewicz and the rest of the justice system had failed her by not giving Spade a heavier sentence in the previous assault case. She questioned Protasiewicz’s fitness to serve on the Wisconsin Supreme Court.

“She shouldn’t get it,” she said. “She’s not giving [criminals] any time” in jail.

The victim lost a lung in the shooting and is still in the process of recovery. She now uses an inhaler and suffers from intense anxiety. She felt that Spade’s long criminal record should have prompted Protasiewicz to give him a longer sentence, considering he had also been convicted of felony child abuse of their son months before he attacked Finchis. Additionally, Spade had multiple convictions for drug trafficking, firearm possession by a felon, and reckless endangerment.

At the time of the initial assault in December 2015, Spade had escaped from a prison work-release program, where he was supposed to serve a nine-month sentence for felony child abuse charges. Finchis had recently ended her relationship with him and told him she was “moving on with her life.” However, he confronted her outside a house in Milwaukee, where he pushed her to the ground and then “dragged [her] and punched and kicked her in the face,” according to court records citing reports from witnesses. They ran outside to pull Spade off the victim. The victim “sustained facial hematomas and a facial fracture,” responding officers told the court.

Although he was initially charged with a felony battery and faced up to 10 years in prison as a habitual offender, the charges were reduced in a plea deal approved by Protasiewicz. She sentenced him to six months in prison in July 2016. Less than a year later, in June 2017, Spade ambushed and shot his ex-wife multiple times outside her home. In addition, hours before the shooting, he had threatened her that he would “get even” with her for reporting the earlier assault.

The victim “arrived home around 10:55 p.m. and was walking toward her house when [Spade] came toward her and started shooting at her,” said court records. She “ran toward the house as [Spade] continued shooting.”

The victim “sustained three through and through gunshot wounds,” the records state. “One shot went through her left foot. One shot went through her upper right arm. One shot went through her by the shoulder blade and caused damage to one of her lungs.”