Jan. 4, 2025 8:15a
(WGTD)---New Kenosha County District Attorney Xavier Solis is inheriting an office that’s been decimated by resignations and retirements.
Eight of the office’s 19 assistant district attorneys have left after having endorsed Solis’ opponent in the November election, Carli McNeill.
During the campaign, McNeill, the office’s top prosecutor, noted Solis’ background as a defense attorney with no experience as a prosecutor. McNeill is also gone.
At his swearing-in ceremony Friday, Solis suggested that his background will serve him well in his new role. "I spent my career fighting for justice as a defense attorney and that experience has given me a unique perspective on the importance of family, fairness, accountability and the rule of law," he said.
Solis was administered the oath of office by retired Judge Bruce Schroeder, who said he was flattered and honored to have been asked to perform the ceremony. It took place before a capacity crowd in the courtroom where Schroeder had presided for decades.
Speakers made much of the fact that Solis’ election was the first since 1924 that an attorney running as a Republican won.
Kenosha County Board member Dave Geertsen had high praise for Solis. "You're a man of honesty," he told him. "A skilled litigator, you have a passion for the community and a dogged determination to serve Kenosha."
Solis is the son of immigrant farmers from Texas. He moved to Kenosha in his early teens.
After the ceremony, Solis signaled he’s moving quickly to fill the prosecutor vacancies, saying he plans to make employment offers on Monday—his first official day in office—to three attorneys.
Officials within the criminal justice system are preparing for transition-related challenges. Judge Anthony Milisauskas tells WGTD it’ll be difficult but that the county will get through it. The county’s chief judge, Jason Rossell, agreed, adding that he believed the county’s judges and court commissioners will do their best to make accommodations.
The eight attorneys, along with a departing victim-witness specialist, represent “well over” 100 years of experience, according to a post on the district attorney’s Facebook page.
The numbers don’t include former Kenosha County District Attorney Michael Graveley, who retired after having served a pair of four-year terms.
-0-