County leaders turned up the pressure on District Attorney Xavier Solis last Wednesday over a growing backlog of criminal cases and a shorthanded prosecutorial staff, warning that delays could rattle victims' trust and bump up against constitutional speedy‑trial timelines. Supervisors argued that the staffing crunch is stretching out case schedules and pressed for clearer public numbers on how quickly cases are actually moving.
Meeting and the DA's response
The Judiciary and Law Enforcement Committee met last Wednesday, a session listed on the county's public agenda pages. According to the Kenosha County Agenda Center, the agenda included a department update and time for the district attorney to field questions from supervisors about day‑to‑day operations and staffing levels.
At the meeting, Solis told supervisors his office is "cleaning up the backlog" and pointed to several recent homicide convictions as signs that serious cases are still moving, while acknowledging ongoing hiring challenges. Supervisors were not entirely convinced. Supervisor John Franco, for one, said the office should have closer to 21 prosecutors, noting that the DA's roster currently lists 13 attorneys, as reported by the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel.
Why staffing matters
The crunch in Kenosha is part of a bigger statewide problem. Wisconsin courts have been digging out from pandemic‑era delays that stretched case timelines across the board. Felony cases took a median of about 252 days to resolve in 2024, and state officials say vacancies in prosecutor and public defender offices are a major reason why, according to Wisconsin Public Radio.
Backlog by the numbers
Kenosha County Circuit Court Clerk Rebecca Matoska-Mentink told county officials in late February that roughly 1,300 felonies are pending in circuit court, along with about 400 criminal traffic offenses and just over 1,000 misdemeanors awaiting resolution. Those numbers illustrate the sheer volume of cases that county prosecutors are expected to work through, the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel reports.
What comes next
Supervisors urged Solis to start publishing case‑processing metrics on a regular basis so the board and the public can track both hiring progress and clearance rates over time. At the Capitol, lawmakers are weighing a plan to bolster the system from above. As outlined by WisLaw Journal, a pending bill would add prosecutors and judges who could be steered toward counties with the heaviest dockets. For now, Kenosha officials are waiting to see whether local pressure and potential state help will be enough to chip away at the pile of cases.
