An 43-year old, Door County woman, convicted on charges related to the theft of funds from the then Door County Humane Society, has taken her case to the Wisconsin Supreme Court. Carrie Counihan is contending that her rights to due process were violated because the presiding trial judge studied similar cases before handing down her sentence. Counihan has also charged that her legal representation at the trial was ineffective. In December of 2016, Judge David Weber sentenced her to nine months in jail and a $2,500 fine on five misdemeanor charges of theft from a business setting. Counihan had originally been accused of a dozen charges related to bilking the animal agency of close to $23,000 over the ten years she served as its Executive Director. She entered a guilty plea in October of 2016. However, after sentencing, she notified the local court that she would appeal and did so in 2018. The appeals court upheld the Door County sentence, indicating that it did not buy either of her contentions. Now the state’s highest court will study the circumstances of her case.
