Ankle monitor removed before Will County attack

Lieu was headed to jail under a work-release program

Michael Liu

A Wisconsin prosecutor on Thursday confirmed that an ankle monitor was removed from a man the day before he left the state and allegedly attacked his Will County in-laws, but said removing the device was not unusual.

Michael Liu, 36, of Oak Creek, Wisconsin was sentenced to four months in jail in Waukesha County on misdemeanor domestic abuse charges on Nov. 30, the day before he traveled to Crete Township and allegedly fired bullets into the house of his in-laws before entering and stabbing them multiple times.

Liu went to Will County during a two-day period he was allowed free before reporting to jail. He was sentenced under a work release program, which would have allowed time away from jail once Liu to work.

Liu is now in Will Count Jail without bond facing charges including attempted murder.

The ankle monitor was part of his bail restriction when Liu faced multiple domestic abuse charges before his sentencing, Waukesha County District Attorney Susan Opper said Thursday.

Once Liu was sentenced on Nov. 30, the bail restriction no longer applied and the ankle monitor was removed even though Lieu was free for two days before having to report on jail on Dec. 2.

Prosecutors did not oppose the removal of the ankle monitor or two-day delay before going to jail, both of which Opper described as standard under certain circumstances during sentencing.

“With a first-time offender like this and a misdemeanor conviction, it’s very customary for the judge to give him a couple of days to report to jail,” Opper said.

Waukesha County Judge Jennifer Dorow’s decision to give Liu two days to report to jail has gotten attention in Wisconsin, where she is a candidate for the Wisconsin Supreme Court.

Opper said Liu’s sentence would have given him time away from jail during his four-month sentence because he was in a work-release program.

Prosecutors did not foresee the kind of violent behavior of which Liu is accused in Will County, Opper said.

“He was doing well on bail,” she said. “If you read the character letters that were filed in court, I think he deceived his own family.”