A jury is scheduled to hear the case against a father and son accused of removing a swastika mural from private property after a Milwaukee judge denied a motion claiming the district attorney’s office had engaged in selective prosecution.
Zechariah Mehler and his father, Peter, are accused of using an ax and a sledgehammer on Sept. 14, 2024, to rip down the mural featuring a swastika and Star of David on a building owned by a Palestinian real estate businessman, who has been active locally in anti-Israel activities.
The Mehlers were charged with felony criminal damage to property.
“We believe that (prosecutors) should see this not as a piece of destruction of personal property, but an act against a hate crime that they should have been active against in the first place,” Zechariah Mehler told the Chronicle.
The mural and subsequent legal battle have come at a time when antisemitism is on the rise in the U.S. The Anti-Defamation League said there were more than 9,000 antisemitic incidents across the United States in 2024, the most since the organization began tabulating data four decades ago.
Prosecutors “want to discourage vigilantism. It’s not like my father and I are out there working as vigilantes. It was a singular event,” Zechariah Mehler said. “They don’t want the Jewish community to seek self-help as their means to justice.”
The legal case has stirred debate locally with its outcome seen as a legal test in regard to the forced removal of free expression when it’s laced with apparent hate.
In July, Milwaukee County Circuit Court Judge Jack Dávila denied a motion by the attorney for the Mehlers to dismiss the case on the grounds the district attorney’s office engaged in selective prosecution.
The legal argument was based on whether Zechariah Mehler was singled out by prosecutors while others who commit similar crimes were not. His attorney referred to an incident earlier that month when a woman covered the swastika with black paint but did not face a felony.
“One cannot reasonably compare two men who used axes, pry bars and sledgehammers to completely destroy a $12,000 mural to a woman whose attempt at paint vandalization was removed without any lasting effects,” the district attorney said in a response to the motion.
The motion also hinged on whether Mehler was singled out due to his religion.
“The State of Wisconsin and the Milwaukee County District Attorney’s office has implicit bias against Mehler based on his race, religion, and gender as he is a religious Jewish man,” his attorney Michael Levine wrote in the motion.
A jury trial is scheduled to begin on Jan. 12. If convicted, the Mehlers face up to three and a half years in prison and a fine of up to $10,000.
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