Todd Bjerke enters the courtroom every day for two reasons: to protect the community and save drug addicts from their deathbeds.

“I get calls from people every now and then that say I turned their life around,” said the La Crosse County Assistant District Attorney.
Bjerke has prosecuted thousands of drug-related cases in his 17 years with the county and carries the heaviest case load in the state, he said.

His office inside the courthouse is stacked with cardboard boxes of case files and his desk is littered with criminal complaints. The Wisconsin Circuit Court Access Web site is his Internet homepage. A 22-by-16-inch color photograph of a 2.2-pound cocaine brick hangs on the opposite wall from his wood-framed law degrees. Ask Bjerke about any defendant he’s prosecuted and he can recall his or her criminal history and drug ties without hesitation.

“He is known throughout the state for his expertise on gangs and drugs,” said Ken Peters, a drug agent with the state Division of Criminal Investigation. “He is a man of integrity and high standard.”

Peters is just one of the many state and local drug investigators, law enforcement members and attorneys who call on Bjerke for his knowledge and legal advice.

“It’s because of the sheer volume of drug cases I’ve handled. I’ve handled just about everything,” Bjerke said.

And in those cases are thousands of defendants. Some are incarcerated. Some are dead. Still others, Bjerke said, are alive — and sober — because he fought for the treatment they needed.

That’s something some defendants never forgot. Some make it a point to tell him, he said.

“I get stopped on the street and people thank me for helping them,” Bjerke said.

The path to prosecution

Bjerke, who said he’s in his late 40s — “my age is the only thing you don’t get to know” — hails from Waukesha, Wis.

After high school, Bjerke went on to receive an A.S. degree in business from University of Wisconsin Center- Waukesha in 1977 and a B.A. in political science and psychology from the University of Wisconsin-Madison in 1979.

“I would have had three majors, but I couldn’t stand economics,” he said.

In 1984, Bjerke earned his law degree from Hamline University School of Law in St. Paul, Minn., and entered the military as a defense attorney.

“I’m sitting there studying for my finals, and I get a letter from the (U.S.) Marine Corps,” he said. “On June 12, I went down, saw the recruiter and signed up.”

Bjerke spent three years active duty at the Marine Corps base in Quantico, Va., as defense counsel until he was hired as the Assistant County Attorney in Redwood County, Minn., and an associate attorney at a law firm in Redwood Falls, Minn.

In 1989, Bjerke joined the U.S. Army Reserve, where he practiced in various areas of law.

In the same year, Bjerke applied for the Assistant District Attorney position in La Crosse County. District Attorney Scott Horne hired him two days later.

“I wanted to be an FBI agent back when I was in fifth grade,” Bjerke said. “In sixth grade, I decided to be an FBI agent, I was going to be a lawyer first, but in the meantime I decided I could do more good as a prosecutor than as a FBI agent and steered my way toward what I do.”

Drug prosecutor

Bjerke prosecuted traffic and juvenile cases until Horne gave him his first drug case in 1992. He’s handled almost all the county’s drug cases ever since.

“Not only can I have an effect on the people that use and abuse the drugs, and hopefully have an effect that’s positive and gets them to want to be sober, but also I can identify the people that are the main for-profit dealers and get them off our streets,” he said.

His multiple defendant drug cases contribute to his heavy case load.

“There’s so much drugs in the area, and there’s so much related to drugs,” Bjerke said. “I get complex cases where there might be three, four or up to 30 people involved in one case.”

Local and state drug investigators rattle off adjectives to describe Bjerke — fair, dedicated, intelligent, driven — but far above the rest is hard-working.

And available. Local law enforcement members said they can call Bjerke at 3 p.m. or 3 a.m., and he never hesitates to help.

“He’s always willing to go the extra mile for us to put together a case,” said La Crosse County Sheriff’s Department Investigator Fritz Leinfelder.

Some call Bjerke a workaholic, as he’s often found working early and late and is known to begin compiling criminal complaints on scene.

That dedication, Peters said, is valuable to the community.

“He is such an asset to western Wisconsin,” he said. “He is the Eliot Ness of La Crosse County.”

A passion to help

Bjerke said prosecuting defendants isn’t just about aiming for incarceration, but also getting them the proper drug treatment.

“I think the bottom line is, you want to hold people accountable, and you want to try to change their behaviors,” he said. “My whole professional career I’ve tried to make positive changes in people’s lives.”

Bjerke helped implement the county’s drug court and has served as the representative prosecutor since the court’s establishment in January 2002.

“If (defendants) get accepted (into drug court), I try to fashion some sort of disposition that’s weighed in such a way that if they complete drug court, they’ll be in a better position because they have the tools to be sober now,” he said.

Bjerke has aspirations to take his legal expertise to a higher level and is applying for legal positions with the U.S. Army Reserve that will pull him from La Crosse one weekend a month.

Outside the courtroom

When he’s not in the courtroom, Bjerke travels, enjoys astronomy, spends time outdoors and works on home improvements.

He also lends his knowledge about drugs and gangs to various community groups.

“The thing about it is, most people in the community, even the well-read ones, really don’t understand the depths of issues we have with crime in the community,” he said. “They don’t realize there’s this underworld of activity.”

The Todd Bjerke file

MILITARY

U.S. Army Rescue, colonel (1989 to present); practicing in various areas of law

U.S. Marine Corps; captain at discharge (1984 to 1987); defense counsel

LEGAL EXPERIENCE

La Crosse County assistant district attorney (1989 to present)

Assistant county attorney, Redwood County, Minn. (1987 to 1989)

Associate attorney in Redwood Falls, Minn. (1987 to 1989)

BOARDS AND MEMBERSHIP

Founding member of the La Crosse County Drug Court

Legal advisor for the West Central Metropolitan Enforcement Group

Board member for the Asian Gang Investigators Association

Member and trainer for the Wisconsin Narcotics Officers Association

Member of the National Association of Drug Court Professionals

Board member of the Wisconsin Association of Treatment Court Professionals

FAMILY

Wife, Karen Kroll, son, Benjamin, and daughters, Emily and Amanda

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