27-05-2025
What to know about Judge Laura Crivello who is presiding Maxwell Anderson trial
A judge's role in any trial is to make sure the proceedings are fair and that lawyers stay on topic and aren't grandstanding in front of a jury.
Circuit Court Judge Laura Crivello will be the one officiating Maxwell Anderson's homicide trial.
Education: Crivello attended University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee for her undergraduate degree and went to law school at Marquette University Law School and graduated in 1993.
Work experience: Crivello worked 24 years as an assistant District Attorney in Milwaukee County. During that time, she prosecuted various felony and misdemeanor criminal cases, including those involving homicide, firearms, drugs, domestic violence, community prosecution, and child protection cases.
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Crivello was appointed to the Milwaukee County Circuit Court in 2018 by then-Gov. Scott Walker. She retained her seat in an uncontested 2019 judge race and again in 2025.
The case against Anderson was transferred to Crivello in July as part of a judicial rotation schedule change in July ordered by Chief Judge Carl Ashley. The initially was assigned to Judge Mark Sanders.
Sade Robinson, 19, was just weeks from graduating from Milwaukee Area Technical College when police say she was killed during a first date in April, and her body was dismembered.
Anderson, 34, has been charged with first-degree intentional homicide and other felonies in connection with her death. He has pleaded not guilty.
Crivello presided over the trial of Stephanie Rapkin, the Shorewood lawyer who was convicted of a misdemeanor for spitting on a Black teenager during a racial justice protest in 2020.
Rapkin rejected the judge's sentence of a year of probation and 100 hours of community service, and chose instead to spend 60 days in the House of Correction as punishment.
Crivello oversaw the trial of Antonius Trotter, who was convicted of killing 11-year-old Ta'Niyla Parker and wounding her younger sister in an October 2021 shooting that drew protests and demonstrations around the city.
Trotter is serving a 60-year in prison sentence.
This article originally appeared on Milwaukee Journal Sentinel: What to know about Judge Crivello, presiding Maxwell Anderson trial
