Mark Gundrum (born March 20, 1970) is an American lawyer and politician serving as a judge of the

Wisconsin Court of Appeals The Wisconsin Court of Appeals is an intermediate appellate court that reviews contested decisions of the Wisconsin circuit courts. The Court of Appeals was created in August 1978 to alleviate the Wisconsin Supreme Court's rising number of appe ...

for District II. He previously served as a member of the

Wisconsin State Assembly The Wisconsin State Assembly is the lower house of the Wisconsin Legislature. Together with the smaller Wisconsin Senate, the two constitute the legislative branch of the U.S. state of Wisconsin. The Assembly is controlled by the Republican ...

from 1999 to 2010.

Early life and education

Born in

Milwaukee, Wisconsin Milwaukee is the List of cities in Wisconsin, most populous city in the U.S. state of Wisconsin. Located on the western shore of Lake Michigan, it is the List of United States cities by population, 31st-most populous city in the United States ...

, Gundrum graduated from Catholic Memorial High School, where he played for the school's

gridiron football Gridiron football ( ),"Gridiron football"
''Encyclopædia Britannica'' ...

team. He received his bachelor's and law degrees from the

University of Wisconsin–Madison The University of Wisconsin–Madison (University of Wisconsin, Wisconsin, UW, UW–Madison, or simply Madison) is a public land-grant research university in Madison, Wisconsin, United States. It was founded in 1848 when Wisconsin achieved st ...

Career

Gundrum served on the

Hales Corners, Wisconsin Hales Corners is a village in Milwaukee County, Wisconsin, United States. The population was 7,720 at the 2020 United States census, 2020 census. A suburb of Milwaukee, it is part of the Milwaukee metropolitan area. History The land in the are ...

village board. He later worked as a staff attorney for Rudolph T. Randa, a judge for the

United States District Court for the Eastern District of Wisconsin The United States District Court for the Eastern District of Wisconsin (in case citations, E.D. Wis.) is a federal trial court of limited jurisdiction. The court is under the auspices of the United States Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit ...

. He joined the

United States Army Reserve The United States Army Reserve (USAR) is a Military reserve force, reserve force of the United States Army. Together, the Army Reserve and the Army National Guard constitute the Army element of the reserve components of the United States Armed ...

in 2000, and was deployed to Iraq in 2008. In 1998, Gundrum won the race to succeed

Mary Lazich Mary Lazich (born October 3, 1952) is an American Republican politician. She served five years in the Wisconsin State Assembly and 19 years in the State Senate, and was President of the Senate for her final session (2015–2016). Early li ...

in the

as a Republican. In the 2002 election, he defeated fellow state legislator Marc C. Duff, who ran against Gundrum due to

redistricting Redistricting in the United States is the process of drawing electoral district boundaries. For the United States House of Representatives, and state legislatures, redistricting occurs after each ten-year census. The U.S. Constitution in Art ...

. While serving in the Wisconsin State Assembly, Gundrum worked with Steven Avery, who was exonerated after being falsely convicted of a

sexual assault Sexual assault is an act of sexual abuse in which one intentionally Physical intimacy, sexually touches another person without that person's consent, or Coercion, coerces or physically forces a person to engage in a sexual act against their w ...

, to pass a criminal justice reform bill. In 2010, Gundrum was elected as a

Circuit Court Circuit courts are court systems in several common law jurisdictions. It may refer to: * Courts that literally sit 'on circuit', i.e., judges move around a region or country to different towns or cities where they will hear cases; * Courts that s ...

judge for Waukesha County. He was soon thereafter appointed by Governor Scott Walker in 2011 to fill a vacancy on the Wisconsin Court of Appeals. Gundrum successfully ran for the seat in 2013 and was re-elected in 2019. Gundrum was named as one of Governor Scott Walker's finalists to replace Justice David Prosser, Jr. on the

Wisconsin Supreme Court The Wisconsin Supreme Court is the Supreme court, highest and final court of appeals in the state judicial system of the U.S. state of Wisconsin. In addition to hearing appeals of lower Wisconsin court decisions, the Wisconsin Supreme Court also ...

in June 2016.

Personal life

Gundrum and his wife, Mary, married in 1996. They are Catholic and have eight children, whom they

homeschooled Homeschooling or home schooling (American English), also known as home education or elective home education (EHE) (British English), is the education of school-aged children at home or a variety of places other than a school. Usually conducted ...

through Wisconsin Virtual Academy. Their youngest child was born with

encephalocele Encephalocele is a neural tube defect characterized by sac-like protrusions of the brain and the Biological membrane, membranes that cover it through openings in the human skull, skull. These defects are caused by failure of the neural tube to cl ...

and a facial cleft, which required surgery to correct at

Boston Children's Hospital Boston Children's Hospital (formerly known as Children's Hospital Boston until 2013) is the main pediatric training and research hospital of Harvard Medical School, Harvard University. It is a nationally ranked, freestanding acute care children ...

. Gundrum appeared in the 2015 Netflix documentary series ''

Making a Murderer ''Making a Murderer'' is an American true crime documentary television series written and directed by Laura Ricciardi and Moira Demos. The show tells the story of Steven Avery, a man from Manitowoc County, Wisconsin, who served 18 years in priso ...

'', detailing Avery's case.

References

External links

{{DEFAULTSORT:Gundrum, Mark Politicians from Milwaukee Politicians from Waukesha, Wisconsin University of Wisconsin–Madison alumni University of Wisconsin Law School alumni Military personnel from Milwaukee Wisconsin city council members Republican Party members of the Wisconsin State Assembly Wisconsin circuit court judges Wisconsin Court of Appeals judges 1970 births Living people United States Army reservists People from Hales Corners, Wisconsin 21st-century American judges 21st-century members of the Wisconsin Legislature 20th-century members of the Wisconsin Legislature