Shorewood Attorney Charged With Hate Crime Tried To Change Name

SHOREWOOD, WI — A Shorewood attorney who was arrested last summer after police said she spit at a Black teenager during a Black Lives Matter march recently attempted to confidentially have her name changed, but was denied, according to a published report.

Stephanie Rapkin was charged with a hate crime last June after she was arrested twice following incidents involving protestors. In December, court records show that Rapkin, 64, filed a confidential petition for a name change, which would keep the request from showing up in Wisconsin’s online court records system under certain conditions, the Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel reported on Tuesday.

The request to keep the name change kept confidential was denied by a judge on Jan. 29, the newspaper reported. Rapkin filed a petition, which stated that she had contacted the Wisconsin Supreme Court about the name change, but that the court objected. In the petition, Rapkin said that she is continually harassed and refused services because of her name, the Journal-Sentinel reported. The petition also stated she is “threatened consistently” and needs to move where she can be safe.

A judge denied the motion and said Rapkin can re-apply to have her name changed once her case on the charges concludes, the newspaper reported.

Rapkin is seeking to have the hate crime designation dropped and has pleaded not guilty to the other charges. Rapkin’s attorney has also sought to have the case moved out of Milwaukee County. In addition with the charges associated with the spitting incident, Rapkin is also accused of pushing a protester the next day and then kneeing a police officer in the groin while she was being arrested.

Based on video evidence and witness testimony, Rankin pulled her car across traffic lanes in Oakland Avenue in Shorewood last summer in an attempt to keep protesters who were marching peacefully in a George Floyd-related event from continuing down the street.

Video shows Rapkin getting out of her car, walking onto the sidewalk and approaching protesters and then spitting on one of the protesters who was later identified as Lucas.