Former Madison Alder Charles Myadze will face trial on seven felony charges related to allegations of domestic violence levied by a former girlfriend beginning on August 3.
The trial is scheduled for one day of jury selection and two days of testimony, online court records show.
The charges, filed in December 2024, came after several months of allegations and revelations about the three-term alder.
In the spring of 2024, former girlfriend Michelle McKoy and ex-wife Jamie Johnson alleged that Myadze had abused them for years, going back as far as 2002.
Later, three women brought complaints of sexual harassment. In October, an independent investigation found that Myadze did engage in “bizarre” and “troubling” behavior with the women — a fellow Alder, a City employee and a local nonprofit leader — but that he did not violate city policy or state law.
In November, former Madison school board president, deputy mayor and mayoral candidate Gloria Reyes alleged that Myadze abused her during a three-year relationship, including choking her and knocking her unconscious while he was serving as an Alder.
On December 10, the Common Council censured him on a vote of 13-2 for the behavior described in the investigative report, and Mayor Satya Rhodes-Conway removed him from all committees. He announced that he would not seek a fourth term.
On December 12, 2024, Madison police arrested him based on Reyes’s allegations.
Charges include one count of burglary, three counts of strangulation, one count of subtantial battery with intentional bodily harm, one count of false imprisonment and one count of battery during a burglary. If convicted on all charges, he could face 60 years in prison.
Myadze has denied most of the allegations, only acknowledging that his relationship with Reyes did become violent at times. He claimed it was Reyes who initiated the physical fights.
Reyes could not be immediately reached for comment. Emily Bell, Myadze’s attorney, declined to comment.
“I’m not surprised” that Myadze is fighting the charges rather than taking a plea bargain, McKoy said. “I stand in my truth. All the other women stand in their truths. I’m glad he will be held accountable.”
