On Point blog, page 21 of 25

Appellate Procedure – Waiver: Competency of Trial Court

Village of Trempeleau v. Mike R. Mikrut, 2004 WI 79, affirming unpublished decision

Issue/Holding: (Emphasis supplied)

¶15. Mikrut did not raise his challenge to the circuit court’s competency until long after the judgment against him had been upheld on appeal. The circuit court and the court of appeals therefore held that the argument was waived. ……

¶18. Wisconsin case law is inconsistent on the question of whether a challenge to the circuit court’s competency is subject to the common-law rule of waiver.

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Introducing Evidence Doesn’t Waive Challenge to Admissibility Where Trial Court Ruled Evidence Admissible on Motion In Limine

State v. Gary M.B., 2004 WI 33, affirming 2003 WI App 72, 261 Wis. 2d 811, 661 N.W.2d 435
For Gary M.B.: T. Christopher Kelly

Issue: Whether defendant’s introduction of his/ her prior criminal record, after objection to its admissibility was overruled, waived the objection.

Holding:

¶11. Under the doctrine of strategic waiver, also known as invited error,

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Waiver of Issue: Judicial Intervention, § 906.14

State v. Johnnie Carprue, 2004 WI 111, reversing 2003 WI App 148, 266 Wis. 2d 168, 667 N.W.2d 800
For Carprue: Stephanie G. Rapkin

Issue/Holding:

¶34 Subsection (3) of § 906.14 authorizes objections, and it “defers the requirement of a timely objection . . . to the next available opportunity when the jury is not present.” Id. R202. This subsection appears to focus more on situations where the judge questions witnesses in front of a jury than where a judge questions a witness in a bench trial or outside the presence of a jury.¶35 Given the explicit authority to object to a judge’s action,

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Issue-Preservation: Sufficiency of Evidence – Trial-Level Challenge Unnecessary

State v. Obea S. Hayes, 2004 WI 80, affirming 2003 WI App 99, 264 Wis. 2d 377, 663 N.W.2d 351
For Hayes: Philip J. Brehm

Issue: Whether challenge to sufficiency of evidence must be raised during trial in order to preserve the right to raise the challenge on appeal.
Holding: State v. Gomez, 179 Wis. 2d 400, 507 N.W.2d 378 (Ct.

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Waiver of Issue – Invited Error – Defect in Deferred Prosecution Agreement

State v. Rex E. Wollenberg, 2004 WI App 20, PFR filed 1/8/04
For Wollenberg: Susan E. Alesia, SPD, Madison Appellate

Issue/Holding:

¶12. Second, assuming this was a DPA, Wollenberg claims the judgment is void because the agreement was never in writing. Wollenberg, however, invited the error he alleges, and we normally will not review invited error. See Atkinson v. Mentzel,

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Waiver of Objection to DA’s Consultation with Witness during Break

State v. Gregg A. Pfaff, 2004 WI App 31
For Pfaff: Rex Anderegg

Issue/Holding: Failure to request order barring on prosecutor’s conferring with particular witness during break in testimony waived right to challenge such consultation, notwithstanding similar order with respect to different witness, and general sequestration order. ¶¶38-41.

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Serial Litigation Bar (Escalona-Naranjo): Applicable to SVP Commitments

State v. Thomas H. Bush (II), 2004 WI App 193, reversed in part, 2005 WI 103
For Bush: Robert G. LeBell

Issue: Whether Bush, on appeal from denial of petition for release from SVP commitment, § 980.09(2), is procedurally barred from challenging the constitutionality of his underlying commitment because he could have raised such challenge in a prior appeal.

Holding:

¶13.

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In Limine Orders — Enforcement

State v. Sylvester Sigarroa, 2004 WI App 16
For Sigarroa: John Pray, UW Law School
Issue/Holding:

¶28. We do not end our discussion here. Instead, we are compelled to admonish the increasing pattern of witness and/or attorney violation of in limine orders. On several occasions, we have spent judicial time and resources to make a very similar admonition. Unfortunately, it appears our reproach has fallen on deaf ears because the pattern of these violations continues.¶29.

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Waiver of Argument: Failure to Raise Issue with Sufficient Prominence

 State v. Rick L. Edwards, 2003 WI App 221, PFR filed 10/24/03
For Edwards: Margaret A. Maroney, SPD, Madison Appellate
Issue/Holding:

¶8. As a threshold matter, we reject Edwards’ challenge to the trial court’s order staying Edwards’ conditional jail time because the order was issued ex parte and without notice. We hold that Edwards failed to raise this issue with sufficient prominence before the trial court.

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Preservation of Issue: Offer of Proof

State v. Shon D. Brown, 2003 WI App 34, PFR filed 2/3/03
For Brown: Robert T. Ruth

Issue/Holding: Where defendant was charged with theft and operating without consent relating to property and a vehicle that he had permission to take but failed to deliver to the agreed out-of-state destination, his proffer that he drove to a truck stop where he abandoned the vehicle was insufficient to preserve the issue of whether the trial erred in excluding his testimony due to failure to comply with notice of alibi requirement,

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