On Point: 1. Appeals

 State v. Garrett L. Huff, 2009 WI App 92, PFR filed 6/3/09
For Huff: Jeffrey W. Jensen

Issue/Holding:

¶14       As we have seen, the trial court did not require its court reporter to take down the tapes as they were being played. This was error. See State v. Ruiz-Velez, 2008 WI App 169, ___ Wis. 2d ___,

State v. Carmen L. Doss, 2008 WI 93, reversing 2007 WI App 208

For Doss: Robert R. Henak

Issue/Holding: Closing argument remarks addressed to Doss’s failure to explain missing funds did not amount to a comment on her failure to testify:

¶81      …

[F]or a prosecutor’s comment to constitute an improper reference to a defendant’s failure to testify,

State v. Donald W. Jorgensen, 2008 WI 60, reversing unpublished decision
For Jorgensen: Martha K. Askins, SPD, Madison Appellate

Issue/Holding:

¶21      Wisconsin Stat. § 901.03(4) (2003-04) recognizes the plain error doctrine. [3] The plain error doctrine allows appellate courts to review errors that were otherwise waived by a party’s failure to object.  State v. Mayo, 2007 WI 78,

State v. Clayborn L. Walker, 2008 WI 34, reversing 2007 WI App 142
For Walker: Amelia L. Bizzaro

Issue/Holding:

¶14      As a preliminary matter, while the issue before the court is moot because Walker has completed his reconfinement term and thus our decision will not affect the underlying controversy, we may at times consider a moot issue if it is of “great public importance or arises frequently enough to warrant a definitive decision to guide the circuit courts.”

State v. Donald W. Jorgensen, 2008 WI 60, reversing unpublished decision
For Jorgensen: Martha K. Askins, SPD, Madison Appellate

Issue: The present convictions stemmed from Jorgensen showing up for an otherwise unrelated hearing intoxicated; without objection, the prosecutor obtained admission of that hearing’s transcript, which the trial court read to the jury: is Jorgensen entitled to relief on the ground of violation of right to confrontation,

State v. Ellen T. Straehler, 2008 WI App 14
For Straehler: Daniel P. Fay
Issue/Holding: ¶2 n. 4:

We appreciate the attorney general’s thorough recitation of the facts and draw freely from it. Both the district attorney and the attorney general submitted response briefs and we refer to their position collectively as the State’s. Straehler’s recitation of facts is incomplete, lacks citation to the record and cites to documents outside of the record.

Bettendorf v. St. Croix County, 2008 WI App 97

Issue/Holding: An appellate “brief contain(ing) a collection of attacks against [opposing counsel] that are nothing more than unfounded, mean-spirited slurs” subjects its author to ethical sanction:

¶17      “A lawyer should demonstrate respect for the legal system and for those who serve it, including judges, other lawyers and public officials.” (Emphasis added.) Preamble, SCR ch. 20 (2005-06).

State v. Todd E. Peterson, 2008 WI App 140
For Peterson: Ralph Sczygelski

Issue/Holding: A defendant has a 6th amendment-based right to retained postconviction counsel of choice:

¶9        The State correctly counters that Miller and Gonzalez-Lopez involved the right to counsel of choice at trial. Here, Peterson was postconviction, at a Machner proceeding. …¶10      Martinez and Tamalini provide no guidance on the question presented.

State ex rel. Jarrad T. Panama v. Hepp, 2008 WI App 146
For Panama: Philip J. Brehm

Issue/Holding: Panama’s collateral attack on a sentence previously affirmed by no-merit appeal may be canalized into a “Knight” habeas petition, at least where the challenge is based on a potential defect apparent in the record.

The court continues to dredge up the terrain between direct appeal and collateral attack: Knight falls on one side,

State v. Elizabeth A. White, 2008 WI App 96
For White: T Christopher Kelly

Issue/Holding:

¶8        To prevail on a motion for reconsideration, a party must either present newly discovered evidence or establish a manifest error of law or fact. Koepsell’s Olde Popcorn Wagons, Inc. v. Koepsell’s Festival Popcorn Wagons, Ltd., 2004 WI App 129, ¶44, 275 Wis. 2d 397,