On Point: 46. WI Court of Appeals

Fond du Lac County v. Elizabeth M.P., 2003 WI App 232
For Elizabeth M.P.: Thomas K. Voss

Issue: Whether the circuit court had jurisdiction to transfer Elizabeth, who was on outpatient status under ch. 51, to inpatient status given that judicial review of the county’s transfer decision wasn’t held within 10 days, contrary to § 51.35(1)(e)3.

Holding:

¶28. Wisconsin Stat.

Walworth County v. Therese B., 2003 WI App 223

Issue/Holding: Procedural due process in guardianship and protective placement proceedings is governed by the analysis used in mental commitments, W.J.C. v. Vilas County, 124 Wis. 2d 238, 240, 369 N.W.2d 162 (Ct. App. 1985), which in turn adopts Mathews v. Eldridge, 424 U.S. 319 (1976):

¶11 … The Mathews test “involves balancing three factors: 1) The private interest affected by the official action,

State v. Randy D. Stafford, 2003 WI App 138
For Stafford: Robert G. LeBell

Issue/Holding: A mental health professional whose assessment of the sexual assault defendant was incorporated into the presentence report and cited at length by the sentencing judge and who had, unbeknownst to the defense, treated the victim for the six months prior to the assessment, had a conflict of interest that amounted to a new factor requiring resentencing.

State v. Peter C. Ramuta, 2003 WI App 80, PFR filed 4/3/03
For Ramuta: Peter M. Koneazny, Richard D. Martin, SPD, Milwaukee Appellate

Issue/Holding:

¶21. Further, Ramuta’s obesity-related health problems and his resulting shorter-than-normal life expectancy are also not new factors. See Michels, 150 Wis. 2d at 99-100, 441 N.W.2d at 280-281 (defendant’s health and its post-sentence worsening not new factors).

State v. Peter C. Ramuta, 2003 WI App 80, PFR filed 4/3/03
For Ramuta: Peter M. Koneazny, Richard D. Martin, SPD, Milwaukee Appellate

Issue/Holding: Subsequent sentences on charges pending at the time of this sentencing didn’t amount to a new factor, State v. Norton, 2001 WI App 245, distinguished:

¶20.

State v. Peter C. Ramuta, 2003 WI App 80, PFR filed 4/3/03
For Ramuta: Peter M. Koneazny, Richard D. Martin, SPD, Milwaukee Appellate

Issue/Holding:

¶8. The law appropriately recognizes that sentences may be based on what is unknowingly incomplete information, and, if they are, that there should be some mechanism to correct a resulting injustice. Thus, if after sentencing it turns out that there was something that would have been important to the sentencing court but was either unknown or unknowingly overlooked,

State v. Shawn Virlee, 2003 WI App 4, PFR filed 1/3/03
For Virlee: Jack E. Schairer

Issue/Holding: Barring introduction of the post-petition grant of sentence credit was proper: this evidence “would have been irrelevant to whether the State filed its petition within ninety days of Virlee’s release and would have confused the jury on this issue.” ¶19.

State v. Jonathan R. Torres, 2003 WI App 199, PFR filed 9/18/03
For Torres: Michael Yovovich, SPD, Madison Appellate

Issue: Whether reclassification of Torres’ offense by TIS-II, 2001 Wis. Act 109 §§545-559, which substantially reduced the maximum penalty, amounts to a new factor that would support reduction of his sentence imposed under the prior, TIS-I regime.

Holding:

¶7 First, we conclude that a change in the classification of a crime,

State v. Shawn Virlee, 2003 WI App 4, PFR filed 1/3/03
For Virlee: Jack E. Schairer

Issue: Whether post-petition grant of jail credit deprived the court of competency to proceed, where the petition was filed within 90 days of the pre-grant release date, but would be untimely when calculated against the post-grant date.

Holding:

¶17. Virlee claims the court lost its competency to proceed with his commitment proceeding when it retroactively granted him sentence credit that placed his mandatory release date prior to the petition’s filing date.

State v. Henry Pocan, 2003 WI App 233
For Pocan: Margaret A. Maroney, SPD, Madison Appellate

Issue/Holding: Pocan established probable cause for a discharge hearing where the psychologist conducting the reevaluation and using actuarial tables unavailable at the time of original commitment found no substantial probability of reoffending:

¶11. The State argues that Wis. Stat. ch. 980 thus requires the court to focus on progress or improvement in Pocan’s condition.