On Point blog, page 187 of 214
Jury – Selection – Bias / Disqualification – Doubtful Fairness: Belief Police More Credible
State v. Scot A. Czarnecki, 2000 WI App 155, 237 Wis.2d 794, 615 N.W.2d 672
For Czarnecki: Patrick M. Donnelly, SPD, Madison Appellate
Issue: Whether the trial court should have granted the defense motion to remove a prospective juror who acknowledged believing that police officers would be more credible than other witnesses.
Holding: Juror bias is reviewed with deference to the trial court’s resolution. Because police credibility was never at issue,
Jury – Selection – Bias / Disqualification – Doubtful Fairness: Equivocal Statement
State v. Nathaniel A. Lindell, 2000 WI App 180, 238 Wis.2d 422, 617 N.W.2d 500, affirmed on other grounds, State v. Nathaniel A. Lindell, 2001 WI 108
For Lindell: Russell L. Hanson; Timothy J. Gaskell
Issue: Whether the prospective juror’s allowing, “I think I could” make a fair determination, established subjective bias.
Holding: The trial court’s ruling of no subjective bias isn’t clearly erroneous.
Jury – Selection – Bias / Disqualification — Doubtful Fairness, Generally: Defer to Trial Court — Need for Precise Questioning
State v. Marquis O. Gilliam, 2000 WI App 152, 238 Wis.2d 1, 615 N.W.2d 660
For Gilliam: Robert B. Rondini
Issue: Whether the trial court’s denial of a motion to remove a juror based on subjective bias was clearly erroneous.
Holding: The issue of a juror’s subjective bias is reviewed deferentially to the trial court’s resolution. Though this case is different from prior cases — here, “whether the juror has expressed a prejudice or predilection in the first instance”
Jury – Selection – Bias / Disqualification — Doubtful Fairness: Equivocal Statement — Deference to Trial Court Finding
State v. Jimmie R.R., 2000 WI App 5, 232 Wis.2d 138, 606 N.W.2d 196
For Jimmie R.R.: Martha K. Askins, SPD, Madison Appellate
Issue: Whether the trial court erred in refusing to strike for cause a potential juror who was equivocal on his ability to be fair.
Holding: The trial court did not err in finding no subjective bias.
When asked if he could listen to the evidence and apply the law,
Jury – Selection – Bias / Disqualification – Doubtful Fairness: Predetermined Guilt – Trial Court Obligation to Conduct Hearing
State v. Theodore Oswald, 2000 WI App 2, 232 Wis.2d 62, 606 N.W.2d 207
For Oswald: Jerome F. Buting, Kathleen B. Stilling
Issue: Whether prospective jurors’ expressions of predetermined guilt established either objective or subjective bias.
Holding: Applying a mixed standard of review, the court discerns no bias, in that the strength of these opinions changed during voir dire and, more importantly, because the defense conceded factual guilt.
Miranda Waiver, Deaf Suspect
State v. George W. Hindsley, 2000 WI App 130, 237 Wis. 2d 358, 614 N.W.2d 48
For Hindsley: James B. Connell
Issue: Whether a deaf suspect, fluent in ASL but with limited proficiency in English, validly waived his Miranda rights, when those rights were explained to him in English-based (“transliteration”) signing.
Holding: When the suspect is advised of Miranda rights in a language other than English (including sign language for a deaf suspect such as Hindsley),
Miranda – Good-Faith Exception
State v. George W. Hindsley, 2000 WI App 130, 237 Wis. 2d 358, 614 N.W.2d 48
For Hindsley: James B. Connell
Issue: Whether a good-faith exception to Miranda should be recognized.
Holding: The court of appeals doesn’t have authority to articulate a good-faith exception to Miranda: “(It) is not the proper role of this court to create an exception to, or modify,
Statements – Voluntariness – Prolonged Detention
State v. James H. Oswald, 2000 WI App 3, 232 Wis.2d 103, 606 N.W.2d 238
For Oswald: James L. Fullin, Jr., SPD, Madison Appellate
Issue: Whether a statement made while hospitalized should have been suppressed, as the product of a lengthy detention for the purpose of interrogation.
Holding:
¶46 When a confession is the product of “unreasonable police detention for purposes of interrogation,” it must be suppressed whether voluntary or not.
Statements – Voluntariness – Absence of Police Coercion
State v. George W. Hindsley, 2000 WI App 130, 237 Wis. 2d 358, 614 N.W.2d 48
For Hindsley: James B. Connell
Issue: Whether a statement is involuntary, even in the absence of police coercion, simply because the Miranda warnings aren’t effectively communicated.
Holding: A suspect’s deafness doesn’t alter the test for voluntariness, “which was and remains focused on police coercion, and considers a person’s language and culture only insofar as they bear on whether coercion by more subtle means,
Briefs – Content – “Vituperative Tone”
Mogged v. Mogged, 2000 WI App 39, 233 Wis. 2d 90, 607 N.W.2d 662
Issue/Holding: Brief adopting “vituperative tone” and making misleading, unsupported arguments violates Rules of Professional Conduct and is stricken. ¶¶21-24. (Note that the court cites 7th Circuit caselaw, ¶22, suggesting that decisions from that body are very pertinent.)
Appellate briefs containing personal attacks sufficiently inflammatory subject the author to the range of sanctions avaialble under the code of professional responsibility,