On Point blog, page 4 of 15
Involuntary intoxication defense to OWI rejected
Village of Menomonee Falls v. Kristina L. Smithers, 2018AP993, District 2, 2/6/19 (one-judge decision; ineligible for publication); case activity (including briefs)
The circuit court properly rejected Smithers’s invocation of an involuntary intoxication defense in her prosecution for operating while under the influence of the prescription medication she was taken as prescribed.
Court of appeals finds insufficient evidence to submit coercion defense to jury
State v. Dustin Charles Yenter, 2017AP2253, 11/29/18, District 4 (1-judge opinion; ineligible for publication); case activity (including briefs)
Yenter was convicted of OWI and driving with a PAC, both as first offenses. He wanted to argue that he had no choice but to drive drunk because he and his passengers had fled a fight in a rural area. The perpetrators chased them to his car and threw rocks at it, leaving them no time to decide who should drive. Yenter had the keys. They jumped into his car and he drove for 16 miles–until police stopped him.
SCOW will address whether defendants pleading NGI need to know maximum length of commitment
State v. Corey R. Fugere, 2016AP2258-CR, petition for review of a published court of appeals decision granted 9/4/18; case activity (including briefs)
Issue (composed by On Point):
When a person enters a guilty plea to a criminal charge coupled with the defense of not responsible due to mental disease or defect under § 971.15, is a circuit court required to advise the person of the maximum term of commitment under ¶ 971.17 in addition to the maximum penalties provided for the offense?
Shooting while being attacked in street brawl does not justify self-defense instruction
State v. Devon L. Loggins, 2017AP2045-CR, 7/31/18, District 1 (unpublished); case activity (including briefs)
A fight between the Loggins and Jones families escalated into a violent melee involving at least 20 people. Some of them were punching Loggins, who saw a gun fall from one participant’s hoodie. He picked it up. Someone kicked him, and he started shooting. Two people died. Others were injured. At trial, Loggins sought a self-defense instruction, but the circuit court wouldn’t give it.
SCOTUS will revisit “separate sovereigns” exception to double jeopardy prohibition
Terance Martez Gamble v. United States, USSC No. 17-646, certiorari granted 6/28/18
Whether the Court should overrule the “separate sovereigns” exception to the Double Jeopardy Clause.
SCOW finds no problem with problematic jury instructions on self-defense, accident
State v. Joseph T. Langlois, 2018 WI 73, 6/20/18, affirming a published court of appeals decision, 2017 WI App 44; case activity (including briefs)
A majority of the supreme court concludes that the jury instructions given in this case, when viewed in their entirety, accurately stated the law the jury needed to decide the case. Two dissenting justices disagree, concluding that when considered in their entirety, the instructions could have led the jury astray.
Evidence that level of THC in blood wouldn’t have impaired driver may be admissible in injury case
State v. Joshua J. Luther, 2016AP1879-CR, 5/3/18, District 4 (not recommended for publication); case activity (including briefs)
This is a pretrial interlocutory appeal. Luther is charged with causing injury by driving with a detectable amount of THC in his blood. He wants to present expert testimony that the levels of THC would not have impaired him at the time of the crash–he says he last smoked pot the night before. He argues this evidence can help him meet the statutory affirmative defense in § 940.25(2)(a), (the “even-if” defense) which requires a defendant to show the crash would have happened even if he was exercising “due care” and had no controlled substances in his blood. The court of appeals holds the evidence inadmissible on the record as it stands, but cautions the trial court that if facts emerge supporting the defense, that could change.
Imperfect self-defense mitigates a charge of 1st-degree intentional homicide, not a charge of 1st degree-reckless homicide
State v. Devin T. White, 2016AP119-CR, 4/10/18, District 1, (not recommended for publication); case activity (including briefs)
White was convicted of 1st-degree reckless homicide. He argued that the trial court misapplied the law governing self-defense and improperly instructed the jury. The court of appeals repeatedly struggled to determine the thrust of his argument, but it appeared to be this:
¶15 Under White’s interpretation of the law, the State must prove beyond a reasonable doubt that he did not have these actual beliefs; therefore, the trial court erred in failing to instruct the jury of the State’s burden and that White could not be found guilty if the State did not prove he did not have these actual beliefs. Under White’s interpretation of the law, his actual belief controls, not whether his belief was reasonable.
The court of appeals also admonished White’s appellate counsel.
Defendant pleading NGI doesn’t need to know maximum length of commitment
State v. Corey R. Fugere, 2018 WI App 24, affirmed, 2019 WI 33; case activity (including briefs)
Because civil commitment is neither punishment nor a direct consequence of a guilty or no contest plea, a defendant entering an NGI plea does not have to be advised during the plea colloquy of the maximum term of commitment that could be ordered.
Video of battery by juvenile supports trial court’s rejection of self-defense claim
State v. J.D.V., 2017AP1057, District 3, 2/13/18 (one-judge decision; ineligible for publication); case activity
J.D.V. (given the pseudonym “Joseph” by the court) was adjudged delinquent for punching Thomas, another juvenile, in the head outside of school. The incident was recorded by Charles, another student, using his electronic device. Based primarily on that recording the trial court rejected Joseph’s self-defense claim—rightly so, says the court of appeals.