On Point: 4. Character, 904.04

State v. Jeffrey A. Adamczak, 2013 WI App 150; case activity

Admission of other acts evidence

Adamczak was charged with sexual exploitation by a therapist in violation of Wis. Stat. § 940.22 for having sexual contact with Sabrina. He testified the contact occurred, but only after the patient-therapist relationship was over. (¶¶3, 5). Before trial the state moved to admit the testimony of Sarah and Gail,

State v. Richard P. Hessil, 2013AP944-CR, District 2, 10/23/13; court of appeals decision (1-judge; ineligible for publication); case activity

Hessil, charged with resisting an officer, disorderly conduct, and failure to obey a traffic officer, unsuccessfully moved to admit evidence of citizen complaints and police employment records to cast doubt on the arresting officer’s character for truthfulness, citing Wis. Stat. §  904.04(2). The evidence Hessil sought to admit included allegations of theft from an arrestee,

State v. Robert T. Warriner, 2012AP244-CR, District 2/1, 7/2/13; court of appeals decision (not recommended for publication); case activity

Instruction on first degree child sexual assault as lesser-included of repeated child sexual assault

At trial the child testified that Warriner sexually assaulted her on only two occasions, so the trial court agreed, over Warriner’s objections, to read the instruction for first-degree sexual assault of a child, § 948.02(1).

State v. Ronell Howlett, 2012AP1672-CR, District 1, 5/14/13; court of appeals decision (not recommended for publication); case activity

Howlett, a school bus driver, was convicted of three counts of sexual assault of C.A., a nine-year-old child he was responsible for driving. (¶¶1-3, 7). Adopting significant portions of the trial court’s postconviction ruling, the court of appeals rejects his claim that trial counsel was ineffective in the following ways:

• Failing to introduce C.A.’s attendance records: C.A.

State v. Gene A. Echols, 2013 WI App 58; case activity

Echols is entitled to a new trial on charges of child sexual assault because the trial court erred in prohibiting evidence relating to the complainant’s motive to fabricate the assault and in admitting testimony from Echols’s employer that he only stutters when he is lying.

Erroneous ruling excluding complainant’s school disciplinary records

A fifteen-year-old student alleged that Echols,

Review of unpublished court of appeals decision; case activity

Issues (composed by On Point)

1. Whether the jury instructions on self defense as it pertained to second degree reckless homicide fairly and adequately explained the defense to the jury.

2. Whether trial court erroneously excluded evidence of the victim’s reputation for violence.

Petitions for review aren’t available on the court’s website, so issue-formulation is educated guesswork based on the decision of the court of appeals.

State v. Andrew J. Wirth, 2012AP208-CR, District 4, 2/21/13; court of appeals decision (not recommended for publication); case activity

Wirth was charged with the shooting deaths of two people outside a bar. He claimed self defense. The trial court allowed evidence that Wirth engaged in a confrontation earlier in the evening at a different bar with someone other than the shooting victims. In a fact-intensive opinion, the court of appeals concludes that if admission of the evidence was error,

State v. Joel Steinhauer, 2012AP189-CR, District 3, 11/27/12

court of appeals decision (not recommended for publication); case activity

When the State fails to articulate the specific other acts testimony it seeks to adduce, the trial court acts within its discretion in ruling the testimony inadmissible without performing the 3-step analysis of State v. Sullivan, 216 Wis. 2d 768, 771–73, 576 N.W.2d 30 (1998).

State v. Curtis L. Jackson, 2011AP2698-CR, District 1, 10/10/12; court of appeals decision (not recommended for publication), petition for review granted 2/11/13, affirmed, 2014 WI 4 (1/22/14); case activity

Waiver (Lack of Objection), Generally – Jury Instructions

¶8        … To obtain relief based on a jury instruction to which no objection was made, Jackson must show that “considering the proceedings as a whole,

State v. Mark E. Johnson, 2011AP2673-CR, District 3, 9/25/12

court of appeals decision (1-judge, ineligible for publication); case activity

Cross-examination of Johnson, on trial for possession of marijuana and bail jumping, as to his marijuana use was proper, but as to his use of cocaine (eliciting an admission) was reversible error:

¶10      Johnson concedes that, after he testified he never possessed marijuana, the State was permitted to cross-examine him about a previous instance where he possessed marijuana.