On Point blog, page 3 of 16
COA declines to consider constitutional challenge to ordinance because defendant failed to serve AG or join city as party
State v. Kevin Richard Raddemann, 2022AP668-CR, 12/21/22, District II (1-judge opinion, ineligible for publication); case activity (including briefs).
In this misdemeanor OWI case, Raddemann moved to suppress evidence obtained following a stop of his vehicle. After the suppression hearing, he moved for reconsideration, arguing that a City of Hartford cemetery ordinance, which was the basis for the stop, was unconstitutionally vague. The circuit court denied Raddemann’s motion to reconsider because it was untimely. ¶5.
Adding new charges to information was proper and didn’t taint defendant’s decision to plead guilty
State v. Etter L. Hughes, 2021AP1834-CR, District 1, 11/1/22 (not recommended for publication); case activity (including briefs)
The court of appeals rejects Hughes’s claim that she should be allowed to withdraw her pleas to four counts of child abuse on the grounds that the state improperly amended the information to add more charges against her because there was no independent factual basis for those charges and because two of the counts were multiplicitous under § 948.03(5)(c).
Defendant’s rights to discovery, confrontation not violated
State v. Kevin Lee Wilke, 2020AP1068-CR, District 3, 8/2/22 (one-judge decision; ineligible for publication); case activity (including briefs)
The court of appeals rejects Wilke’s arguments for a new trial and his challenge to the sufficiency of the evidence.
Challenges to charging periods and jury instructions in child sexual assault case rejected
State v. Michael T. Dewey, 2021AP174-CR, District 4, 4/14/22 (not recommended for publication); case activity (including briefs)
Dewey was charged with three dozen counts of child sexual assault related crimes alleged to have occurred during various times between 2005 and 2013. He argues the charging periods for most of the counts were “too long and disjointed” to allow him to prepare an adequate defense and that his trial lawyer was ineffective for not objecting to jury instructions for five of the counts on the ground that the three non-continuous time periods charged for those counts failed to protect his right to a unanimous verdict. The court of appeals rejects his arguments.
Victim’s rights trump defendant’s right to prompt disposition of case
State v. Michael J. Leighton, 2021AP1949-cr, 3/30/22, District 2 (not recommended for publication; case activity (including briefs)
In 2018, the State charged Leighton with misdemeanor theft and fraudulent use of a credit card, both as repeaters. In 2020, he asked the DA for “prompt disposition” of his case per §971.11. Receiving no response, he moved for dismissal, which the court granted without prejudice. On appeal, he says dismissal should have been with prejudice. The court of appeals disagreed due to the victim’s rights.
Dismissal under intrastate detainer statute didn’t preclude successive charges arising out of same incident
State v. Alec D. Alford, 2020AP2072-CR, District 2, 3/23/22 (one-judge decision; ineligible for publication); case activity (including briefs)
Dismissal with prejudice for failing to comply with the time limit under the intrastate detainer statute isn’t an “acquittal on the merits” under § 939.71 and thus doesn’t bar filing new charges based on the same course of conduct.
Various challenges to OWI conviction rejected
State v. Kody R. Kohn, 2020AP2147-CR, District 2, 9/22/21 (one-judge decision; ineligible for publication); case activity (including briefs)
Kohn argues the circuit court erred in: 1) denying his motion to suppress evidence obtained from the blood drawn from him after his arrest; 2) excluding exhibits he wanted to use to cross examine the state’s blood analyst; and 3) rejecting his motion to dismiss a bail jumping charge. The court of appeals affirms all the circuit court’s decisions.
COA rejects ineffective-assistance claims; rejects state’s broad guilty-plea waiver rule
State v. Skylard R. Grant, 2020AP404, 7/20/21, District 1 (not recommended for publication); case activity (including briefs)
Grant pleaded to reduced charges on the second day of his trial for homicide, being a felon in possession of a firearm, and possessing THC with intent to deliver. He claims his trial lawyer was inadequate in various ways during the trial. The court rejects Grant’s specific claims, but it also rejects the state’s expansive reading of State v. Villegas, 2018 WI App 9, 380 Wis. 2d 246, 908 N.W.2d 198. The state had argued that counsel’s alleged failings were waived by the guilty plea because they did not occur during the actual process of procuring the plea. The court of appeals says Villegas‘s waiver rule is not quite this unforgiving; it clarifies (in accord with Supreme Court case law) that claims of ineffective assistance survive a guilty plea where, “but for counsel’s errors, [the defendant] would not have pled guilty.”
COA approves joinder of counts, holds evidence can’t be “newly discovered” if it’s new
State v. Alijouwon T. Watkins, 2019AP1996-CR, 5/27/21, District 4 (recommended for publication); case activity (including briefs)
The state charged Watkins with several crimes stemming from a domestic violence call: these included escape and battery to one of the police officers who arrested him. While Watkins was in jail, the state charged him with three more crimes related to his alleged attempts to secure perjured testimony about the earlier incident and, the state said, have the arresting officer/alleged victim killed.
“Marsy’s Law” gives a crime victim standing to get involved in Shiffra-Green litigation
State & T.A.J. v. Alan S. Johnson, 2020 WI App 73, petition to review granted, 2/26/21; case activity (including briefs)
This is the first of what will likely be a series of appellate court decisions that re-make criminal litigation in light of “Marsy’s Law,” the recently-passed crime victims’ rights amendment to Article I, § 9m, of the Wisconsin constitution.