On Point

MULS Professor Michael O’Hear has a new article out: Managing the Risk of Violent Recidivism: Lessons from Legal Responses to Sexual Offenses. See the abstract below, and click here for the article.

State v. Robert Brian Spencer, 2017AP1722-CR, 4/16/19, District 1 (not recommended for publication); case activity (including briefs)

Spencer raised many issues on appeal: insufficient evidence to support his conviction, multiple ineffective assistance of counsel claims, and a Brady violation. This post focuses on the 2 most interesting claims: ineffective assistance for failure to move to suppress evidence obtain via a no-knock warrant and the DA’s failure to turn over evidence of an officer’s disciplinary history.

In some parts of the country 40% of arrests stem from possession of marijuana. If you wonder how Wisconsin counties compare to others around the country, check out this article and map.

Today’s New York Times has this very interesting article (complete with some fancy digital demonstrations) about an enormous Google database employees call “Sensorvault,” which “turn[s] the business of tracking cellphone users’ locations into a digital dragnet for law enforcement.” It will not surprise you to learn that the use of the database may help crack cases […]

State v. Autumn Marie Love Lopez & Amy J. Rodriguez, 2017AP913-CR & 2017AP914-CR, petition for review granted 4/9/19; case activity (including briefs)

Issue:

Does either Wis. Stat. § 971.36 or inherent prosecutorial charging discretion allow a prosecutor to charge a single felony count of retail theft for multiple separate acts of theft, each involving less than $500 in merchandise, committed over a span of time?

State v. Matthew C. Hinkle, 2017AP1416-CR, petition for review granted 4/9/19;  affirmed 11/12/19; case activity (including briefs)

Issue:

Once a juvenile has been waived into adult court by one circuit court, must the juvenile always be subject to adult court jurisdiction in any other cases?

State v. Roy S. Anderson, 2017AP1104-CR, petition for review granted 4/9/19; case activity (including briefs)

Issues:

What constitutes sufficient knowledge of an offender’s community supervision status where an officer wants to search him pursuant to 2013 Wisconsin Act 79?

Whether the officers in this case had reasonable suspicion to search Anderson pursuant to Act 79.

State v. Alexander M. Schultz, 2017AP1977-CR, petition for review granted 4/9/19; case activity (including briefs)

Issues (derived from petition for review):

When determining whether two offenses charged in successive prosecutions are the same in fact for purposes of the Double Jeopardy Clause, how does the court determine the scope of jeopardy when the charged timeframe is ambiguous?

When there is ambiguity in the timeframe of the charging document who bears the burden resulting from the ambiguity–the defendant or the State?

State v. Robert James Pope, Jr., 2017AP1720-CR, petition for review granted 4/9/19; case activity (including briefs)

Issues:

Where no transcripts of a jury trial occurring over 20 years ago are available in a direct appeal and appellate counsel is new to the case, does application of  State v. Perry’s requirement that appellant assert a “facially valid claim of error” that might be supported by a portion of a missing transcript deny the constitutional right to meaningful appellate review?

Whether a statement on transcript filed in an appeal binds an appellant in all future appeals in the same case?

Using specialized software scholars have analyzed the opinions of SCOTUS justices for some time. Now SCOWstats has applied the same “text mining” software to SCOW opinions. Which justice uses the most (or biggest) words? Who speaks with the most clout? Who is our most emotional justice (according to the software’s algorithm)? Click here to find […]