On Point

State v. Frederick Eugene Walker, 2018AP186-CR, District 1, 11/27/18 (not recommended for publication); case activity (including briefs)

Walker challenges his child sexual assault conviction, arguing the complaining witness’s mother improperly vouched for her daughter’s honesty. He also argues the trial court wrongly excluded evidence of the complaining witness’s sexual activity with another person. The court of appeals rejects his claims.

Robert W. Huber v. Gloria Anderson, et al., 7th Circuit Court of Appeals No. 17-1302 (Nov. 26, 2018)

Though not directly related to the day-to-day practice of criminal law, this decision may be of interest, if only for its holding regarding the time limits for a person to sue DOC based on claims it improperly kept the person in prison or on supervision.

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.

State v. Noah Yang, 2018AP1461, 11/28/18, District 2 (one-judge decision; ineligible for publication); case activity (including briefs)

Yang pleaded to misdemeanor witness intimidation. He had been charged with felony child abuse, and, from the jail, had called his mother, telling her that if a witness didn’t show up, the prosecutor would drop the charge. In a later call, Yang’s mother acknowledged to Yang that she had been in touch with the alleged victim’s mother; the alleged victim did not, in fact, show up for trial.

State v. Philip J. Hawley, 2015AP1113, District 4, 11/21/18; case activity (including briefs)

Our supreme court has, three times, set out to decide whether the  implied-consent statute supplies “consent” in a Fourth Amendment sense, such that it constitutes an exception to the warrant requirement. Three times, it has failed to reach a binding majority on the question–or has it? The court of appeals, in this certification, suggests perhaps the supreme court has the answer already, depending how you count the votes.

State v. Courtney C. Brown, 2017AP774-CR, District 2, 11/21/18; case activity (including briefs)

Issue:

[A]fter a ticket has been written but before delivery [of the ticket to the motorist], and in the absence of reasonable suspicion, does asking a lawfully stopped motorist to exit the car, whether he or she possesses anything of concern, and to consent to a search unlawfully extend a traffic stop?

State v. D.L.L., 2018AP1064-FT, District 2, 11/21/18 (one-judge decision; ineligible for publication); case activity

D.L.L., who was under a delinquency dispositional order placing him at his mother’s home, ran away for six days. The state moved for sanctions, alleging six violations of the dispositional order, one for each day he was gone. The juvenile court agreed that each day could be a separate violation. The juvenile court was wrong.

State v. Kathryn M. Cooper, 2018AP1154, 11/21/18, District 4 (one-judge decision; ineligible for publication); case activity (including briefs)

Cooper’s vehicle was involved in an accident and was found, damaged, in her driveway. An officer saw a light on near the back door of her home and went around back and knocked. Cooper waved him in. The officer told her he was investigating an accident.

Under the aegis of the Northeastern University School of Law Health in Justice Action Lab, a group of legal, public policy, and public health academics has put together a “Drug-Induced Homicide Defense Toolkit” and posted it on the Social Science Research Network. Though it is not specific to Wisconsin, has a lot of generally relevant […]

Michael O’Hear from the Marquette University Law School has published Wisconsin Sentencing in the Walker Era: Mass Incarceration as the New Normal, 30 Federal Sentencing Report 125 (2017), which surveys the last eight years of sentencing policy in Wisconsin that readers may find interesting, even if they disagree with his conclusions.