On Point

Winnebago County v. M.R.R., 2018AP273, 10/3/18, District 2 (one-judge decision; ineligible for publication); case activity (including briefs)

M.R.R. suffered a traumatic brain injury 35 years ago; he’s diagnosed with a personality change due to the injury and unspecified personality disorder. He was found incompetent and placed in a guardianship in 2015 and a protective placement in 2016; this is an appeal of the recent continuation of that guardianship and protective placement.

State v. Keith J. Brooks, 2017AP1723-CR, 9/25/18, District 1 (not recommended for publication); case activity (including briefs)

Brooks was tried for first-degree intentional homicide. The jury acquitted him of that but convicted of the lesser-included first-degree reckless. He argues his trial lawyers were ineffective because they pursued a strategy that would have let the jury find him guilty of that count even if (as the defense contended) the victim had committed suicide.

State v. Jodi J. Lux, 2018AP338-CR, District 2, 8/29/18 (one-judge decision; ineligible for publication); case activity (including briefs)

A police officer’s warrantless entry into the apartment Lux was in was justified by his concerns about the safety of the apartment building owner, who told the officer she was going to enter the apartment to figure out what was going on.

State v. Emerson D. Lamb, 2017AP1430-CR, District 3, 9/25/18 (not recommended for publication); case activity (including briefs)

The sentencing judge made comments at Lamb’s sentencing before it had heard any sentencing arguments from the parties, and those comments showed a serious risk that the court had prejudged Lamb’s sentence. Accordingly, the judge was objectively biased and Lamb is entitled to a new sentencing hearing before a different judge.

State v. J.P., 2017AP1905, District 1, 9/5/18 (one-judge decision; ineligible for publication); case activity

J.P. was adjudicated delinquent for calling in two bomb scares to his high school. The court of appeals rejects his claims that the police lacked probable cause to arrest him and unlawfully searched his phone and that his confession was involuntary. However, the court agrees with J.P. that part of the restitution order is invalid.

State v. Brian A. Barwick, 2017AP958-CR through 2017AP961-CR, District 1, 9/5/18 (not recommended for publication); case activity (including briefs)

Barwick was charged with eleven counts of various crimes in four separate cases that were consolidated for trial. He makes various unsuccessful challenges to his convictions.

K.M. v. R.O., 2018AP1206, District 1, 9/18/18 (1-judge opinion, ineligible for publication); case activity

One ground for terminating a person’s parental rights is that the parent “abandoned” his child for 6 months or longer. In this case, a court ordered R.O. to have no contact with the mother of his child, which interfered with his visitation efforts. This appeal stems from the trial court’s customization of a jury instruction to address that problem and from the jury’s finding that R.O. had failed to assume parental responsibility.

State v. Rafael D. Newson, 2018AP551, 9/18/18, District 1 (not recommended for publication); case activity (including briefs)

Newson claims that his trial and postconviction lawyers were ineffective for failing to raise lack of jurisdiction caused by the State’s failure to file its complaint against him before he was extradited to Arizona. He also argued that the Escalona bar should not apply given that he was in Arizona at the time of his direct appeal and his first two postconviction motions. The court of appeals did not bite on either.

Justice Abrahamson has just begun her 43rd term on the Wisconsin Supreme Court. Because she has announced that this will also be her last term, SCOWstats has crunched some numbers on her. The results are impressive. Click here.

State v. Alice M. Fischer, 2018AP422-CR, 9/18/18, District 1 (1-judge opinion, ineligible for publication); case activity

This case may sound vaguely familiar. Trial counsel failed to investigate and make use of a claim against a sheriff’s sergeant, Matthew Paradise, the defendant in a civil rights action alleging that he and others conspired to create inaccurate reports leading to a false drunk driving charge against one Tanya Weyker. Turns out Paradise also stopped Fischer for OWI and testified at her trial.