On Point

Review of a published court of appeals decision; case activity (including briefs)

Issue (from the State’s petition for review)

When a defendant who pleads guilty or no contest is misinformed that the maximum penalty that could be imposed is lower than the maximum actually allowed by law, and the sentence imposed is more than the defendant was told he could get, is the defendant entitled to withdraw his plea, or may the defect be remedied instead by reducing the sentence to the maximum the defendant was informed he could receive?

Review of a published court of appeals decision; case activity (including briefs)

Issue (composed by On Point)

Does the state statute preempting certain local firearm regulations, § 66.0409(2), apply to the Madison Transit and Parking Commission’s rule prohibiting weapons on city buses?

Questions presented:

I. Whether the District Court was in error when it denied relief on Petitioner’s §2255 motion to vacate, which alleged that a prior Florida conviction for “sudden snatching,” did not qualify for ACCA enhancement pursuant to 18 U.S.C. §924(e).

II. Whether Johnson v. United States, 135 S. Ct. 2551 (2015), announced a new substantive rule of constitutional law that applies retroactively to cases that are on collateral review. Furthermore, Petitioner asks this Court to resolve the Circuit split which has developed on the question of Johnson retroactivity in the Seventh and the Eleventh Circuit Courts of Appeals.

Review of a court of appeals summary disposition, case activity (including briefs)

Issues (from the DOJ’s PFR here, Democratic Party’s response here):

1.  The public records law contemplates that some records should not be disclosed because it would be contrary to the public interest, and courts recognize the public importance of protecting crime victims and law enforcement techniques. Here, DOJ determined that releasing videos from prosecutors’ training seminars would not be in the public interest because the videos contained discussions of crime victims and law enforcement strategy. Was DOJ’s rationale sufficient to overcome the presumption of disclosure?

State v. Aman D. Singh, 2015AP850-CR, District 4, 1/7/16 (one-judge decision; ineligible for publication); case activity

Singh, appealing pro se, seeks to reverse a twelve-year-old OWI-second conviction for which his sentence is long over. 

Winnebago County v. Christopher S., 2016 WI 1, on certification from the court of appeals, and affirming the circuit court’s orders for commitment and involuntary medication; majority opinion by Justice Gableman, concurrence/dissent by Justice Abrahamson; case activity

The provisions of ch. 51 allowing the involuntary mental health commitment of prison inmates without a finding of dangerousness does not violate substantive due process because the statute’s provisions are reasonably related to a legitimate state interest.

Bernard McKinley v. Kim Butler, 7th Circuit Court of Appeals Case No. 14-1944, 1/4/16

McKinley failed to raise an Eighth Amendment claim in his state court challenges to the sentence he received for a murder he committed at the age of 16. That means he procedurally defaulted the claim for purposes of his federal habeas challenge to the sentence. But instead of affirming the district court’s dismissal of McKinley’s habeas petition, a majority of this Seventh Circuit panel stays the habeas proceeding and, based on reasoning that could be useful to other juveniles seeking to challenge long sentences, gives McKinley a chance to go back to state court to challenge his sentence under Miller v. Alabama, 132 S. Ct. 2455 (2012).

If you haven’t heard, on December 18th Netflix released a new documentary series called Making a Murderer.  The first season (10 one-hour parts) recounts the riveting story of  Wisconsin’s own Steven Avery, a man who was imprisoned for sexual assault and attempted murder, and who was later exonerated. He filed a $36 million lawsuit against Manitowoc County and then found himself accused of a murder there. On Point fans will recognize most, maybe all, of the lawyers in the documentary’s cast: Steve Glynn, Walt Kelly, Mike Griesbach, Reesa Evans, Rob Henak, Dean Strang, Jerry Buting, and former DA Ken Kratz--to name a few. Public Defenders Suzanne Hagopian and Martha Askins make cameo appearances in the film.

Public records have been in the press a lot lately. Think transitory records like, texts, emails or Facebook messages.  Often it’s a court that decides whether or not Wisconsin’s public records law allows access to such information. In an interesting twist, a few of the final arbiters of the law–Wisconsin’s Supreme Court justices–recently received open records […]

Gregory Jean-Paul v. Timonty Douma, 7th Circuit Court of Appeals No. 14-3088, 12/31/15

The Wisconsin Court of Appeals reasonably concluded that Jean-Paul validly waived his right to appellate counsel based on the waiver form he signed and his correspondence with his appellate lawyer.