On Point

State v. Leon A. Wedde, 2011AP130-CR, District 2, 1/11/12

court of appeals decision (1-judge, not for publication); pro se; case activity

The trial court dismissed with prejudice the pending charge when the prosecutor was unable to proceed on the scheduled date. The State argues that dismissal should have been without prejudice, and the court of appeals agrees that the trial court erroneously exercised discretion on this point,

State v. Frederick W. Scheuers, 2011AP1709-CR, District 2, 1/11/12

court of appeals decision (1-judge, not for publication); for Scheuers: Jeffrey Mann; case activity

Sentence of 7 months for criminal damage to property, upheld as proper exercise of discretion.

¶9        Scheuers acknowledges that the trial court “took into account and properly stated on the record what [it] believed was an appropriate response in addressing the needs for protecting the public,

Racine County HSD v. Roseannah M. H., 2011AP1776, District 2, 1/11/12

court of appeals decision (1-judge, not for publication); for Roseannah: Patrick Flanagan; case activity

On this TPR appeal by the County, the court of appeals upholds an order granting Roseannah’s motion to withdraw her admission to grounds. Such an admission must be knowing, intelligent and voluntary, per colloquy governed by § 48.422(7) and due process, ¶5,

State v. Cortez Ramon Brooks, I, 2010AP2454-CR, District 1, 1/10/12

court of appeals decision (not recommended for publication); for Brooks: Ann T. Bowe; case activity

The trial court immediately struck non-responsive testimony of a jailhouse informant that Brooks had admitted to “multiple homicides.” Denial of a subsequent motion for mistrial based on this testimony is upheld as an appropriate exercise of discretion.

¶18      First, any prejudice from Burks’s answer was cured by the trial court immediately striking the answer upon Brooks’s motion.  

State v. Demian Hyden McDermott, 2012 WI App 14 (recommended for publication); for McDermott: Robert R. Henak, Amelia L. Bizzaro; case activity

¶9 n. 2:

McDermott complains that the circuit court “erroneously exercised its discretion by its wholesale adoption of the State’s brief as its decision.”  (Most capitalization omitted.)  The sum total of the circuit court’s analysis in denying McDermott’s sentence-modification motion without first holding an evidentiary hearing is:  “For all of the reasons set forth in the State’s excellent brief,

State v. Demian Hyden McDermott, 2012 WI App 14 (recommended for publication); for McDermott: Robert R. Henak, Amelia L. Bizzaro; case activity

Sentencing Review – New Factor – Assistance to Law Enforcement 

McDermott, convicted in 1991 of first-degree intentional homicide, ptac with a parole eligibility date of 35 years, seeks new-factor-based modification of his PED on the ground “he helped law enforcement by participating in prison programs designed to dissuade youth from crime.”

Question Presented: 

Whether a dog sniff at the front door of a suspected grow house by a trained narcotics detection dog is a Fourth Amendment search requiring probable cause?

Scotusblog Page

Florida supreme court decision, State v. Jardines (4/14/11)

Coverage by Lyle Denniston, Orin Kerr (“fun stuff for Fourth Amendment nerds”), Kent Scheidegger (“This is solid police work”), 

Make your vote count! Prosecutors behaving badly. (Call us vote-rigging provincials, but we’re partial to the Badger state nominee, Grant County DA Lisa Riniker, UW 2000, who wants a 6-year-old held subject to sex offender registration for “playing doctor.” Residency restrictions for this 6-year-old? Deterrence at work. We have too many doctors, anyway.)

Cliff Gardner “says there are two types of criminal defense lawyers: Those who respond professionally to an ineffectiveness claim,

court of appeals decision (1-judge, not for publication); pro se; case activity

Plea Withdrawal – Nelson/Bentley Hearing – Exculpatory Evidence 

Ardell wasn’t entitled to a hearing on his postconviction plea-withdrawal motion premised on alleged suppression of exculpatory evidence. The court holds that, even assuming that the State did withhold exculpatory evidence, the motion failed to show that revelation of this evidence would have impacted Ardell’s plea decision,

State v. Anrietta M. Geske, 2012 WI App 15 (recommended for publication); for Geske: Jefren E. Olsen, SPD, Madison Appellate; case activity

Sufficiency of Proof – “Utter Disregard” Element (Reckless Homicide, § 940.02(1)) 

Evidence held sufficient to support reckless homicide element of utter disregard of human life, where deaths resulted from high-speed automobile collision after running red light, notwithstanding undisputed evidence that Geske swerved her car in an attempt to avoid the collision.