On Point

State v. Eric Pletz, 2000 WI App 221, 239 Wis.2d 49, 619 N.W.2d 97
For Pletz: Michael J. Backes

Issue: Whether the state’s pretrial failure to disclose that its witness used the RRASOR screening instrument to evaluate Pletz violated his discovery rights.

Holding: Pletz waived any discovery objection by not promptly objecting, given that he was provided this information before the witness testified. ¶26. Moreover,

Edwin C. West v. Macht, 2000 WI App 134, 237 Wis. 2d 265, 614 N.W.2d 34

Issue: Whether living unit reassignment of a Ch. 980 subject was made in retaliation for his exercise of his constitutional right to petition on grievances.

Holding: A commitment subject has a protected interest against being punished for exercising first amendment rights, ¶15; however, those rights may be validly restricted if “reasonably related to legitimate therapeutic and institutional interests.”

State v. Thomas W. Koeppen, 2000 WI App 121, 237 Wis.2d 418, 614 N.W.2d 530
For Koeppen: Richard L. Zaffiro

Issue/Holding: Level of community support” enjoyed by the defendant not a new factor justifying sentence reduction.

State v. Eric Pletz, 2000 WI App 221, 239 Wis.2d 49, 619 N.W.2d 97
For Pletz: Michael J. Backes

Issue: Whether letters from DSM-IV committee members, regarding the impact of an assault on a diagnosis of pedophilia, were properly admitted.

Holding: A basis for an expert opinion, otherwise hearsay, is admissible if of “a type reasonably relied upon by experts in the particular field…. The letters relied on here,

State v. Frederick L. Pharm, 2000 WI App 167, 238 Wis. 2d 97, 617 N.W.2d 163
For Pharm: Jack E. Schairer

Issue: Whether conviction under the since-repealed statute of indecent behavior with a child may serve as a predicate offense for a Ch. 980 commitment.

Holding: “(T)he legislature clearly intended to include, within the definition of ‘sexually violent offense,’ the conduct prohibited under a previous version of a statute enumerated in Wis.

State v. Dione Wendell Haywood, 2009 WI App 178
For Haywood: Robert E. Haney

Issue/Holding: Asserted prosecutorial misconduct, in the form of misleading statements during allocution, is tested under State v. Wolff, 171 Wis. 2d 161, 167, 491 N.W.2d 498, 501 (Ct. App. 1992) (whether “what the prosecutor does has ‘so infected the trial with unfairness as to make the resulting conviction a denial of due process’”),

State v. Kenneth Parrish, 2002 WI App 263, PFR filed 11/11/02
For Parrish: Charles B. Vetzner, SPD, Madison Appellate

Issue/Holding: Although evidence of volitional impairment is required and in this bench trial the trial court erred in commenting to the contrary, ¶35, the court in fact found the existence of such evidence, ¶36.

State v. Eric Pletz, 2000 WI App 221, 239 Wis.2d 49, 619 N.W.2d 97
For Pletz: Michael J. Backes

Issue: Whether the evidence was sufficient to support a finding that the 980 subject suffered from a qualifying mental disorder, given that the experts split on the issue.

Holding:

¶15 Pletz argues that the two psychologists who testified on his behalf offered more credible testimony,

State v. Frederick L. Pharm, 2000 WI App 167, 238 Wis. 2d 97, 617 N.W.2d 163
For Pharm: Jack E. Schairer

Issue: Whether Pharm waived objection to the prosecutor’s authorization to file a Ch. 980 petition.

Holding: Pharm’s failure to object to the prosecutor’s filing the petition without going through the Department of Justice under §§ 990.015 and 980.02(1) waived the issue, ¶9.

Guerrero v. Cavey, 2000 WI App 203, 238 Wis.2d 449, 617 N.W.2d 849

Issue: Whether a person adjudicated incompetent may waive her attorney’s conflict of interest.

Holding: Because the client’s understanding of the attorney’s potentially divided loyalty is a necessary component of waiver of a conflict, and because no claim is made that the circuit court erred in finding the mother to be incompetent, she was,