State v. Ginger Breitzman, 2017 WI 100, 12/1/17, affirming an unpublished court of appeals decision; case activity (including briefs) Breitzman was convicted at trial of several counts of child abuse (for physical assaults) and neglect of her son, J.K. She was also convicted of a charge of disorderly conduct for an incident inside their home in… Read more
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On November 29, 2017, the court of appeals ordered the publication of the following criminal law related decisions: State v. A.L., 2017 WI App 72 (court may order reexamination of juvenile fount not likely to be competent to proceed) State v. Damien Markeith Divone Scott, 2017 WI App 74 (checkpoint stop justified by “special needs”… Read more
State v. D.C., 2016AP2229-2230, District 1, 11/30/17 (1-judge opinion, ineligible for publication); case activity During the grounds phase of her TPR proceeding, D.C.’s lawyer asked the trial court to: (1) instruct the jury that she was prohibited from having visitation with her children for a period of time, and (2) give curative instructions that it… Read more
State v. Xavier Grullon, 2016AP2404-CR, District 3, 11/28/17 (one-judge decision; ineligible for publication); case activity (including briefs) A tip from a 911 caller together with an officer’s observations provided reasonable suspicion for a traffic stop, holds the court of appeals. The anonymous caller reported seeing a man “dump” a Harley-type motorcycle, said the man had trouble getting… Read more
State v. Willie Brownlee, Jr., 2015AP2319-CR, 11/21/17, District 1, (not recommended for publication); case activity (including briefs) Two officers stopped Brownlee after he drove his rental car through a red light. One officer approached the driver’s side, the other approached the passenger side occupied by Brownlee’s friend. Both smelled the distinct odor of burnt marijuana… Read more
At least three justices of the Supreme Court of the United states think so. The three (Sotomayor, Ginsburg, and Kagan) dissented from the court’s denial of certiorari in Reeves v. Alabama last week. Reeves had challenged his death sentence on the ground that his counsel had been ineffective in investigating and presenting potential mitigation evidence. He… Read more
Today’s edition of SCOWstats follows up on a forthcoming Vanderbilt Law Review article, State Criminal Appeals Revealed, which used a new dataset from the Bureau of Justice Statistics and the National Center on State Courts to examine state supreme court decisions in felony appeals. The article did not include Wisconsin cases, so SCOWstats supplies the… Read more
State v. James R. Stib, 2017AP3-CR, District 2, 11/15/17 (not recommended for publication); case activity (including briefs) Stib argues his traffic stop was unlawfully prolonged to conduct a dog sniff under Rodriguez v. United States, 135 S. Ct. 1609 (2015). Assuming Stib is correct, suppression of the evidence seized after the dog alerted is inappropriate under the good-faith exception… Read more
