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. He had initially been found liable for a first offense; this forfeiture was reopened and dismissed, presumably after a prior out-of-state implied… Read more
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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… Read more
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… Read more
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… Read more
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… Read more
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. Jean-Paul initially told his appellate lawyer he wanted to represent himself, but… Read more
United States v. Antonio West, 7th Circuit Court of Appeals Case No. 14-2514, 12/30/15 The trial court erroneously excluded expert evidence that West sought to admit regarding factors that made him susceptible to making an unreliable confession to a crime. West, a felon, confessed to possessing a firearm. He moved to suppress his statement arguing… Read more
Tempest Horsley v. Jessica Trame, 7th Circuit Court of Appeals Case No. 14-2846, 12/14/15 Illinois law requires a person over the age of 18 but under the age of 21 to get a parent’s or guardian signature on an application for a firearm owner’s identification (FOID) card, which is generally necessary to lawfully possess or… Read more
