State v. Iain A. Johnson, 2022AP389-CR, 4/2/24, District III (1-judge decision, ineligible for publication); case activity Although COA concedes this is a “close case,” it nevertheless concludes that the evidence satisfies the relatively low burden for reasonable suspicion to extend a traffic stop. This police contact began when they received a “driving complaint” about Johnson’s… Read more
B. Chs. 343-346: Traffic offense
State v. Joan L. Stetzer, 2023AP874-CR, 3/27/24, District II (1-judge decision, ineligible for publication); case activity In a difficult case demonstrating the stringent nature of Wisconsin’s coercion defense, COA affirms the circuit court’s decision that the defense did not apply to Stetzer’s conduct, notwithstanding a medley of uniquely sympathetic facts. At a court trial for… Read more
State v. Asif Ahmed, 2023AP1796, 3/14/24, District IV (one-judge appeal; ineligible for publication); case activity Ahmed raises a few different arguments challenging the circuit court’s decision that he improperly refused to submit to a OWI blood draw, but the court of appeals rejects them all, agrees probable cause existed to arrest Ahmed for OWI, and… Read more
State v. Nicholas Allen Paulson, 2022AP186, 2/21/24, District III (1-judge decision, ineligible for publication); case activity Although Paulson tries to establish that police did not have probable cause to arrest him despite, among other evidence, a PBT reading of .198, COA affirms. Paulson called 911 to report that his wife had jumped out of their… Read more
State v. David A. Schultz, 2022AP1622, 2/13/24, District III (not recommended for publication); case activity Schultz’s technical challenge to this OWI conviction fails, as COA finds sufficient evidence that the bar parking lot in which Schultz operated his motor vehicle was covered by the OWI statute. Schultz tried to leave the “Bull Pen Bar” and… Read more
City of Sheboygan Falls v. Wesley Scot Melton, 2023AP1183, 1/24/24, District II (one-judge decision; ineligible for publication); case activity COA finds the City established sufficient evidence that Melton failed to stop for a school bus and therefore affirms. Melton appeals his citation under § 346.48(1), which requires drivers to stop “not less than 20 feet”… Read more
City of Watertown v. Andrew D. Wiest, 2023AP992, 2/15/24, District IV (one-judge decision; ineligible for publication); case activity Although Wiest faults the City for failing to prove that he operated his motor vehicle while intoxicated, COA is satisfied there was sufficient circumstantial proof and affirms. Wiest’s legal troubles began when an officer spotted his truck… Read more
State v. Dustin J. VanderGalien, 2023AP890-CR, 12/29/23, District 4 (recommended for publication); case activity VanderGalien pled no contest to three counts stemming from a fatal motor vehicle crash after a non-impairing cocaine metabolite (benzoylecgonine or “BE”) was detected in his blood hours after the incident. The court of appeals rejects his facial challenge to the… Read more
