State v. Randall Ray Madison, 2015AP451-CR & 2015AP452-CR, District 1, 8/11/15 (one-judge decision; ineligible for publication); case activity (including briefs) Madison, who was charged with violating a domestic abuse injunction obtained against him by L.M., wanted to testify that L.M. “stalks me.” (¶5). The trial court properly exercised its discretion in excluding this testimony. ¶11 … Read more
A. General provisions, Ch. 901
State v. Aaron Schaffhausen, 2014AP2370-CR, District 3, 7/14/15 (not recommended for publication); case activity (including briefs) It was error for the circuit court to tell jurors at the mental-responsibility phase of Schaffhausen’s NGI trial that they would decide whether a defense psychiatrist and psychologist were qualified as expert witnesses, but the error was harmless. In addition, the circuit court… Read more
State v. Kyle R. Christoffersen, 2014AP1282, District 2, 1/28/15 (1-judge decision; ineligible for publication); case activity The judge at Christoffersen’s refusal hearing didn’t violate Christoffersen’s due process rights when it limited cross-examination about the arresting officer’s training on, and administration of, field sobriety tests and refused to allow Christoffersen to make an offer of proof by questioning the… Read more
State v. George R. Ferrell, Appeal No. 2012AP2602, 9/26/13, (1-judge; ineligible for publication); case activity A state trooper does not need evidence such as odors, admissions or containers to have probable cause to arrest for OWI. These facts will do the trick: ¶12 . . . [T]he State Patrol received several reports that Ferrell was… Read more
State v. Keith M. Bohannon, 2013 WI App 87; case activity Substitution of judge; “new” judge under § 971.20(5) When a case is reassigned from the original judge to a second judge and then reassigned again back to the first judge, the first judge is the “original” judge assigned to the case under § 971.20(4), not a “new”… Read more
Henderson v. United States, USSC No. 11-9307, reversing 646 F.3d 223 (5th Cir. 2011) When is plain really plain? That’s the plain and simple issue in this case. During trial, the district court decided a substantive legal question against the defendant. But while the case was on direct appeal, SCOTUS, in a separate case, settled… Read more
State v. Michael Perzel, III, 2011AP1190-CR, District 4, 12/1/11 court of appeals decision (1-judge, not for publication); for Perzel: Waring R. Fincke; case activity Blood test results are admissible without expert testimony to reflect a person’s bac at the time in question (in this OWI-related prosecution, at the time Perzel was driving), so long as… Read more
State v. Marvin L. Beauchamp, 2011 WI 27, affirming 2010 WI App 42; for Beauchamp: Craig S. Powell; case activity Confrontation – Dying Declaration, § 908.045(3) ¶34 We therefore, like every state court that has considered the dying declaration exception since Crawford, take a position consistent with the language of Crawford and Giles and decline… Read more
