State v. Evan Zimmerman, 2003 WI App 196, (AG) PFR filed 9/10/03
For Zimmerman: Keith A. Findley, UW Law School
Issue/Holding: Although “most of the persuasive evidence against” Zimmerman was his own statements and alibi; and although a conviction may not be based solely on a negative inference drawn from the defendant’s own version, other evidence sufficiently supported the conviction, including: “evidence of his obsessive behavior, such as his diary and his appearance at bars and other places where Thompson was present after their breakup”; “Zimmerman’s knowledge of the location of Thompson’s body and her cause of death”; and “(o)ne of Thompson’s hairs … found in a brush in Zimmerman’s van. A reasonable inference is that the hair came from Thompson on the night of the murder.” ¶¶28-31.
