State ex rel. Gregory S. Gorak v. Michael Meisner, Warden, 2017AP39, District 1, 2/27/18 (not recommended for publication); case activity (including briefs) The circuit court denied Gorak’s petition for a writ of habeas corpus after deciding it was procedurally barred because the issues it raised had already been litigated and decided. The court of appeals holds that… Read more
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Happily Wisconsin does not have the death penalty, so SCOTUS’s decision to grant cert in Madison v. Alabama, USSC No. 17-7505, is not directly relevant to our clients. But the issues for review, pasted in below are certainly interesting. Madison’s counsel of record is Bryan Stevenson of the Equal Justice Initiative. (1) Whether, consistent with… Read more
State v. Arthur Allen Freiboth, 2015AP2535-CR, District IV, 2/26/18; case activity (including briefs) Issue: …[W]e certify the present appeal to the Wisconsin Supreme Court to decide whether a defendant who was not advised at the time of the plea that he or she faced multiple mandatory DNA surcharges has grounds for plea withdrawal. Sound familiar… Read more
The supreme court’s Order 16-02A, 2017 WI 92, effective January 1, 2018, amends some rules of evidence that apply frequently in criminal cases: It clarifies the rule of completeness, § 901.07, by providing the rule is applicable to oral testimony as well as written testimony and to provide guidance on how and when to apply the rule. It revises… Read more
Rodney Class v. United States, USSC No. 16-424, 2018 WL 987347 (February 21, 2018), reversing United States v. Class, (unreported) (D.C. Cir. 2016); Scotusblog page (inlcuding links to briefs and commentary) “The question [in this case] is whether a guilty plea by itself bars a federal criminal defendant from challenging the constitutionality of the statute of conviction… Read more
City of Verona v. Edward A. Sieverding, 2017AP1813, 2/22/18, District 4 (one-judge decision; ineligible for publication); case activity Sieverding appeals, pro se, from his conviction of four civil offenses related to his first-offense OWI in Verona. After being found guilty in municipal court, he notified that court he was appealing to the circuit court–but he… Read more
State v. Lance P. Howard, 2017AP677-688-CR, 2/21/18, District 2 (1-judge opinion, ineligible for publication); case activity (including briefs) How to irritate the court of appeals. If you haven’t figure that out yet, read this opinion. Howard was sentenced to 1 year of initial confinement and 1 year of extended supervision for a misdemeanor in one… Read more
Manitowoc County Human Serv. Dep’t v. J.K., 2017AP2371, 2/21/18 (1-judge opinion, ineligible for publication); case activity If you handle TPR cases, this opinion is worth reading because the appellant raised creative arguments regarding, for example, the proper legal standard for summary judgment and a court’s ability to take judicial notice of its own records. She… Read more
