court of appeals certification request; certification granted 2/25/13; case activity (Seaton); case activity (Pinno) Issue Presented (from Certification): Is the failure to object to the closure of a public trial to be analyzed upon appellate review under the “forfeiture standard” or the “waiver standard”? As suggested, in each of these consolidated cases the trial judge barred the… Read more
L. Harmless Error
La Crosse Co. DHS v. Kristle S., 2012AP2005, District 4, 11/21/12 court of appeals decision (1-judge, ineligible for publication); case activity The parent was given a meaningful opportunity to cross-examine the social worker with respect to conditions for the children’s return, in that the trial court permitted extensive questioning on these issues before instructing counsel to pursue a different… Read more
on review of published decision; case activity Issue (composed by on Point) Whether sentencing reliance on inaccurate information (here, misapprehension of mandatory minimum incarceration) is structural error. Travis pleaded guilty to an offense that all concerned (defense, prosecution, sentencing court) wrongly thought carried a 5-year mandatory minimum (largely due to confusion about the particular offense Travis… Read more
State v. Michael Anthony Lock, 2012 WI App 99 (recommended for publication); case activity Other-Acts Evidence Lock was tried and convicted for homicide, kidnapping and possession with intent to deliver. The State elicited testimony from numerous witnesses to the effect that Lock headed a vast criminal enterprise, of which these crimes were a part in… Read more
State v. Randy L. Martin, 2012 WI 96, reversing unpublished decision; case activity Miranda – “Custodial Interrogation” Martin was arrested for disorderly conduct and handcuffed at the scene of an otherwise unrelated incident (¶6, id. n. 6). Search of his car yielded a gun. When an officer asked him, Martin denied ownership. The officer then prepared to arrest Henry… Read more
State v. Roshawn Smith, 2012 WI 91, reversing in part, affirming in part unpublished decision; case activity Standard of Review: Sufficiency of Evidence ¶29 We understand Smith’s central argument regarding the standard of review on the evidentiary question to be summed up in the proposition that a jury verdict of guilt[9] must be reversed on appeal if “[t]he inferences that… Read more
State v. Joel Joseph Lobermeier, 2012 WI App 77 (recommended for publication); for Lobermeier: Andrea Taylor Cornwall, SPD, Milwaukee Appellate; case activity Appellate Procedure – Waiver – Jury Instructions Failure to object to a jury instruction amounts to a failure to preserve for review an asserted objection, which must therefore be reviewed in the context… Read more
court of appeals certification; for Taylor: Shelley Fite, SPD, Madison Appellate; case activity; prior post Issue (from Certification): Whether understating the potential penalty during a plea colloquy can properly be deemed harmless error, and if so, where in the analytical framework of Bangert such a determination should be made. The guilty plea court misinformed Taylor that the maximum… Read more
