Joseph J. Jordan v. Randall R. Hepp, 7th Circuit Court of Appeals No. 14-3613, 2016 WL 4119862, 8/3/16 Jordan claims the Wisconsin courts unreasonably applied clearly established federal law when they held that he was not denied the right to represent himself and that his trial lawyer was not ineffective for failing to object to… Read more
A. Right to counsel
Rashaad A. Imani v. William Pollard, 7th Circuit Court of Appeals No. 14-3407, 2016 WL 3434673, 6/22/16 Imani tried to exercise his right to self-representation under Faretta v. California, 422 U.S. 806 (1975), but the Wisconsin trial judge prevented him from doing so. In State v. Imani, 2010 WI 66, 326 Wis. 2d 179, 786 N.W.2d… Read more
Sila Luis v. United States, USSC No. 14-419, 2016 WL 1228690 (March 30, 2016), vacating and remanding U.S. v. Luis, 564 Fed. Appx. 493 (11th Cir. 2014) (per curiam) (unpublished); Scotusblog page (including links to briefs and commentary) The question presented in this case is whether the pretrial restraint of a criminal defendant’s legitimate, untainted assets—that is… Read more
State v. Joseph William Netzer, 2015AP213, District 4, 10/29/15 (one-judge decision; ineligible for publication); case activity ¶1 …. Netzer argues on appeal that he received ineffective assistance of counsel, was denied his constitutional right to a jury trial, and that the results of his blood tests were impermissibly admitted into evidence. We conclude… Read more
State v. Ennis Lee Brown, 2015AP522-CR, District 1, 10/9/15 (not recommended for publication); case activity (including briefs) The 14½-month delay in trying Brown didn’t violate his right to a speedy trial, as “all of the delays are attributable to the defense, and most are attributable to Brown’s poor behavior and inability to work with his… Read more
Wayne Kubsch v. Ron Neal, 7th Circuit Court of Appeals No. 14-1898, 8/12/15 After being convicted of murdering his wife, her son, and her ex-husband, Kubsch was sentenced to death. He challenged his conviction and sentence in a federal habeas proceeding on three grounds: (1) the Indiana trial court excluded evidence of a witness’s exculpatory hearsay… Read more
Laderian McGhee v. Michael A. Dittmann, 7th Circuit Court of Appeals No. 14-1763, 7/22/15 The Wisconsin Court of Appeals reasonably applied federal law in rejecting McGhee’s claim that he was denied the right to self-representation under Faretta v. California, 422 U.S. 806 (1975). McGhee tried to discharge his trial lawyer on the morning of trial… Read more
Attorney Chis Donovan posted some interesting research on WACDL’s listserv last week. He was looking into what constitutes a “critical stage” of a criminal prosecution at which the defendant is entitled to counsel. He cautioned readers to “key cite” the cases before using them. On Point includes Donovan’s list here and has indexed it so… Read more
