State v. Alijouwon T. Watkins, 2019AP1996-CR, 5/27/21, District 4 (recommended for publication); case activity (including briefs) The state charged Watkins with several crimes stemming from a domestic violence call: these included escape and battery to one of the police officers who arrested him. While Watkins was in jail, the state charged him with three more… Read more
L. Newly-discovered evidence
State v. Andre L. Thornton, 2018AP871-CR, 3/26/19, District 1 (not recommended for publication); case activity (including briefs) A jury convicted Thornton of 1st degree reckless homicide, party to a crime. On appeal he argued that Lee, one of the State’s witnesses, had perjured himself 10 years earlier in an unrelated, federal case. Thornton requested a… Read more
State v. Danny L. Wilber, 2016AP260, 12/26/18, District 1 (not recommend for publication); case activity (including briefs) “This case involves a dual tragedy: the death of one innocent man and the conviction of another.” (Initial Brief at 1). Not one of the many eyewitnesses to this homicide, which occurred during a large house party, saw… Read more
State v. Desmond Anthony Mattis, 2016AP982, 3/28/17, District 3 (one-judge decision; ineligible for publication); case activity (including state’s brief) Desmond Mattis raises three issues in this appeal of the circuit court’s denial of his Wis. Stat. § 974.06 motion. The court of appeals rejects them seriatim. Mattis first claims to have newly discovered evidence relating… Read more
State v. Landris T. Jines, 2014AP132, District 1, 9/30/14 (not recommended for publication); case activity The recantations of Bartee, the victim, and Griffin, another state’s witness, don’t satisfy the newly-discovered evidence test because they are not sufficiently corroborated. Nor is there a reasonable probability a different result would be reached in a new trial with the recantation evidence… Read more
State v. Haven Pettigrew, 2012AP1860-CR, District 2/1, 7/2/13; court of appeals decision (not recommended for publication); case activity Reference to right against self-incrimination Defense counsel revealed her theory of defense for the first time in her opening statement. During direct examination of the lead detective if that was the first time he had heard that… Read more
State v. Edward Devon Smart, 2012AP1178-CR, District 1, 5/7/13; court of appeals decision (not recommended for publication); case activity Smart is not entitled to plea withdrawal based on co-actor’s testimony that he coerced Smart to commit the crime because the coercion evidence could have been presented using other witnesses known to defendant before he entered… Read more
State v. Douglas J. Plude, 2008 WI 58 reversing unpublished decision For Plude: Stephen D. Willett Issue/Holding: ¶36 We conclude that in a trial rife with conflicting and inconclusive medical expert testimony about a case the circuit court observed was based on “circumstantial evidence,” there exists a reasonable probability that, had the jury discovered that Shaibani lied about… Read more