15. Evidence

State v. Daniel L. Schmidt, 2016 WI App 45; case activity (including briefs) The court of appeals rejects three challenges to Schmidt’s jury-trial conviction of two homicides. Schmidt first asserts that the evidence was insufficient to convict him as to one of the homicides, though not the other. After a lengthy recitation of the substantial evidence… Read more

Lawyers tracking how Wisconsin’s appellate courts are interpreting Wis. Stat. § 907.02(1), governing the admissibility of expert testimony, might be interested in this development. Seifert v. Balnik, the first Daubert case to reach SCOW was on track to be decided this term. It was twice listed for, and twice removed from, the oral argument schedule. According… Read more

State v. Andrew G. Chitwood, 2016 WI App 36; case activity (including briefs) In theory, Wisconsin’s new test for the admissibility of expert testimony “is flexible but has teeth.” State v. Giese, ¶19. In practice, it’s flexible and has dentures. Literally every Daubert challenge litigated on appeal since Wis. Stat. §907.02 became effective has failed. The court… Read more

State v. Luis Calderon-Encarnacion, Jr., 2014AP2252-CR, 04/12/2016 (not recommended for publication); case activity (including briefs) Calderon was found guilty at trial of shooting up the house of his child’s mother. The evidence against him included the fact that he was pulled over 20 minutes after the shooting in a vehicle matching an eyewitness description of the shooter’s… Read more

State v. Tony Phillip Rogers, 2015AP921-CR, 4/12/16, District 1 (not recommended for publication); case activity (including briefs) Though the complainant in Rogers’s child sexual assault prosecution made statements to her mother about “hearing voices” and needing mental health assistance, trial counsel was not deficient for failing to move for an in camera review of her… Read more

State v. Raymond L. Nieves, 2014AP1623-CR, 4/5/16, District 1 (recommended for publication, but not published); petition for review granted 9/13/16; case activity (including briefs). This case explores the line between Bruton v. U.S., 391 U.S. 123 (1968)(which holds that at a joint trial the confession of one defendant is inadmissible against the co-defendant unless the confessing… Read more

State v. Esequiel Morales-Pedrosa, 2016 WI App 38; case activity (including briefs) The case law prohibiting vouching by one witness for the credibility of another witness didn’t clearly cover a forensic interviewer’s testimony that 90% of child sexual assault reports are true. Thus, trial counsel wasn’t deficient for failing to object to the testimony. At Morales-Pedrosa’s trial for… Read more