State v. J.D.B., 2023AP715-CR, 9/10/24, District I (recommended for publication); case activity In a recommended-for-publication decision, COA wholly endorses all of J.D.B.’s arguments requiring a high burden of proof when the State seeks an involuntary medication order in order to render a defendant competent to stand trial. Along the way, COA offers a bevy of… Read more
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July brought another bevy of interesting cases. As usual, we’ve tried to select those most relevant to our audience: United States of America v. Zebulon Xavier Marzette, No. 23-1646: Marzette tries to attack his conviction for possession of a firearm as a felon by challenging the DNA evidence which allegedly showed he had touched that firearm… Read more
State v. Terron Anthony Clayborn, 2023AP283-CR, 8/20/24, District I (not recommended for publication); case activity In a case presenting a common postconviction fact pattern alleging an improper promise by counsel, COA affirms despite postconviction testimony largely corroborating the defendant’s account. Clayborn pleaded guilty to two felonies following a fatal accident. (¶1). In exchange for his… Read more
State v. Percy Antione Robinson, 2020AP1728-CR, 8/6/24, District I (recommended for publication); case activity In a published decision that criminal practitioners have been waiting on for years, COA holds that a CR-215 probable cause procedure used to satisfy the requirements of Riverside triggers the attachment of the Sixth Amendment right to counsel. The facts in this… Read more
State v. Kruckenberg Anderson, 2023AP396-CR, 7/25/24, District IV (recommended for publication); case activity The tragic death of a newborn baby in the bucolic countryside of southwest Wisconsin prompted aggressive interrogation techniques by law enforcement that the Court of Appeals considered coercive in light of the suspect’s age of 16. But the court found that a… Read more
Dane County v. J.B., 2024AP985, 7/25/24, District IV (one-judge decision; ineligible for publication); case activity Because J.B.’s request that COA reweigh the dispositional factors in her favor is precluded by governing case law, COA affirms. There really isn’t much to say about this TPR appeal. J.B. lost custody of her child following allegations of neglect… Read more
In the Wisconsin Lawyer, Retired Milwaukee County Circuit Court Judge Christopher R. Foley has an insightful piece titled “Left in the Dark: State v. A.G. & Burden of Proof in Involuntary TPR Dispositional Hearings.” The article contains an interesting analysis of the current state of the law, along with some arguments Judge Foley believes have… Read more
Karl W. Nichols v. Lance Wiersma, No. 22-3059, 7/16/24 In a complicated case that contains many harsh lessons about the standards applicable to habeas petitions, the Seventh Circuit affirms an order denying habeas relief as the exculpatory value of unpreserved evidence was not “apparent.” (Note that our prior post about COA’s decision can be found… Read more
