on bypass petition; for Nordberg: Donald T. Lang, SPD, Madison Appellate; case activity
Issue:
Whether someone under ch. 980 commitment as a sexually violent person bears the burden of proving by clear and convincing evidence the criteria for granting supervised release under § 980.08(4).
The court of appeals held, in State v. Rachel, 2010 WI App 60, 324 Wis. 2d 465, 782 N.W.2d 443, that the statute indeed placed this burden on the SVP. This appeal aims to overturn that result. Nordberg argues that the legislative scheme doesn’t place the supervised-release burden of proof on the SVP at all, let alone by clear and convincing evidence. Instead, he argues, “the decision whether to grant supervised release should be a guided discretionary determination made by the trial judge based on all the available evidence.”
