State ex rel. Gregory S. Gorak v. Michael Meisner, Warden, 2017AP39, District 1, 2/27/18 (not recommended for publication); case activity (including briefs)
The circuit court denied Gorak’s petition for a writ of habeas corpus after deciding it was procedurally barred because the issues it raised had already been litigated and decided. The court of appeals holds that is not the case. [continue reading…]
Happily Wisconsin does not have the death penalty, so SCOTUS’s decision to grant cert in Madison v. Alabama, USSC No. 17-7505, is not directly relevant to our clients. But the issues for review, pasted in below are certainly interesting. Madison’s counsel of record is Bryan Stevenson of the Equal Justice Initiative.
(1) Whether, consistent with the Eighth Amendment, and the Supreme Court’s decisions in Ford v. Wainwright and Panetti v. Quarterman, a state may execute a prisoner whose mental disability leaves him with no memory of his commission of the capital offense; and
(2) Whether evolving standards of decency and the Eighth Amendment’s prohibition of cruel and unusual punishment bar the execution of a prisoner whose competency has been compromised by vascular dementia and multiple strokes causing severe cognitive dysfunction and a degenerative medical condition that prevents him from remembering the crime for which he was convicted or understanding the circumstances of his scheduled execution.
State v. Arthur Allen Freiboth, 2015AP2535-CR, District IV, 2/26/18; case activity (including briefs)
Issue:
…[W]e certify the present appeal to the Wisconsin Supreme Court to decide whether a defendant who was not advised at the time of the plea that he or she faced multiple mandatory DNA surcharges has grounds for plea withdrawal.
The supreme court’s Order 16-02A, 2017 WI 92, effective January 1, 2018, amends some rules of evidence that apply frequently in criminal cases: [continue reading…]
Rodney Class v. United States, USSC No. 16-424, 2018 WL 987347 (February 21, 2018), reversing United States v. Class, (unreported) (D.C. Cir. 2016); Scotusblog page (inlcuding links to briefs and commentary)
“The question [in this case] is whether a guilty plea by itself bars a federal criminal defendant from challenging the constitutionality of the statute of conviction on direct appeal. We hold that it does not. Class did not relinquish his right to appeal the District Court’s constitutional determinations simply by pleading guilty.” (Slip op. at 3). [continue reading…]
City of Verona v. Edward A. Sieverding, 2017AP1813, 2/22/18, District 4 (one-judge decision; ineligible for publication); case activity
Sieverding appeals, pro se, from his conviction of four civil offenses related to his first-offense OWI in Verona. After being found guilty in municipal court, he notified that court he was appealing to the circuit court–but he failed to notify the plaintiff in the action, the City of Verona. The City, though, was notified of the appeal when the municipal court sent it a copy of the notice of appeal via email. In the circuit court the city sought, and received, dismissal for lack of service, and Sieverding appeals. [continue reading…]
State v. Lance P. Howard, 2017AP677-688-CR, 2/21/18, District 2 (1-judge opinion, ineligible for publication); case activity (including briefs)
How to irritate the court of appeals. If you haven’t figure that out yet, read this opinion. [continue reading…]
Manitowoc County Human Serv. Dep’t v. J.K., 2017AP2371, 2/21/18 (1-judge opinion, ineligible for publication); case activity
If you handle TPR cases, this opinion is worth reading because the appellant raised creative arguments regarding, for example, the proper legal standard for summary judgment and a court’s ability to take judicial notice of its own records. She also lodged an “as applied” constitutional challenge to §48.415(6) regarding failure to assume parental responsibility. This decision has SCOW potential. [continue reading…]
