Sufficiency of Evidence and Ineffective Assistance of Counsel

Listen to this article

WI Court of Appeals – District I

Case Name: State of Wisconsin v. James D. Carter

Case No.: 2016AP1054

Officials: Brennan, P.J., Kessler and Dugan, JJ.

Focus: Court Error – Sufficiency of Evidence and Ineffective Assistance of Counsel

James D. Carter appeals the judgment convicting him of the following sixteen counts: (1) armed robbery with threat of force (count one); (2) possession of a firearm by a felon (counts two, four, and five); (3) burglary (count three); (4) forgery by possession with intent to utter (counts ten and eleven); (5) forgery by uttering (counts thirteen, fifteen, seventeen, and nineteen); (6) attempted theft by false representation (count twelve); and (7) theft by false representation (counts fourteen, sixteen, eighteen, and twenty).  He also appeals the postconviction court’s denial of his postconviction motion.

Carter contends that the trial court erred in three respects: (1) count three, the burglary charge, was improperly joined with the other counts; (2) count five, the felon in possession of the firearm charge involving the assault-style rifle (assault-style rifle charge), should have been severed from the other counts against him because it caused unfair prejudice; and (3) there was insufficient evidence to support the conviction on the assault-style rifle charge. He also maintains that trial counsel failed to provide effective assistance for two reasons: (1) the severance motion pertaining to the burglary charge did not challenge joinder of that count, which prevented Carter from testifying on that charge; and (2) trial counsel did not file any severance motion pertaining to the assault-style rifle charge. We disagree and affirm.

Full Text

Attorney Derek A. Hawkins is the managing partner at Hawkins Law Offices LLC, where he heads up the firm’s startup law practice. He specializes in business formation, corporate governance, intellectual property protection, private equity and venture capital funding and mergers & acquisitions. Check out the website at www.hawkins-lawoffices.com or contact them at 262-737-8825.