Evidence — expert testimony — prior convictions

Evidence — expert testimony — prior convictions

Olu A. Rhodes appeals a judgment entered after a jury found him guilty of first-degree intentional homicide as party to a crime, see Wis. Stat. §§ 940.01(1)(a) & 939.05, and first-degree recklessly endangering safety as party to a crime, see Wis. Stat. §§ 941.30(1) & 939.05. This case was here before, and we reversed and remanded for a new trial because we concluded that the trial court had improperly truncated Rhodes’s right of cross-examination. State v. Rhodes, 2009AP25, unpublished slip op., 2010 WL 2671289 (WI App July 7, 2010). The supreme court disagreed and reversed. State v. Rhodes, 2011 WI 73, ¶¶3–4, ___ Wis. 2d ___, ___, 799 N.W.2d 850, 853. It has directed us to consider Rhodes’s remaining contentions, which we now do. He contends that the trial court: (1) erroneously allowed a State witness to give expert testimony for which, he argues, she was not qualified; (2) erroneously did not grant a mistrial motion when the State, in its closing argument, told the jury that cellular telephone records showed that Rhodes was at the scene of the shootings; and (3) erroneously excluded evidence that the victim who survived had once been convicted of driving without a license. We affirm.

Publication in the official reports is not recommended.

2009AP25-CR State v. Rhodes

Dist I, Milwaukee County, McMahon, J., Fine, J.

Attorneys: For Appellant: Grau, John J., Waukesha; For Respondent: Kassel, Jeffrey J., Madison; Loebel, Karen A., Milwaukee; Weber, Gregory M., Madison

Full Text