By: WISCONSIN LAW JOURNAL STAFF//October 7, 2014//
Wisconsin Court of Appeals
Criminal
Evidence – relevance — harmless error
Albert Lorenzo Finch, Sr., appeals the judgment convicting him of knowingly violating a domestic abuse injunction. He contends that the trial court erred when it admitted at trial a recording of a 911 cell phone call by R.I., the woman who had obtained a domestic abuse injunction against him. Because the admission of the 911 recording is immaterial and irrelevant to the actual charge for which Finch was found guilty, and because there is ample other evidence supporting the conviction, any error resulting from the admission of the 911 call was harmless. Therefore, we leave for another day the determination of whether calls such as this one are testimonial, and the judgment is affirmed. This opinion will not be published.
Dist I, Milwaukee County, Dallet, J., Curley, P.J.
Attorneys: For Appellant: Marion, Colleen, Madison; For Respondent: Loebel, Karen A., Milwaukee; O’Byrne, Karine E., Milwaukee