Criminal Procedure – right to present defense – ineffective assistance

Wisconsin Court of Appeals

Criminal

Criminal Procedure – right to present defense – ineffective assistance

APPEAL from a judgment and an order of the circuit court for Milwaukee County:  ELLEN R. BROSTROM, Judge.  Affirmed.

A jury found Edward Santiago Kuchinskas guilty of two counts of physical abuse of a child and one count of child neglect.  The victim was his nine-week-old son, O.K.  Kuchinskas appeals the judgment of conviction and the postconviction order denying him a new trial.  He claims that the circuit court violated his constitutional right to present a defense by excluding evidence that Erin Sabady, O.K.’s mother, had a history of substance abuse, and by excluding evidence that O.K. was born addicted to heroin.  Kuchinskas further claims that his trial counsel was ineffective in seeking admission of the excluded evidence, that he is entitled to a postconviction hearing to explore his allegations of trial counsel’s ineffectiveness, and that he should receive a new trial in the interests of justice.  We reject his contentions and affirm.

2013AP001100-CR State v. Edward Santiago Kuchinskas

DISTRICT I; Milwaukee County; ELLEN R. BROSTROM; Kessler, J., Brennan, J., Thomas Cane

Attorneys: For Appellant: Bizzaro, Amelia L. For Respondent: Loebel, Karen A., Larson, Sara Lynn

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