Sexually Violent Persons – Expert testimony

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Wisconsin Supreme Court

Criminal

Sexually Violent Persons – Expert testimony

The Daubert evidentiary standard does not apply to discharge petitions, where the initial confinement action commenced prior to February 1, 2011.

“We conclude that the Daubert evidentiary standard under Wis. Stat. § 907.02(1) does not apply to expert testimony in Alger’s and Knipfer’s Wis. Stat. ch. 980 discharge petition trials because their discharge petitions did not ‘commence’ ‘actions’ or ‘special proceedings.’ The Daubert standard applies to ‘actions’ or ‘special proceedings’ commenced on or after February 1, 2011. The original Chapter 980 commitments here began several years before the Daubert standard was adopted, and although Alger’s and Knipfer’s petitions seek relief from those original commitments, those filings do not constitute the ‘commencement’ of an ‘action’ or a ‘special proceeding.’ We also conclude that because the legislature had a rational basis for not applying the Daubert evidentiary standard to expert testimony in post-Daubert Chapter 980 discharge petitions that seek relief from pre-Daubert Chapter 980 commitments, no violation of equal protection or due process occurred.”

Affirmed.

2013AP225 & 2013AP578 State v. Alger

Ziegler, J.

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