Court Error – Testimony

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WI Court of Appeals – District

Case Name: State of Wisconsin v. Tyshun DeMichael Young

Case No.: 2016AP657-CR

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

Focus: Court Error – Testimony

Tyshun DeMichael Young appeals from a judgment of conviction, entered on a jury verdict, for one count of attempted first- degree intentional homicide and one count of first-degree recklessly endangering safety with use of a dangerous weapon. Young was charged in connection with a shooting on November 10, 2013, that injured the targeted person, Adam, and his sister, Beth, who was standing nearby. Young seeks to have his conviction vacated on the grounds that the trial court erred when it permitted the jury to hear testimony that exactly one year prior to Adam’s shooting, Adam had been present when Young’s brother, Wendall Watson (Wendall), was killed in a shooting. Young argues this is error because the correlation to the one-year anniversary is irrelevant and because the risk of unfair prejudice outweighs any probative value. We conclude that the trial court applied the proper standard of law to the facts of this case, and its decision to allow the jury to hear about the shooting that occurred on the same day the prior year was reasonable. We further conclude that even if the decision was error, the error was harmless. Therefore we affirm.

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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.