By: Derek Hawkins//July 26, 2017//
WI Court of Appeals – District IV
Case Name: State of Wisconsin v. Andrei R. Byrd
Case No.: 2014AP2721-CR
Officials: Higginbotham, Sherman and Blanchard, JJ
Focus: Court Error – Jury Instructions and Sufficiency of Evidence
While he was attending a house party in Rockford, Illinois, Andrei Byrd engaged in conduct that led to his arrest by local police on a charge of assault under Illinois criminal law. Before the Illinois arrest, Byrd had been released from custody in Rock County, Wisconsin, pending disposition on two felonies allegedly committed in Rock County. Based on Byrd’s Illinois conduct, he was charged in this Rock County case with four counts of felony bail jumping for allegedly violating two conditions of his Rock County bonds. More specifically, for each pending Rock County felony, he was charged with one count of bail jumping for committing a new crime (through the conduct that led to his Illinois arrest) and one count of bail jumping for leaving Rock County. At trial, the jury found Byrd guilty on all four counts of felony bail jumping.
On appeal, Byrd challenges the two bail jumping convictions based on the allegation that Byrd committed a new crime. Specifically, Byrd contends that the circuit court erred in instructing the jury using Wisconsin’s definitions of disorderly conduct and attempted battery to define the new crime. Separately, Byrd contends that there was insufficient evidence that he committed new crimes. In addition, Byrd argues that he received the ineffective assistance of trial counsel, in three respects, which we summarize below. For the following reasons, we affirm.