Statutory Competency

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WI Supreme Court

Case Name: State of Wisconsin v. Shaun M. Sanders

Case No.: 2018 WI 51

Focus: Statutory Competency

This is a review of a published decision of the court of appeals affirming the Waukesha County Circuit Court’s judgment of conviction and order denying postconviction relief to Shaun Sanders. State v. Sanders, 2017 WI App 22, 375 Wis. 2d 248, 895 N.W.2d 41. Sanders raises a single issue for our review: do circuit courts possess statutory competency to proceed in criminal matters when the adult defendant was charged for conduct he committed before his tenth birthday?

We hold that circuit courts possess statutory competency to proceed in criminal matters when the adult defendant was charged for conduct he committed before his tenth birthday. The defendant’s age at the time he was charged, not his age at the time he committed the underlying conduct, determines whether the circuit court has statutory competency to hear his case as a criminal, juvenile delinquency, or JIPS matter. Consequently, the circuit court in this case possessed statutory competency to hear Sanders’ case as a criminal matter because he was an adult at the time he was charged. Therefore, his counsel did not perform deficiently by failing to raise a meritless motion. Accordingly, we affirm the court of appeals.

Affirmed

Concur: A.W. BRADLEY, J., concurs, joined by ABRAHAMSON, J. (opinion filed).

Dissent:

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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.