5th Amendment Violation

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WI Court of Appeals – District I

Case Name: State of Wisconsin v. Marquis D. Walls

Case No.: 2017AP1600-CR

Officials: Brennan, Brash and Dugan, JJ.

Focus: 5^th Amendment Violation

Marquis D. Walls appeals a judgment of conviction, entered on a jury’s verdict, for attempting to flee or elude a traffic officer.  He also appeals the denial of his postconviction motion.

On appeal, Walls contends that when he exercised his right of allocution at sentencing, the trial court violated his Fifth Amendment right against self-incrimination by pressuring him to admit guilt and then used his failure to do so to impose a harsher sentence. We conclude that the record establishes the following: (1) prior to sentencing Walls had already admitted that he was guilty of fleeing the police; (2) the trial court’s questions were directed towards obtaining information about Walls’ character; (3) the trial court properly considered the Gallion factors in sentencing Walls; and (4) Walls that the trial court imposed a harsher sentence because he failed to explain why he fled the police.  Therefore, we affirm.

The following facts provide context for the issues raised in this appeal. We refer to additional facts in the discussion.

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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.