Ineffective Assistance of Counsel

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WI Court of Appeals – District I

Case Name: State of Wisconsin v. Steven L, Buckingham

Case No.: 2017AP1852-CR

Officials: DUGAN, J.

Focus: Ineffective Assistance of Counsel

Steven L. Buckingham appeals from the judgment of conviction, following a jury trial, convicting him of one count of first-degree reckless injury with use of a dangerous weapon, and two counts of felony bail jumping. He also appeals the order denying his postconviction motion.

On appeal, Buckingham argues that trial counsel was ineffective because trial counsel: (1) failed to object to testimony about two handguns that were unrelated to the charges; (2) failed to obtain the testimony of a police officer who would have testified that the victim initially said he did not know who shot him; (3) failed to object to an in-court identification by a witness who failed to identify Buckingham in a photo array; (4) failed to object to a detective’s nonresponsive hearsay testimony that a person whose DNA was found on a T-shirt said he knew Buckingham; and (5) failed to alert the jury to the lack of corroborative evidence regarding the alleged motive for the shooting, a feud on Facebook. Buckingham maintains that he was prejudiced by each of these deficiencies and by their cumulative effect. He also contends that he is entitled to postconviction discovery.

We assume, without deciding, that the alleged failures constituted deficient performance. However, we conclude that based on the strong identification evidence Buckingham has not established that he was prejudiced by them. We also conclude that Buckingham has not established that he is entitled to postconviction discovery. Therefore, we affirm the judgment and order.

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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.