NGI Plea Withdrawal

Listen to this article

WI Supreme Court

Case Name: State of Wisconsin v. Corey R. Fugere

Case No.: 2019 WI 33

Focus: NGI Plea Withdrawal

This is a review of a published decision of the court of appeals, State v. Fugere, 2018 WI App 24, 381 Wis. 2d 142, 911 N.W.2d 127, affirming the Chippewa County circuit court’s order. The circuit court’s order denied Corey R. Fugere’s (“Fugere”) motion to withdraw his plea of not guilty by reason of mental disease or defect (“NGI”), which was based on the circuit court providing inaccurate information to Fugere concerning the maximum period of civil commitment should he prevail on his affirmative defense to the criminal charges. The court of appeals affirmed the circuit court, and we affirm the court of appeals.

We conclude that a circuit court is not required to inform an NGI defendant of the maximum possible term of civil commitment at the guilt phase: (1) because a defendant who prevails at the responsibility phase of the NGI proceeding has proven an affirmative defense in a civil proceeding, avoiding incarceration, and is not waiving any constitutional rights by so proceeding in that defense; and (2) because an NGI commitment is not punishment, but rather a collateral consequence to one who successfully mounts an NGI defense to criminal charges. We therefore decline to exercise our superintending and administrative authority to require circuit courts to advise NGI defendants of the maximum period of civil commitment.

Fugere also requests that this court conclude that the circuit court’s error was not harmless with respect to the misinformation provided to him concerning potential civil consequences should he prevail in his defense. The circuit court here provided accurate information to Fugere regarding the maximum possible term of imprisonment but inaccurate information regarding commitment, so we thus address whether the circuit court’s error otherwise entitles Fugere to withdraw his NGI plea. We conclude that the circuit court’s error was harmless because it was unrelated to the guilt phase of the NGI defense, and instead, the inaccurate information pertained to the potential civil commitment at the responsibility phase. Additionally, Fugere received the benefit of his plea agreement with the State and otherwise understood the consequences of prevailing on an NGI defense as he was already civilly committed for an unrelated charge. Thus, there was no manifest injustice, and we affirm the court of appeals.

Affirmed

Concur:

Dissent: A.W. BRADLEY, J. dissents, joined by ABRAHAMSON, J. and DALLET, J. (opinion filed).

Full Text

Derek A Hawkins is trademark corporate counsel for Harley-Davidson. Hawkins oversees the prosecution and maintenance of the Harley-Davidson’s international trademark portfolio in emerging markets.