By: Derek Hawkins//November 13, 2019//
WI Court of Appeals – District III
Case Name: State of Wisconsin v. Jude W. Giles
Case No.: 2018AP1967-CR
Officials: STARK, P.J.
Focus: Exclusion of Evidence – Expert Testimony
Jude Giles appeals a judgment, entered following a jury trial, convicting him of operating a motor vehicle while intoxicated (OWI), as a second offense. Giles argues the circuit court violated his constitutional right to present a defense when it prohibited him from introducing at trial the results of a preliminary breath test (PBT), along with expert witness testimony that relied on those results. We conclude the court properly prevented Giles from presenting this evidence. The PBT results were clearly inadmissible under WIS. STAT. § 343.303, and our supreme court previously determined in a case involving similar facts that excluding expert testimony based on PBT results did not violate the defendant’s constitutional right to present a defense. See State v. Fischer, 2010 WI 6, 322 Wis. 2d 265, 778 N.W.2d 629, superseded by statute on other grounds, see State v. Jones, 2018 WI 44, ¶¶6-7, 381 Wis. 2d 284, 911 N.W.2d 97. We therefore affirm Giles’ judgment of conviction.