By: Derek Hawkins//September 15, 2020//
WI Court of Appeals – District III
Case Name: State of Wisconsin v. Frank Tyrone Whitehead
Case No.: 2018AP83
Officials: Stark, P.J., Hruz and Seidl, JJ.
Focus: Postconviction Relief – Ineffective Assistance of Counsel
Frank Whitehead, pro se, appeals from the circuit court’s denial of his WIS. STAT. § 974.06 (2017-18)1 postconviction motion without a hearing. We conclude all claims Whitehead attempts to raise are barred. Whitehead’s briefs on appeal are very difficult to follow. We construe his arguments to reassert five claims raised in his WIS. STAT. § 974.06 motion and supplements. We conclude one claim is barred as having been previously litigated. See § 974.06(4); State v. Witkowski, 163 Wis. 2d 985, 990, 473 N.W.2d 512 (Ct. App. 1991). The remaining four claims are barred because Whitehead cannot show that these claims are clearly stronger than the claims postconviction counsel raised during the direct appeal. See State v. Romero-Georgana, 2014 WI 83, ¶4, 360 Wis. 2d 522, 849 N.W.2d 668. Consequently, we affirm.