By: Derek Hawkins//September 29, 2021//
WI Court of Appeals – District II
Case Name: State of Wisconsin v. Wayne D. Herbes
Case No.: 2019AP2081-CR
Officials: Neubauer, C.J., Gundrum and Davis, JJ.
Focus: Admission of Evidence – Other-acts Evidence
Wayne Herbes appeals from a judgment of conviction for three counts of first-degree sexual assault of a child and an order denying his postconviction motion. The charges related to Herbes having sexual contact with his then-girlfriend’s granddaughter in 2011. Herbes argues the circuit court erroneously admitted at trial other acts evidence in the form of testimony from his adoptive daughter that Herbes had molested her hundreds of times between 1976 and 1981, when she was between the ages of five and ten. Herbes also argues his trial attorney was constitutionally ineffective for failing to more thoroughly mitigate the impact of the other acts evidence. We reject Herbes’ arguments and affirm.