6th Amendment Violation – Confrontation Clause

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WI Court of Appeals – District II

Case Name: State of Wisconsin v. Oscar C. Thomas

Case No.: 2020AP32-CR

Officials: Neubauer, C.J., Reilly, P.J., and Davis, J.

Focus: 6^th Amendment Violation – Confrontation Clause

In 2007, Oscar C. Thomas was charged with first-degree intentional homicide, first-degree sexual assault, and false imprisonment in the death of his wife, Joyce. The autopsy revealed that Joyce died from “[s]trangulation due to physical assault.” Thomas was convicted of all three charges by a jury. He appealed, we affirmed, and our supreme court denied review. State v. Thomas, No. 2010AP1606-CR, unpublished slip op. ¶1 (WI App Nov. 9, 2011), review denied, 2012 WI 45, 340 Wis. 2d 542, 811 N.W.2d 818. Thomas pursued federal habeas corpus relief, Thomas v. Clements, 789 F.3d 760 (7th Cir. 2015),2 and was granted a new trial.

Thomas was retried in 2018, again convicted of all charges, and sentenced to life imprisonment. Thomas’s postconviction motion was denied by the circuit court, and he appeals from his judgment of conviction and from the order denying his postconviction motion. Thomas makes three main arguments: (1) the “corroboration rule” was violated, as the evidence for first-degree sexual assault consisted entirely of his uncorroborated statement; (2) his Confrontation Clause rights were violated when the court allowed the State to present inadmissible hearsay (testimonial DNA test results) to the jury via its cross-examination of his defense expert; and (3) his right to a fair and impartial jury was violated when the circuit court refused to strike a juror that was objectively biased. We address each of Thomas’s arguments below along with the facts relevant to that issue. We affirm.

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Derek A Hawkins is Corporate Counsel, at Salesforce.