Abuse of Discretion – Jury Instructions

Listen to this article

WI Court of Appeals – District III

Case Name: State of Wisconsin v. Charles Rip Ridley

Case No.: 2021AP001468-CR

Officials: Stark, P.J., Hruz and Gill, JJ.

Focus: Abuse of Discretion – Jury Instructions

Ridley appeals from a judgment of conviction, following a jury trial, for second-degree sexual assault with use of force, aggravated battery with intent to cause great bodily harm, false imprisonment, and first-degree recklessly endangering safety, all as a domestic abuse repeater and with a domestic abuse enhancer. At trial, Ridley moved for a mistrial after an inadmissible photograph was momentarily published to the jury and the victim testified that Ridley had previously choked her, which violated the circuit court’s previous ruling on other-acts evidence. The court denied Ridley’s motion.

Ridley makes three arguments on appeal: (1) the circuit court erred by failing to strike a prospective juror for cause based on the juror’s subjective bias – any error in failing to strike the prospective juror for cause was harmless beyond a reasonable doubt. (2) the court erred by denying Ridley’s motion for a mistrial – the appeals court ruled that the court did not erroneously exercise its discretion by denying Ridley’s request for a mistrial.; and (3) in addition to the above-mentioned violation of the court’s other-acts ruling, the victim’s reference to Ridley’s previous incarceration also violated the court’s ruling on other-acts evidence and was prejudicial –  the appeals court ruled that the testimony about Ridley’s incarceration both seems to duplicate “untainted evidence” and was also not “important” within the broader case.

Affirmed.

Decided 12/29/22

Full Text