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Postconviction Relief-Sentence Modification

By: WISCONSIN LAW JOURNAL STAFF//May 2, 2023//

Postconviction Relief-Sentence Modification

By: WISCONSIN LAW JOURNAL STAFF//May 2, 2023//

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WI Court of Appeals – District I

Case Name: State of Wisconsin v. James J. Socha

Case No.: 2021AP001083-CR

Officials: White J.

Focus: Postconviction Relief-Sentence Modification

Socha, pro se, appeals from the trial and circuit courts’ orders denying his postconviction motions seeking sentence modification. In Socha’s first case on appeal, he was convicted, upon a guilty plea, for operating a motor vehicle while under the influence of an intoxicant (OWI) as a tenth or subsequent offense, which was committed in December 2004. In his second case on appeal, Socha was convicted, upon a jury’s verdict, for operating a motor vehicle while under the influence of an intoxicant (OWI) as a tenth or subsequent offense, which was committed in December 2008. Socha asserts in each case that the trial and circuit courts erred when it failed to modify his sentence after he presented evidence that multiple prior OWI convictions relied upon to impose his sentence had been vacated after he was sentenced. Although the appeals court rejects Socha’s contention that his sentences should be automatically modified by commuting his sentence pursuant to WIS. STAT. § 973.13,3 it concludes that Socha’s allegations that some of his prior OWI convictions were lawfully vacated after he was sentenced in these cases sufficiently alleged a new factor such that if he meets his burden to prove that some of his prior convictions were lawfully vacated, it may warrant sentence modification. The appeals court reverses the trial and circuit courts’ orders and remands with directions to reopen Socha’s motions for sentence modification and determine which, if any, of Socha’s prior OWI convictions were lawfully vacated and to exercise their discretion in imposing sentences within the range of the applicable subsections of WIS. STAT. § 346.65(2) based on the number of Socha’s prior OWI convictions after determining how many, if any, of his prior convictions have been lawfully vacated.

Affirmed.

Decided 04/25/23

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