Double Jeopardy-

WI Court of Supreme Court

Case Name: State of Wisconsin v. James P. Killian

Case No.: 2020AP002012-CR

Officials: Annette Kingsland Ziegler, C.J.

Focus: Double Jeopardy-

The Supreme Court reversed the court of appeals’ decision, which upheld the circuit court’s dismissal of a criminal complaint against the defendant on double jeopardy grounds. The court held that neither double jeopardy, issue preclusion under the Double Jeopardy Clause, nor common law issue preclusion prevented the current prosecution.

In the first criminal case, the proceedings ended in a mistrial intentionally provoked by the prosecutor. Subsequently, the defendant argued that the State was barred from prosecuting the current case based on double jeopardy or, alternatively, issue preclusion. The circuit court granted relief, determining that the defendant was in jeopardy of being convicted for the offenses currently charged. However, the Supreme Court reversed this decision, stating that (1) the present prosecution did not expose the defendant to jeopardy for the same offenses, and (2) issue preclusion did not prohibit the current prosecution.

Reversed

Decided 06/21/23

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