Plea Withdrawal-Witness Recantation-

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WI Court of Appeals – District I

Case Name: State of Wisconsin v. Glenn Terrell Turner

Case No.: 2024AP001568

Officials: Donald, C.J., Colón, P.J., and Geenen, J.

Focus: Plea Withdrawal-Witness Recantation-

Turner sought to overturn his 1992 conviction on first-degree homicide while armed charges based on newly discovered evidence. He argued that a  witness recantation entitled him to plea withdrawal and he also raised claims concerning ineffective assistance of counsel and the validity of his plea.

The Court of Appeals found that Turner failed to satisfy the requirements for plea withdrawal based on newly discovered evidence. Turner relied on a recantation by witness Kendrick Gatlin, who allegedly admitted decades later that his original statement to police was false and motivated by police threats. The court explained that recantations are inherently unreliable and must be corroborated by newly discovered evidence demonstrating both a motive for the false statement and guarantees of the recantation’s trustworthiness. Although Turner showed a possible motive for Gatlin’s original statement, he failed to establish the recantation’s reliability. The court noted the passage of more than t30 years, Gatlin’s admitted alcohol and marijuana use at the time of the events, and the fact that the recantation occurred while both men were incarcerated.

The court also concluded Turner’s remaining claims were procedurally barred because they either had already been litigated in prior proceedings or could have been raised in earlier postconviction motions under Wisconsin’s successive-motion rules.

Affirmed.

Decided 05/12/26

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