State v. Hayes

2004 WI 80, 681 N.W.2d 203, 273 Wis. 2d 1, 2004 Wisc. LEXIS 442
CourtWisconsin Supreme Court
DecidedJune 16, 2004
Docket02-1542-CR
StatusPublished
Cited by48 cases

This text of 2004 WI 80 (State v. Hayes) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Wisconsin Supreme Court primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
State v. Hayes, 2004 WI 80, 681 N.W.2d 203, 273 Wis. 2d 1, 2004 Wisc. LEXIS 442 (Wis. 2004).

Opinions

SHIRLEY S. ABRAHAMSON, C.J.

¶ 1. This is a review of a published decision of the court of appeals1 affirming the judgment of conviction of Obea S. Hayes, the defendant, in the Circuit Court for Rock County, [5]*5David G. Deininger, Judge.2 The defendant was convicted of second-degree sexual assault pursuant to Wis. Stat. § 940.225(2)(a) (2001-02).3

¶ 2. The court of appeals affirmed the judgment of conviction, concluding that the defendant did not have to raise a challenge to the sufficiency of the evidence during trial to preserve the challenge for appeal as a matter of right and that the evidence was sufficient to support the jury's verdict, beyond a reasonable doubt, of the defendant's guilt of second-degree sexual assault.

¶ 3. Two issues are raised on review. The first issue is whether the defendant's challenge to the sufficiency of the evidence must have been raised during trial to preserve the challenge for appeal as a matter of right. Second, if the court reaches the issue, was the evidence sufficient in the present case to support the jury's verdict, beyond a reasonable doubt, of the defendant's guilt of second-degree sexual assault.

¶ 4. The decision of the court of appeals is affirmed. Justices Ann Walsh Bradley and N. Patrick Crooks join the author of this opinion in concluding that a challenge to the sufficiency of the evidence did not have to be raised during trial to preserve the issue for appeal as a matter of right and that the evidence was sufficient in the present case to support the jury's verdict, beyond a reasonable doubt, of the defendant's guilt of second-degree sexual assault. Justice David T. Prosser, Jr., in a concurring opinion, adopts the interpretation of the statute set out in State v. Gomez, 179 [6]*6Wis. 2d 400, 402, 507 N.W2d 378 (Ct. App. 1993) 4 Thus, four members of the court reach the same result on the statute. Justices Diane S. Sykes and Jon E Wilcox, in a concurring opinion, conclude that the waiver rule applies to sufficiency of the evidence challenges and that "sufficiency of evidence challenges [cannot] be made for the first time on appeal as a matter of right."5 Justice Patience D. Roggensack, in a concurring opinion, concludes that an accused's right to challenge the sufficiency of evidence is "bottomed in the requirement that the State must prove an accused's guilt beyond a reasonable doubt, and that to relieve the State of that burden at any point in the process undermines the fundamental constitutional principle that a defendant is presumed innocent until the State proves him or her guilty by that requisite degree of proof."6

HH

¶ 5. The defendant did not move the circuit court for a directed verdict at the close of the State's evidence or the close of all the evidence and made no motions after judgment. The defendant challenged the sufficiency of the evidence for the first time on appeal. He continues to raise this issue before this court on review.

¶ 6. The State argued in the court of appeals and argues here that the defendant waived his challenge to the sufficiency of the evidence because he failed to raise the issue in a timely manner during trial.

¶ 7. Whether a challenge to the sufficiency of the evidence must be raised during trial to preserve the issue on appeal as a matter of right is a question of law [7]*7requiring statutory interpretation. This court decides this issue independently of the court of appeals, but benefiting from its analysis.7

¶ 8. The principal statute at issue is Wis. Stat. § 974.02(2), which provides as follows:

974.02 Appeals and posteonviction relief in criminal cases.
(2) An appellant is not required to file a posteonviction motion in the trial court prior to an appeal if the grounds are sufficiency of the evidence or issues previously raised.

¶ 9. The State and the defendant disagree on the meaning of this statute. The State argues that Wis. Stat. § 974.02(2) exempts criminal appellants from filing a posteonviction motion challenging the sufficiency of the evidence as a prerequisite to appellate review. The State's position is that Wis. Stat. § 974.02(2) is directed only toward posteonviction motions, not toward challenging the sufficiency of the evidence during trial to preserve the issue on appeal as a matter of right.

¶ 10. According to the State, an accused must challenge the sufficiency of the evidence by a motion during trial to preserve the right to appellate review of that claim. Wisconsin Stat. § 974.02(2), argues the State, eliminates only the redundancy of requiring an accused to bring issues, including the sufficiency of the evidence, to the circuit court both during trial and by posteonviction motion. The State argues that an ac[8]*8cused must raise all issues about which he seeks appeal during trial as a prerequisite for appellate review as a matter of right.

¶ 11. The defendant argues that the State's interpretation of Wis. Stat. § 974.02(2) is erroneous. The State's interpretation, according to the defendant, renders the words "sufficiency of the evidence" surplusage and meaningless. The defendant contends that if a challenge to the sufficiency of the evidence has to be raised during trial, the challenge to the sufficiency of the evidence is equated with every other claimed error and would fall within the statutory phrase "issues previously raised." The defendant urges that because § 974.02(2) uses both "sufficiency of the evidence" and "issues previously raised," the two phrases must have different meanings.

¶ 12. The phrases have different meanings if § 974.02(2) is interpreted as signifying that a challenge to the sufficiency of the evidence need not be previously raised during trial. The defendant's position can be summarized by saying that there would be no reason for the legislature to have included the language "sufficiency of the evidence" along with "issues previously raised" if failure to raise the issue during trial would preclude an accused from raising the sufficiency issues on appeal as a matter of right.

¶ 13. The defendant bolsters his argument by pointing to the court of appeals' decision in State v. Gomez, 179 Wis. 2d 400, 507 N.W.2d 378 (Ct. App. 1993). Gomez was convicted of child enticement and various other sex crimes. Gomez appealed his conviction on the child enticement offense, arguing insufficiency of the evidence. The State argued in Gomez that the defendant had waived the challenge because he had not raised the issue in the circuit court before, during, or after trial. Without analysis of Wis. Stat. § 974.02(2) or the waiver [9]

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Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
2004 WI 80, 681 N.W.2d 203, 273 Wis. 2d 1, 2004 Wisc. LEXIS 442, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/state-v-hayes-wis-2004.