State v. Markeith J. Wilson

CourtCourt of Appeals of Wisconsin
DecidedFebruary 11, 2026
Docket2024AP000997-CR
StatusUnpublished

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

Bluebook
State v. Markeith J. Wilson, (Wis. Ct. App. 2026).

Opinion

COURT OF APPEALS DECISION NOTICE DATED AND FILED This opinion is subject to further editing. If published, the official version will appear in the bound volume of the Official Reports. February 11, 2026 A party may file with the Supreme Court a Samuel A. Christensen petition to review an adverse decision by the Clerk of Court of Appeals Court of Appeals. See WIS. STAT. § 808.10 and RULE 809.62.

Appeal No. 2024AP997-CR Cir. Ct. No. 2018CF1252

STATE OF WISCONSIN IN COURT OF APPEALS DISTRICT II

STATE OF WISCONSIN,

PLAINTIFF-RESPONDENT,

V.

MARKEITH J. WILSON,

DEFENDANT-APPELLANT.

APPEAL from a judgment and an order of the circuit court for Kenosha County: JASON A. ROSSELL, Judge. Affirmed.

Before Gundrum, Grogan, and Lazar, JJ.

Per curiam opinions may not be cited in any court of this state as precedent

or authority, except for the limited purposes specified in WIS. STAT. RULE 809.23(3).

¶1 PER CURIAM. Markeith J. Wilson appeals from a trial court judgment entered on jury verdicts convicting him of first-degree intentional No. 2024AP997-CR

homicide and three other serious felonies, as party to a crime (PTAC). Wilson also appeals from an order denying his motion for postconviction relief following an evidentiary hearing. He seeks a new trial based on alleged errors in the jury instructions, voir dire, and the State’s closing argument. In the alternative, Wilson seeks resentencing based on his assertion that the court erroneously exercised its discretion in sentencing him to life imprisonment without the possibility of extended supervision. We reject Wilson’s arguments. Accordingly, we affirm the judgment and the order.

BACKGROUND

¶2 The parties do not generally dispute the facts pertinent to this appeal. The State charged Wilson with first-degree intentional homicide following the death of Joseph Riley. Wilson also was charged with the attempted first-degree intentional homicide of Riley’s friend, Emily, as well as conspiracy to commit armed robbery and armed burglary.1 All four counts charged Wilson as PTAC.

¶3 The charges stemmed from an armed robbery gone wrong. Wilson and his codefendants conspired to steal money and marijuana from Riley’s home, using firearms to achieve their goal. Riley had been suggested as an easy robbery target by Christina May, the mother of one of Riley’s friends, though May did warn the would-be robbers that Riley recently had been robbed by someone else and subsequently had purchased a gun. The first plan involving Riley was for May to go buy marijuana from him and leave the door open for the others to come

1 Although we identify the homicide victim, Joseph Riley, we follow the parties’ lead and use the pseudonym “Emily” to refer to the victim of the attempted homicide. See WIS. STAT. RULE 809.86 (2023-24). All references to the Wisconsin Statutes are to the 2023-24 version.

2 No. 2024AP997-CR

in with guns and commit the robbery; that plan was abandoned when Riley told May on the day it was to be carried out that he had company over so he was not available to sell marijuana that day. Later that same night, Wilson and his codefendants came up with a new plan to rob Riley. They went to his house planning to enter through the front door to steal any marijuana and money they could find. They knocked on the door, but Riley refused to open it. Because they were unable to get into Riley’s house that night, Wilson and the others left.

¶4 Despite two failed plans, Wilson and the others conspired to rob Riley once again—only one night after the failed attempt—this time by kicking the door in. The only other difference besides the plan to break down the door was that one of the individuals who had carried out the failed attempt the night before did not go with Wilson and the others on the next night. Instead, a man named Demarco Hudson, one of Wilson’s eventual codefendants, joined the criminal enterprise.

¶5 Codefendant Anthony Harris II told police that he, Wilson, and Hudson approached Riley’s home the night after their failed robbery attempt. They kicked the front door in. Wilson then entered the home, pointed his gun into the front room, and asked, “Where’s the shit at?” As May had warned, Riley also was armed. He reportedly shot toward the door, hitting Wilson and Hudson. Upon kicking in the door, Harris reportedly fired aimlessly until he ran out of bullets, shooting Riley four times and Emily nine times.

¶6 A third person at Riley’s home that night went into the kitchen and called 911 when he heard the front door being kicked in, while a fourth person hid in a bedroom. Police on scene discovered Riley, who succumbed to the injuries

3 No. 2024AP997-CR

caused by his gunshot wounds, and Emily, who was severely injured, surrounded by spent bullet casings.

¶7 None of the would-be robbers were still on scene when police arrived. Wilson, Harris, and Hudson had fled back to the car after the incident, and another eventual codefendant, Augustine Sanchez, drove them around searching for a hospital because Wilson and Hudson had been shot. Unable to find a hospital, Sanchez and Harris left Wilson and Hudson at a gas station. Harris then called 911 to report that his “brothers” had been shot at a party. Wilson and Hudson were subsequently transported to a hospital and treated for their injuries.

¶8 Police interviewed Wilson at the hospital. He provided several different accounts of the events, but ultimately admitted that he and Hudson went armed with loaded firearms to Riley’s house, kicked the door down, and engaged in a shootout with the homeowner. Detectives later learned about Sanchez’s and Harris’ involvement in the incident from Wilson’s jail phone calls.

¶9 Wilson was the first of the codefendants to have a jury trial. The State presented evidence against Wilson including testimony from the first law enforcement officers to arrive on scene, testimony from Emily and the other occupants of the home that night, and from Wilson’s codefendants. Wilson’s trial counsel argued that Harris emptying his weapon after Wilson and Hudson scrambled back out the door was not a natural and probable consequence of this robbery but was Harris “going rogue.” At most, counsel argued, Wilson’s actions amounted to felony murder. Counsel stated that Wilson “joined that armed robbery without any intentions or expectations of using that firearm.” Following deliberations, the jury found Wilson guilty of all four counts as charged.

4 No. 2024AP997-CR

¶10 At sentencing, the State argued for life in prison without the possibility of extended supervision. Wilson requested eligibility for release on extended supervision, presenting the trial court with character letters and supportive statements from members of the community. The court sentenced Wilson to life without the possibility of extended supervision for his role in Riley’s death and 20 years of initial confinement and 10 years of extended supervision for his role in causing Emily’s injuries. The court ordered those sentences to run consecutively. The court also imposed nine years of initial confinement and seven years of extended supervision for conspiracy to commit armed robbery, and four years of initial confinement and three years of extended supervision for armed burglary, with the sentences on the two lesser counts ordered concurrent to each other and to the other sentences.

¶11 Wilson filed a motion for postconviction relief. He argued that trial counsel was ineffective for failing to object to certain jury instructions and portions of the prosecutor’s closing argument. He also contended the trial court erroneously exercised its discretion in making him ineligible for extended supervision and that his sentence was unduly harsh and excessive.

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Bluebook (online)
State v. Markeith J. Wilson, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/state-v-markeith-j-wilson-wisctapp-2026.