State v. Moran

2005 WI 115, 700 N.W.2d 884, 284 Wis. 2d 24, 2005 Wisc. LEXIS 357
CourtWisconsin Supreme Court
DecidedJuly 12, 2005
Docket2003AP561-CR
StatusPublished
Cited by26 cases

This text of 2005 WI 115 (State v. Moran) 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. Moran, 2005 WI 115, 700 N.W.2d 884, 284 Wis. 2d 24, 2005 Wisc. LEXIS 357 (Wis. 2005).

Opinions

DAVID T. PROSSER, J.

¶ 1. This is a review of an [30]*30unpublished decision of the court of appeals1 affirming an order of the circuit court for Dane County, David T. Flanagan, Judge. The circuit court denied a motion by James M. Moran (Moran) for post-conviction deoxyri-bonucleic acid (DNA) testing of certain blood samples pursuant to Wis. Stat. § 974.07 (2001-02),2 enacted by the legislature in 2001.

¶ 2. We granted Moran's pro se petition for review which raised broad issues about § 974.07, and we appointed Attorney Colleen D. Ball to serve as Moran's pro bono counsel. Attorney Ball posed three questions focusing on § 974.07(7). The applicability of § 974.07(6) was raised at oral argument. After supplemental briefing by the parties, we determined that this case should be decided on the basis of § 974.07(6).

¶ 3. We conclude that the plain language of § 974.07(6) gives a movant the right to conduct DNA testing of physical evidence that is in the actual or constructive possession of a government agency and that contains biological material or on which there is biological material, if the movant meets several statutory prerequisites. First, the movant must show that the evidence meets the conditions under Wis. Stat. § 974.07(2). Second, the movant must comply with all reasonable conditions imposed by the court to protect the integrity of the evidence. Third, the movant must conduct any testing of the evidence at his or her own expense. If a movant seeks DNA testing at public expense, the movant must proceed under § 974.07(7) (a) or (b), and satisfy the heightened requirements in subsection (7).

[31]*31¶ 4. We remand this case to the circuit court to allow it to address whether Moran's motion satisfies the requirements in § 974.07(2) and (6), and if it does, to set conditions on the availability and integrity of the evidence.

I. FACTS AND PROCEDURAL HISTORY

¶ 5. Moran met Corrine Pinchard (Pinchard) at an exotic pet store he owned and operated in Madison. The two became romantically involved, but their relationship ended. The parties dispute who decided to break off the relationship. Pinchard eventually became involved with another man, Jacob Jensen (Jensen), who was also employed at Moran's pet store.

¶ 6. At about 1:00 A.M. on June 17,1994, Pinchard and Jensen were together in Pinchard's apartment. They became concerned that Moran would make an unwanted visit to the apartment after Pinchard received an anonymous phone call from someone pretending to he a maintenance man for the apartment building. Pinchard believed she recognized the anonymous caller as Moran. Pinchard knew that the outer back door to the apartment building had been tied open, and so she and Jensen decided to go downstairs to shut it. Refore leaving the apartment, Jensen armed himself with a brick he found in Pinchard's apartment.

¶ 7. Jensen and Pinchard never made it downstairs. When Jensen opened the stairwell fire door, he saw Moran on the stairs. The subsequent events were disputed at trial. Jensen claimed that Moran charged at him while holding a knife and pushed him down. According to both Pinchard and Jensen, Moran then pushed Pinchard into her apartment and locked the door while yelling that he planned to kill both Pinchard [32]*32and himself. While Moran and Pinchard were locked inside the apartment, he stabbed her multiple times.

¶ 8. Jensen testified that he ran down the hallway to a nearby apartment. He alerted the occupants of what was happening and convinced them to call "911." Jensen testified that as he re-entered the hallway area and began to walk back, Moran emerged from Pinchard's apartment door. Leaving the apartment, Moran "charged" Jensen in the hallway, wielding the knife, and attempted to stab him in the chest. He succeeded only in slashing Jensen's hand and arm. Neither Pinchard nor Jensen could recall how or why Moran left the scene.

¶ 9. Pinchard and Jensen both testified that after the stabbings, they did not re-enter Pinchard's apartment. Instead, they waited for the police in the apartment down the hall where Jensen had earlier convinced the occupants to dial "911."3

¶ 10. Moran's version of these events was very different. He admitted that he entered the building through the open back door. He claimed that after he saw Jensen in the stairwell, he pushed past Jensen to try to reach Pinchard. Moran claimed that after he passed Jensen, Jensen struck him in the back of the head with a blunt object, dazing him. A struggle between the two men ensued in Pinchard's apartment. Moran claimed that Pinchard attempted to intervene in the struggle, and while she did so, she was inadvertently stabbed multiple times.4

[33]*33¶ 11. Moran also admitted that he "cut" Jensen. Dr. Stuart Stitgen testified that Jensen suffered permanent muscle damage to his left wrist and that Moran severed nerves and tendons in Jensen's hand. Moran also cut Jensen deeply enough that he chipped one of the bones in Jensen's hand. Moran argued, however, that he inflicted all these injuries in self-defense while the two men struggled inside Pinchard's apartment, not in the hallway, as Jensen claimed.

¶ 12. Moran admitted that after this altercation, he fled the scene, discarded his shirt into a storm drain, and threw away his knife. He then either attempted or faked his own suicide, stole a vehicle, and drove to La Crosse. Upon arriving in La Crosse, he turned himself in to authorities and confessed to the stabbings, making no mention of self-defense.5

¶ 13. During the investigation of the crime scene, the police obtained numerous blood samples in Pinchard's apartment, some of which are at issue here. Specifically, the police obtained a blood sample from the kitchen floor, a sample from a bloody brick near the bedroom, and a sample from the bedroom door. A private detective working for Moran obtained blood samples from the door of an apartment across the hall.

[34]*34¶ 14. On the day of the incident, June 17,1994, the State charged Moran with two counts of attempted first-degree intentional homicide, contrary to § 939.32(l)(a) and § 940.01(1). On August 11, 1994, the State amended the complaint, adding the element of "using a dangerous weapon" (contrary to § 939.63(l)(a)2.) to each of the two attempted homicide counts and adding one count of taking and driving a vehicle without the owner's consent in violation of § 943.23(2). On January 13, 1995, the State again amended the complaint, adding two counts of first-degree reckless injury while using a dangerous weapon in violation of § 940.23(1) and § 939.63(l)(a)2.

¶ 15. Attorney Dennis E. Burke was initially appointed to represent Moran, but he withdrew on the grounds that his continued representation could result in a violation of the Code of Professional Responsibility.6

¶ 16. Moran thereafter declined counsel and represented himself. The jury trial was held between February 27 and March 3, 1995.

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Bluebook (online)
2005 WI 115, 700 N.W.2d 884, 284 Wis. 2d 24, 2005 Wisc. LEXIS 357, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/state-v-moran-wis-2005.