Court Opinion

ID: 9850101
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-09-24 04:52:10.807461+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T09:20:31.775189
License: Public Domain

JON E WILCOX, J.
(dissenting).
¶ 84. I dissent. As I explained in my concurrence in State v. Hale, 2005 WI 7, ¶¶ 86-90, 277 Wis. 2d 593, 691 N.W.2d 637, the proper method for assessing harmless error for Confrontation Clause violations in the aftermath of Crawford v. Washington, 541 U.S. 36 (2004), is the test set forth by the United States Supreme Court in Neder v. United States, 527 U.S. 1, 18 (1999), which was adopted by this court in State v. Harvey, 2002 WI 93, ¶ 47, 254 Wis. 2d 442, 647 N.W.2d 189. As this court explained in Harvey, 254 Wis. 2d 442, ¶ 47, the formulation of harmless error in Neder was a clarification of the test for harmless error described in Chapman v. California, 386 U.S. 18 (1967). "[I]n order to conclude that an error 'did not contribute to the verdict' within the meaning of Chapman, a court must be able to conclude 'beyond a reasonable doubt that a rational jury would have found *692the defendant guilty absent the error.'" Harvey, 254 Wis. 2d 442, ¶ 48 n.14 (quoting Neder, 527 U.S. at 18).
¶ 85. The test for harmless error as set forth in Neder has been applied to Confrontation Clause violations by this court in State v. Weed, 2003 WI 85, ¶¶ 28-29, 263 Wis. 2d 434, 666 N.W.2d 485, and more recently by the Seventh Circuit Court of Appeals in United States v. Gilbert, 391 F.3d 882, 884 (7th Cir. 2004). I see no reason to deviate from this test when analyzing Crawford Confrontation Clause violations.
¶ 86. I agree with Justice Crooks' analysis of the evidence in this case and his conclusion that the error here was harmless under Neder. Justice Crooks' dissent, ¶ 98. In light of the testimony from five separate witnesses that Paul Stuart admitted to shooting Gary Reagles, "it is 'clear beyond a reasonable doubt that a rational jury would have convicted absent the error'" and that therefore "the error did not' "contribute to the verdict"'" obtained. Weed, 263 Wis. 2d 434, ¶ 29 (quoting Neder, 527 U.S. at 15, 18). Simply put, the State presented consistent, cumulative, and compelling evidence that Stuart killed Reagles.
¶ 87. I am authorized to state that Justice N. PATRICK CROOKS joins this dissent.