Court Opinion

ID: 9689474
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-24 18:35:42.222818+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T18:18:48.804595
License: Public Domain

FINE, J.
¶ 31. {concurring). I join fully in the Majority opinion, and write this in response to what I see as the Dissent's glissade around controlling law.
¶ 32. As the Majority opinion points out, unobjected-to-trial-court errors are analyzed under the ineffective-assistance-of-counsel standards promulgated by Strickland v. Washington, 466 U.S. 668, 687 (1984), even though those errors deprive the defendant of a constitutional right. See Kimmelman v. Morrison, 477 U.S. 365, 374-375 (1986); State v. Carprue, 2004 WI 111, ¶ 47, 274 Wis. 2d 656, 678, 683 N.W.2d 31, 42-43. Relying on a pre-Strickland decision, State v. Burton, 112 Wis. 2d 560, 334 N.W.2d 263 (1983), the Dissent con*104tends, in essence, that the Burton harmless-error standard should apply because the defendant never discussed with his trial lawyer whether the trial lawyer should object to what the trial court had done, and, presumably, whether to seek a mistrial. In my view, this is where the Dissent falters.
¶ 33. This appeal is not about a pre-event waiver (as it might be if the defendant's trial lawyer had told the trial court not to seek defense input if the jury had any questions), but, rather, about the trial lawyer's failure to object to what the trial court had already done. This is thus a straight ineffective-assistance-of-counsel situation, and, unlike a harmless-error analysis where the State has the burden of proof, the defendant cannot prevail unless he shows Strickland prejudice. He has not and, significantly, the Dissent points to nothing in the transcript of the defendant's testimony that contradicts the Majority opinion's assessment of that testimony.
¶ 34. The Dissent's view that the command of Kimmelman and Carprue applies in cases of constitutional error only when the defendant personally agrees to what the lawyer does, not only ignores the rule recognized by those two decisions but, also, if adopted, would gut Strickland and make it the rare case where it applied.