Court Opinion

ID: 9707731
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-26 02:20:07.651188+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T18:22:37.371024
License: Public Domain

FINE, J.
(concurring). The majority opinion correctly recognizes that under State v. Messelt, 185 Wis. 2d 255, 282, 518 N.W.2d 232, 243 (1994), a defendant in a criminal case must "prove by clear, satisfactory and convincing evidence that there is a reasonable possibility that the extraneous information would prejudice a hypothetical average jury." Majority Op. at 305. Mes-selt, however, is at odds with prior supreme court precedent, State v. Poh, 116 Wis. 2d 510, 526-532, 343 N.W.2d 108, 117-120 (1984), which adopted the test for constitutional error enunciated in Chapman v. California, 386 U.S. 18 (1967), and held that the State must prove beyond a reasonable doubt that the extraneous information did not contribute to the verdict finding the defendant guilty. See Poh, 116 Wis. 2d at 532, 343 *310N.W.2d at 120 ("[W]e conclude that we cannot declare . . . that the state has demonstrated beyond a reasonable doubt that [the extraneous prejudicial] information did not contribute to the verdict."); see also State v. Barthels, 166 Wis. 2d 876, 894-895, 480 N.W.2d 814, 822 (Ct. App. 1992) (applying Poh's beyond-a-reasonable-doubt standard), aff'd, 174 Wis. 2d 173, 495 N.W.2d 341 (1993).
In light of the conflict between the supreme court decisions in Poh and Messelt, and because the dissent in Messelt, 185 Wis. 2d at 284-288, 518 N.W.2d at 244-245, did not refer to the heightened test in Poh, I conclude that Poh's placement upon the State of the burden of proving beyond a reasonable doubt that the extraneous prejudicial information did not contribute to the verdict has been overruled sub silentio.1 We have, appropriately, applied the standard adopted by Messelt. See State v. Clark, 179 Wis. 2d 484, 493, 507 N.W.2d 172, 175 (Ct. App. 1993) (When decisions of the supreme court are inconsistent, we must follow the court's most recent analysis or pronouncement.).

 Significantly, the dissent in Messelt was written by Justice Shirley S. Abrahamson, the author of Poh. If the majority in Messelt had unknowingly ignored Poh's holding, she would have, undoubtedly, pointed it out.