Court Opinion

ID: 9670964
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-24 03:28:58.859562+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T18:16:07.461946
License: Public Domain

LOUIS J. CECI, J.
(dissenting). The majority correctly quotes the often-stated rule, “[A] new trial in the interest of justice will be granted only if there has been an apparent miscarriage of justice and it appears that a retrial under optimum circumstances will produce a different result.” Garcia v. State, 73 Wis. 2d 651, 654, 245 N.W.2d 654 (1976), quoting Jones (George Michael) v. State, 70 Wis. 2d 41, 56, 233 N.W.2d 430 (1975). (Emphasis added.) However, the majority then goes on to misapply that rule.
The two prongs of the rule for granting a new trial in the interest of justice are stated in the conjunctive. The majority opinion, by necessity, does not discuss whether a retrial under optimum circumstances would produce a different result. Even if this point is glossed over to *144avoid a “mechanistic” application of the rule, a new trial on this basis is not warranted, since justice has not miscarried.
The majority characterizes the proffered testimony of the two witnesses as “opinion evidence,” apparently meaning the personal opinion of the witness concerning the veracity of the defendant. However, it is apparent from reading the record that the defense was attempting to present testimony of the witnesses regarding their opinions of Cuyler’s reputation in the community for truth and veracity. The defense counsel did not ask either witness about his individual opinion as to the defendant’s character for truthfulness and veracity.1 Defense counsel did question the witnesses about their opinions of the defendant’s reputation for truthfulness. One of the defendant’s attorneys stated, “The sole purpose of [the testimony] is to testify as to the reputation of the defendant for truthfulness and varacity [sic] based upon his professional and social contacts with the defendant in the community. . . .” Defense counsel later reiterated this purpose. This was obviously a matter of trial tactics by the defense counsel.
The defense counsel had earlier successfully objected to the proffered testimony of a prosecution witness concerning her individual opinion of the victim’s truthfulness and veracity. Since the defendant successfully objected to the evidence proffered by the prosecution, he cannot now complain that the ruling was erroneous and was prejudicial to him. Zindell v. Central Mut. Ins. Co., 222 Wis. 575, 582, 269 N.W. 327 (1936). Although “an objection need not be made to preserve a constitutional error *145for appeal ... a deliberate choice of strategy, even if it backfires, amounts to a waiver binding upon the defendant and this court.” State v. McDonald, 50 Wis. 2d 534, 538, 184 N.W.2d 886 (1971); State v. Ruud, 41 Wis. 2d 720, 726, 165 N.W.2d 153 (1969).
Moreover, both Logan v. State, 43 Wis. 2d 128, 168 N.W.2d 171 (1969), and Garcia v. State, 73 Wis. 2d 651, cited by the majority, present a stronger case for granting a new trial in the interest of justice than the situation now before us. In Logan, the defendant was charged and convicted of armed robbery and endangering safety by conduct regardless of life. At trial the defendant testified that he never had a gun and that he never asked the victim for the victim’s billfold. The defendant’s brother would have corroborated this version of the incident; however, because of defense counsel’s confusion as to the characterization of the testimony, the witness was withdrawn. The defendant in Garcia was found guilty, as a party to the crime, of intentionally discharging a firearm into a building under circumstances in which he realized there might be a person in the building. The victim identified the defendant as being in a group of men, one of whom had a handgun. After the defendant was imprisoned, another man came forward and stated that he was the driver of the car involved in the shooting episode and that the defendant was not present or in any way involved. This court held that the defendant was entitled to a new trial in the interest of justice, although we termed it a “close case.” 73 Wis. 2d at 655.
The proffered testimony in both Garcia and Logan, if believed, would have directly exculpated the defendants in those cases. This cannot be said of either reputation or opinion character evidence. The fact that neither witness in the instant case had had any contact with the defendant for the past three years renders the testimony *146even less beneficial to the defendant. Under these circumstances, a new trial is not warranted. I would affirm.
I am authorized to state that Justice Roland B. Day and Justice William G. Callow join in this dissenting opinion.

 The witnesses did give their individual opinions as to the defendant’s character for truthfulness, in nonresponsive answers to the defense counsel’s questions about the defendant’s reputation for truthfulness. Apparently, neither witness had had any contact with the defendant for the past three years.