Court Opinion

ID: 9705720
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-26 01:17:50.162354+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T18:22:14.333574
License: Public Domain

*327ANN WALSH BRADLEY, J.
¶ 38. (concurring). I agree with the majority opinion that on a post-conviction motion a circuit court may allow a defendant to remove exhibits for scientific testing. The determination of such a post-conviction motion is a matter within the discretion of the circuit court.1 I also agree with the majority opinion that in this case the defendant's post-conviction motion to remove exhibits for scientific testing was properly denied. However, I do not join Part III of the majority opinion because I conclude that the defendant's motion in this case can easily be resolved by applying the existing evidentiary rules of relevancy.
¶ 39. The first step that either a circuit court must take in deciding whether to grant such a post-conviction motion or this court must take in reviewing the circuit court's ruling on such a motion is to determine whether the results that the defendant hopes to obtain from the scientific testing would be relevant, non-cumulative evidence.
¶ 40. "Relevant evidence" is defined by Wis. Stat. § 904.01 (1995-96)2 as "evidence having any tendency to make the existence of any fact that is of consequence to the determination of the action more probable or less probable than it would be without the evidence." Further, Wis. Stat. § 904.03 allows a circuit court to exclude relevant evidence "if its probative value is substantially outweighed by. . .needless presentation of cumulative evidence."
*328¶ 41. Here, the hoped-for results from testing the exhibit concerning the penile swab and smear collected from the victim would not be relevant evidence under Wis. Stat. § 904.01, and the hoped-for results from testing the exhibit containing the anal swabs and smears collected from the victim would be excluded as needless presentation of cumulative evidence under Wis. Stat. § 904.03. I therefore would hold that the defendant's post-conviction motion was properly denied on the simple basis of existing rules of relevancy.
I — I
¶ 42. The first exhibit that the defendant sought to remove for post-conviction scientific testing was the penile swab and smear collected from the victim. The trial record established that trace amounts of semen were present on the penile swab and smear but that no conclusion could be drawn as to their source.
¶ 43. The defendant hoped for a post-conviction test result that would show that the victim was the source of the trace amounts of semen on the penile swab and smear. The defendant argued that such a result would tend to negate count one (third-degree sexual assault by fellatio) because it would establish that the victim had in fact consented to the act.
¶ 44. In denying the defendant's post-conviction motion, the circuit court and court of appeals correctly concluded that the presence of the victim's semen in the penile swab and smear would not make consent more or less probable. I agree with the circuit court and the court of appeals that the defendant's argument that the presence of the victim's semen on the penile swab proves consent requires a "substantial presumptive leap" and is "purely speculative."
*329II.
¶ 45. The second exhibit that the defendant sought to remove for post-conviction scientific testing contained the anal swabs and smears collected from the victim. The test result that the defendant hoped to obtain was that no semen or blood appeared in the anal swabs and smears. The defendant argued that such a test result would tend to negate count two (third-degree sexual assault by anal intercourse) by showing that the defendant and victim had not engaged in anal intercourse.
¶ 46. According to the trial record, no trace of semen was found on the anal swabs and smears collected from the victim; the crime lab report made no reference to the presence of any semen or blood in the anal swabs and anal smears; the nurse conducting the physical examination of the victim's anus noted "zero lacerations or tears." The testimony and the test results were undisputed at trial.
¶ 47. Because the jury was presented with uncontested evidence that there was no semen found in the anal swabs and smears collected from the victim and that the examining nurse physically viewed the victim's anus and noted the absence of lacerations or tears, the post-conviction scientific test results that the defendant hoped to obtain would constitute a "needless presentation of cumulative evidence" under Wis. Stat. § 904.03.
¶ 48. The defendant's motion for post-conviction scientific testing fails to meet rudimentary rules of relevancy. Therefore, no further analysis of this court is necessary to affirm the decision of the court of appeals.
*330149. I am authorized to state that CHIEF JUSTICE SHIRLEY S. ABRAHAMSON joins this opinion.

 See, e.g., State v. McCallum, 208 Wis. 2d 463, 473, 561 N.W.2d 707 (1997) (motion for new trial based on newly discovered evidence); Dudrey v. State, 74 Wis. 2d 480, 482-83, 247 N.W.2d 105 (1976) (motion for withdrawal of guilty plea prior to sentencing).

 Unless otherwise noted, all references to the Wisconsin Statutes are to the 1995-96 version.