A juror's comment about "frying" a defendant accused of threatening a judge justifies giving the man a chance to argue for a new trial in his case, an appellate court has ruled.
John Phillips, 37, formerly of Green Bay, a registered sex offender, was on trial in 2010 for threatening a Brown County judge and his family.
Phillips was in the Wisconsin prison system when he is accused of sending a letter under another inmate's name in which he told a Brown County judge, "When I get out of here I am going to kill you and your family." The letter also threatened to "deal with" a prosecutor and the envelop contained a substance later determined to be talcum powder.
Phillips was charged in Brown County court with threatening a judge and misappropriating identification.
On the morning of the second day of Phillips' trial, just before the jurors heard opening arguments, a juror reported overhearing another juror say, "So, should we just fry (him)?"
When then Judge Mark Warpinski questioned the juror who made the statement, the juror said the comment was part of a general conversation about capital punishment and was not made in reference to Phillips' case.
Warpinski rejected Phillips' call for a mistrial, and Phillips eventually was convicted. He was sentenced to seven years in prison for threatening a judge and an additional seven years for misappropriating the identity of another inmate.
Phillips' lawyer determined there was no merit to challenge Phillips' conviction. The District III Court of Appeals disagreed this month. The ruling does not grant Phillips a right to post conviction relief or to a new trial. Rather, the ruling puts the case in the hands of the State Public Defender to make an independent assessment of whether to proceed with a challenge to the conviction. ..Source.. by Paul Srubas
No comments:
Post a Comment
We use the Disqus Commenting system, please wait for it to load. Also, comments are moderated, please stick to the issue of the post, as we are trying to have an intelligent, relevant discussion which develops the post. Comments deviating from topic of post will not be posted. Thanks