State v. Marvin L. Beauchamp
Annotate this CaseDefendant appealed a conviction of first degree intentional homicide while using a dangerous weapon where the murdered man made statements to an ambulance driver and a police officer before he died that gave a brief description of the assailant ("Somerville statements"). At issue was whether the admission of the Sommerville statements and the prior statements of two recanting witnesses violated defendant's constitutional rights to confrontation and due process. The court affirmed the court of appeal's holding that the Somerville statements were properly admitted and did not violate defendant's Sixth Amendment right to confront witnesses nor his corresponding right under the Wisconsin Constitution. The court also held that the failure to exclude prior inconsistent statements of recanting witnesses did not violate due process where the statements were admitted without objection and consistent with controlling Wisconsin law. The court further held that defendant was not prejudiced by his counsel's failure to urge the court to apply the law of another jurisdiction, nor can the circuit court be said to have committed plain error when it applied what was then the controlling law in Wisconsin.
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