APPELLATE AND TRIAL PRACTICE GUIDES
Resources and links from the Wisconsin State Public Defender's Office (SPD). Please note: some of the following links will take you to sites external to wispd.org.
Appeals and Postconviction Proceedings
- SPD Appellate Division
- Appeal Information for the SPD Trial Atty
- Appellate Brief Filing Checklist
- Example Motion for Stay Pending Appeal
- Templates for Briefs and Petition for Review
- Handbook - Appellate Practice & Procedure for SPD-Appointed Counsel
Attorney-Client Communications
Case Summaries
Charging Practices
Collateral Consequences of Convictions
- Wisconsin Compilation of Collateral Consequences (developed in 2017 by Collateral Consequences Resource Center for use by Wisconsin practitioners)
- Civil Consequences of Conviction: The Impact of Criminal Records under Wisconsin Law
- NACDL’s Restoration of Rights Project (with information regarding procedures for restoring rights in each state and the federal system)
- National Inventory of Collateral Consequences of Conviction
- Felony Convictions and Employment (Wisconsin Law)
- Client Employment Interview Form
- Collateral Consequences Resource Center
- Wisconsin and Firearm Surrender
Competency/Fitness to Stand Trial
Confessions
- Possible Challenges to the Admissibility of All or Part of a Defendant’s Statement
- Police-Induced Confessions: Risk Factors and Recommendations/False Confessions White Paper
- A Summary of Numerous Miranda Cases and Selected Issues
- Reinterrogation After Invocation of the Miranda Right to Counsel
Counsel
Crimes
- CCAP – Wisconsin Circuit Court Access
- DOC – Wisconsin Department of Corrections
- DOJ – Wisconsin Department of Justice
- The Remington Center
- State Bar of Wisconsin
- Wisconsin Court System
- Wisconsin Courts Interpreter search
Ethics
- How Long Do I Keep My Case Files? – State Bar Ethics opinion
- Responding to an OLR Grievance
Experts
Extradition of Out-of-State Witnesses- Subpoena Process for out-of-state witnesses
- 1a.) Motion for Issuance of Certificate to Extradite Out-of-State Witness
- 1b.) Affidavit
- 1c.) Motion to Produce Out-of-State Prisoner
- 1d.) Order to Produce Out-of-State Prisoner
- 2a.) Findings: Certificate to Compel Attendance of Out-of-State Witness
- 2b.) Certificate
- 3.) Certificate of Clerk
- 4a.) Petition for Order to Show Cause
- 4b.) Application for Extradition of Witness to Testify in Wisconsin
- 4c.) Order to Appear and Show Cause
- 4d.) Summons and Order Directing Witness to Appear and Testify in Wisconsin
- 4e.) Order to Honor Out-of-State Subpoena
Immigration
- Immigration Consequences
- Immigration Consequences of Convictions Summary Checklist
- Immigration Consequences Analysis Questionnaire
Pretrial Proceedings and Motions
- Example Petition for Leave to Appeal a Non-Final Order
- Interlocutory/Permissive Appeal Procedure
- Request for Copies of Recorded Statements
- Resources for Challenging Hearsay at Preliminary Hearing
Probation/Extended Supervision, Prison/PLRA
- Sample Advise Letter for Reconfinement Hearing (Pro Se Respondent) - Word Doc
- Probation and Parole Operations Manual – DOC
- Sample Revocation Case Closing Letter - Word Doc
Sentencing
- Duties of Trial Counsel At and After Sentencing
- Adjustments of Truth in Sentencing (TIS) Sentences
Inmates may petition the circuit court to convert confinement time to extended supervision time as set forth in:
§ 302.043 (risk reduction sentence),
§ 302.45 (Challenge Incarceration Program),
§ 302.05 (Substance Abuse Earned Release Program),
§ 302.113 (9g) (Geriatric or extraordinary health conditions),
§ 302.114 (petition for release to extended supervision for inmates serving life sentences),
§ 973.195 (1r) (b) if an inmate has served a required percentage (75% or 85%) of the term of confinement portion of a Class C to I felony sentence and:
"1. The inmate's conduct, efforts at and progress in rehabilitation, or participation and progress in education, treatment or other correctional programs since he or she was sentenced. 3. A change in law or procedure related to sentencing or revocation of extended supervision effective after the inmate was sentenced that would have resulted in a shorter term of confinement in prison or, if the inmate was returned to prison upon revocation of extended supervision, a shorter period of confinement upon revocation, if the change had been applicable when the inmate was sentenced. 4. The inmate is subject to a sentence of confinement in another state or the inmate is in the United States illegally and may be deported. 5. Sentence adjustment is otherwise in the interests of justice.”
§ 973.198 (positive adjustment time earned between October 1, 2009 and August 3, 2011).
- But see Singh v. Kemper, 2014 WI App 43 (Sentence adjustment statutes unconstitutional as applied to persons sentenced between October 1, 2009 and August 3, 2011: retroactive application of statute that repealed or modified previously-existing provisions governing early release for prisoners violated prohibition on ex post facto laws as to prisoner who was convicted and sentenced while previous provisions had been in effect; application of statute to prisoner's offenses had the effect of lengthening his time confined in prison beyond what he may have experienced under the law as it stood when he committed or was convicted and sentenced on the offenses, and altogether eliminated the early release opportunities the law had previously afforded him.)
- Circuit Court TIS Forms & Instructions
- UW Law School Legal Assistance to Institutionalized Persons Program (LAIPP) Pro Se Packets for Sentence Adjustments
- Sentence Modification
Spanish Language Forms
- Notice of Right to Seek Postconviction Relief
- Plea Questionnaire/Waiver of Rights
- Waiver of Preliminary Hearing
Trial Proceedings