Wednesday, June 6, 2018

Major Court of Appeals Victory for Dennis Melowski in an OWI-Homicide Case

Shortly before his jury trial on several very serious traffic-related homicide charges, AG was denied his right to present a defense by a Walworth County trial court judge. AG filed an emergency petition to the court of appeals. On the Friday afternoon before his Monday jury trial, the court of appeals agreed to review the trial judge's decision, which Dennis Melowski believed was plainly erroneous. After litigating the matter for nearly 8 months in the court of appeals, the court of appeals issued its decision  summarily reversing the trial judge's ruling. Summary reversals do not happen often in the court of appeals, typically only in situations where the trial judge was very obviously wrong. That was certainly the case here, as the the court of appeals decision was highly critical of the judge's ruling and his reasoning.

A detailed press account of the appeal can be read here: http://www.gazettextra.com/news/crime/lawyers-argue-over-whether-elkhorn-man-can-say-anxiety-attack/article_78b7f362-bda4-5c41-83e0-b45cf3debd59.html

The court of appeals decision can be read here: https://www.wicourts.gov/ca/opinion/DisplayDocument.pdf?content=pdf&seqNo=211857

As we have said many times before, there is absolutely no substitute for superior lawyering.