188 Wis. 2d 111 - State v. Debra A. E.’s Empirical Analysis

Citation profile

2 federal appellate · 57 state decisions

Most-quoted passages

The sentences later courts lift from this opinion, ranked by how many decisions quote each — the parts of the opinion doing the work. These counts are smaller than the citation total above because most of the 61 citing decisions cite the case generally; a passage count includes only decisions quoting that exact language verbatim.

1. “Competency is a contextualized concept; the meaning of competency in the context of legal proceedings changes according to the purpose for which the competency determination is made. Whether a person is competent depends on the mental capacity that the task at issue requires. One task required of defendants during postconviction relief is to make the decision to proceed with or forego relief.”

   3 later decisions quote this exact passage
   e.g. 225 Wis. 2d 702 - State v. Byrge · D'Arcangelo v. State

2. “• As soon as there is a good faith doubt about the defendant's competency to seek postconviction relief, defense counsel should promptly advise the appropriate court of this doubt (on the record) and move for a ruling on competency. 7 • The court shall honor defense counsel's request when there is reason to doubt a defendant's competency. 8 • To determine competency, the court may order an examination and hold a hearing. 9 • The test for competency during postconviction proceedings is whether the defendant "is unable to assist counsel or to make decisions committed by law to the defendant with a reasonable degree of rational understanding." 10 • When the issues in a postconviction proceeding rest on the record in the circuit court and involve no risk to the defendant, defense counsel can proceed with postconviction relief on a defendant's behalf even if the defendant is incompetent. 11 • When the issues in a postconviction proceeding involve some risk to the defendant, these issues require the defendant's decision-making because whether to file an appeal and the objectives to pursue are decisions committed by law to the defendant. 12 • If the defendant's assistance is needed for decision-making and the defendant is likely to attain competency in the near future, defense counsel may move for a continuance or an enlargement of time for filing the necessary notices or motions for postconviction relief or may seek the appointment of a guardian to make the decisions that the law r”

   2 later decisions quote this exact passage
   e.g. 382 Wis. 2d 476 - State v. Andre L. Scott · 362 Wis. 2d 74 - State v. Roddee W. Daniel

3. “Pending the determination of competency and even after a determination of incompetency, defense counsel should initiate or continue [PCR] relief on a defendant’s behalf when any issues rest on the circuit court record, do not necessitate the defendant’s assistance or decisionmaking, and involve no risk to the defendant. We agree with the parties that requiring defense counsel to go forward with [PCR] relief to the extent feasible ensures that an alleged incompetent or incompetent defendant will not suffer from the delay of meritorious claims ... [I]f defense counsel cannot initiate or continue [PCR] relief on the defendant’s behalf because issues necessitate defendant’s assistance or decisionmaking, defense counsel may request a continuance or enlargement of time for filing the necessary notices or motions for [PCR] relief ... Defendants who are incompetent at the time they seek [PCR] relief should, after regaining competency, be allowed to raise issues at a later proceeding that could not have been raised earlier because of incompetency.”

   2 later decisions quote this exact passage
   e.g. Council v. Catoe · 362 Wis. 2d 74 - State v. Roddee W. Daniel