State of Wisconsin, Plaintiff-Respondent v. Leonard J. Harvey, Defendant-Appellant-Petitioner

Summary

The Wisconsin Supreme Court held that a jury instruction given under Wis. Stat. § 902.01(7), directing the jury to accept as true the judicially noticed fact that Penn Park was a city park — an element of a drug penalty enhancer — operated as an unconstitutional mandatory conclusive presumption under the Fifth and Sixth Amendments, but it affirmed the conviction because the error was harmless beyond a reasonable doubt given the fact's undisputed status. The court adopted Neder's Chapman-based harmless error test and overruled a court of appeals decision to the extent it required automatic reversal for such error. Justice Crooks, concurring, joined by Justice Wilcox, welcomed adoption of the Neder standard as settling Wisconsin's harmless error doctrine; Chief Justice Abrahamson, dissenting, joined by Justice Bradley, would have retained Kuntz's more restrictive harmless error approach and the Chapman formulation, and would have construed the Wisconsin Constitution's jury trial guarantee to require jury determination of every element.