State of Wisconsin, Plaintiff-Respondent v. Juergen Huebner, Defendant-Appellant-Petitioner

Summary

The Wisconsin Supreme Court held that a misdemeanor defendant who did not object to a six-person jury authorized by Wis. Stat. § 756.096(3)(am) could not obtain a new trial after State v. Hansford declared the statute unconstitutional under art. I, § 7 of the Wisconsin Constitution. Applying the waiver rule, the court concluded that Huebner forfeited his right to a twelve-person jury by failing to object, that Cooley's personal-and-express waiver requirement is confined to cases where the trial court itself induced the waiver, and that the interests of justice under Wis. Stat. § 751.06 did not warrant reversal because the six-person jury did not undermine the fundamental integrity or accuracy of an otherwise error-free trial. The court affirmed the court of appeals. Chief Justice Abrahamson, joined by Justices Ann Walsh Bradley and Diane S. Sykes, dissented on the ground that the right to a twelve-person jury cannot be forfeited by mere failure to object and that the unconstitutional statute was void ab initio, while Justice Prosser concurred in the result but would have overruled Hansford and upheld the statute as constitutional.