State of Wisconsin , Petitioner β Respondent. Michael Alger , Respondent β Appellant β Petitioner. In re the commitment of Ronald Knipfer. Ronald Knipfer , Respondent β Appellant β Petitioner. Supreme Court of Wisconsin.
Argued Oct. Decided Jan. For respondent - appellant - petitioner Michael Alger , there were briefs by Steven D. Phillips , assistant state public defender. Oral argument by Steven D. For respondent - appellant - petitioner Ronald Knipfer , there were briefs by Donald T.
Lang , assistant state public defender , and oral argument by Donald T. For the petitioner - respondent in both cases , the cause was argued by Nancy A. Noet , assistant attorney general , with whom on the briefs was J. Van Hollen , attorney general. Alger , WI App , Wis. Knipfer , WI App 9 , Wis. Instead, the State argues, those discharge petitions are part of the underlying Chapter commitments, which commenced several years before the Daubert standard 's first date of applicability.
The State also argues that the legislature had a rational basis for not applying the Daubert standard to the State 's expert witnesses in Alger's and Knipfer's Chapter discharge petition trials such that no violation of equal protection or due process occurred. He has been under Chapter commitment ever since. The Daubert standard was not a Wisconsin evidentiary standard during any prior proceeding in Alger's Chapter commitment.
The petition relied on Alger's expert's opinion that Alger was no longer a sexually violent person. The State 's expert opined that Alger was still a sexually violent person and should not be discharged from Chapter commitment. On November 23, , Alger filed another Chapter discharge petition and that petition was merged with his previously filed discharge petition. The court concluded that the Daubert evidentiary standard did not apply to Alger's Chapter discharge petition.
