Jason Lindemann PC: Fox 11 Online
OSHKOSH, WI (WTAQ-WLUK) – Jason Lindemann’s appeal of his conviction for crashing his power boat into a cruise boat on the Fox River is now in the hands of the Court of Appeals, after his attorneys filed their final brief in the case.
Lindemann was sentenced to five months in jail and three years on probation and ordered to perform 150 hours of community service as a result of the July 9, 2022, crash between his powerboat and the On The Loos paddlewheel cruise boat. He was also ordered to pay $11,702.79 in restitution. The crash injured more than a dozen people.
Lindemann has appealed, claiming he drove his boat like “every boater does” and that the evidence doesn’t support the convictions. Prosecutors replied it believes Lindemann’s conviction should be upheld.
Lindemann’s attorneys filed their final brief Friday. Among its arguments: the state misrepresented the record before the court, there is no evidence Lindemann saw the other boat, the jury should have been picked from outside Winnebago County, a warden shouldn’t have been allowed to testify as an expert, and the state shouldn’t have introduced the civil concept of ‘carelessness.’
“In the end, this case turns on those five questions and the Court’s adherence to two first principles of appellate law. First, the State is allowed reasonable inferences from the record, but it can’t heap inference upon inference to establish a fact necessary to sustain a conviction. And second, the State cannot refashion the record to provide reasoning that the lower court didn’t give. Applying those principles and answering those five questions means that Lindemann’s convictions for counts 1 and 2 must be set aside or, at the very least, a new trial must be ordered,” wrote attorney Joseph Bugni.
Separately, the Wisconsin Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers filed what’s known as a ‘friend of the court’ brief, arguing the jury selection process was faulty, and a new trial is in order.
Oral arguments are not planned. It will likely be weeks or months before a decision is released.
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