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State v. Fonte8/4/2004
On July 16, 2001, several days after attending a concert at Alpine Valley, Fonte and a group of friends gathered in Lake Geneva. Fonte and his friends rented a motorboat to spend the day on Geneva Lake before they went their separate ways. The group included Fonte, Kelly Pleffner, Chad Mattingly, Traci Paladino, Lee Bovarnick, and Christopher Gibbs. Gibbs was the first driver of the boat. The group constructed a makeshift floating tube out of life jackets so people could be towed behind the boat, and Fonte was the first person to be towed.
. Sometime thereafter, when Fonte was back in the boat, at least four people jumped into the water to swim, including Pleffner, Paladino and Gibbs. Pleffner testified that the motor was idling and the boat was drifting while they swam. Pleffner saw the boat coming towards her when it was approximately five feet away. She attempted to dive below the surface to avoid it, and felt the bottom of the boat scrape her side. When Pleffner returned to the surface of the water, she saw Gibbs and heard someone ask, "Where's Traci?" Pleffner then noticed that there was blood in the water. Several members of the group jumped into the water to search for Paladino. The Water Safety Patrol arrived and shortly thereafter a dive team took up the search.
. Walworth county sheriff's deputies took the group to the City of Lake Geneva Police Department where officers separated them for individual questioning. Walworth County Deputy Sheriff Jeffery Patek interviewed Fonte at the police department. Fonte identified himself as Anthony Michaels to the officer. Patek smelled intoxicants coming from Fonte and noticed that his eyes were bloodshot and his speech was impaired. Patek asked Fonte if he had been drinking and Fonte stated that he had not. Patek performed the horizontal gaze nystagmus test on Fonte. Based on the results of this test, Patek concluded that Fonte was "under the influence of intoxicants." Ten members of the group of friends were given breathalyzer tests. The test detected the presence of alcohol in Fonte's system, registering a blood alcohol content (BAC) of .06% at approximately 9:00 p.m.
. Patek asked Fonte if there was anything Fonte needed to tell him. Fonte told Patek that when the swimmers jumped into the water he believed he had put the boat into neutral. Fonte then stated that he stood up from the controls and walked away. Patek placed Fonte under arrest and Fonte submitted to a blood draw at approximately 10:42 p.m., the results of which indicated that his BAC was .052%.
. Fonte was charged with homicide by the operation or handling of a vehicle while under the influence of an intoxicant and with a prohibited alcohol concentration contrary to Wis. Stat. § 940.09(1)(a) and (b). Paladino's body was recovered approximately five months after the accident and the parties stipulated that the boat propeller caused her death.
. Fonte identified himself as Anthony Michaels at his first court appearance on July 17, 2001. At his next appearance on July 23, 2001, the State disclosed that the defendant's real name was Peter Fonte. The State further indicated that Fonte had used other aliases in the past and that he had pending warrants for his failure to appear in court.
. On February 28, 2002, the trial court heard Fonte's motion for a change of venue. Fonte argued that his right to a fair trial was violated because extensive pretrial publicity significantly prejudiced his ability to have an impartial and unbiased jury. Newspaper articles reported that Fonte had been the driver of the boat that hit Paladino, that Fonte had been drunk at the time, and that Fonte had a "long multi-state criminal history." Between July 16, 2001, a
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