On Point blog, page 193 of 214
Reasonable Suspicion – Stop – Basis – Traffic Offense – Tarrying at Stop Sign
State v. Lawrence J. Fields, 2000 WI App 218, 239 Wis.2d 38, 619 N.W.2d 279
For Fields: Daniel Goggin
Issue: Whether the police stop of a car, merely because it had lingered at a stop sign for a few seconds, was supported by reasonable suspicion.
Holding: To ask the question is to answer it. This was, at least in the cop’s mind, a case of premature evasion.
§ 940.20(1), Battery by Prisoner — Probationer
State v. James T. Fitzgerald, 2000 WI App 55, 233 Wis. 2d 584, 608 N.W.2d 391
For Fitzgerald: Daniel P. Dunn
Issue: Whether a probationer in custody under a probation hold is necessarily a “prisoner” within the battery by prisoner statute, Wis. Stat. § 940.20(1).
Holding: Because a “prisoner” is someone confined as a result of a violation of the law; and because probation rules and conditions have the force of law,
Expectation of Privacy — Abandoned Property
State v. Robert C. Knight, 2000 WI App 16, 232 Wis.2d 305, 606 N.W.2d 291
For Knight: Scott B. Taylor.
Issue: Whether the seizure of files earmarked for destruction by a disbarred attorney violated the fourth amendment.
Holding: The files, which the disbarred attorney had turned over to a third party for destruction, had been abandoned and therefore no search and seizure occurred within the meaning of the fourth amendment.
Exigency — Emergency Doctrine — Warrantless Entry to Check on Welfare of Child
State v. Rick R. Rome, 2000 WI App 243, 239 Wis.2d 491, 620 N.W.2d 225
For Rome: William E. Schmaal, SPD, Madison Appellate
Issue/Holding: Police entry into a home and subsequent seizure of drugs in a closet was justified under the emergency doctrine:
¶12 In State v. Pires, 55 Wis. 2d 597, 201 N.W.2d 153 (1972), the Wisconsin Supreme Court approved the emergency rule as an exception to the warrant requirement,
Exigency — Community Caretaker Entry of Residence, Suicide Prevention — “Protective Sweep”
State v. Walter Horngren, 2000 WI App 177, 238 Wis.2d 347, 617 N.W.2d 508
For Horngren: James M. Weber
Issue/Holding1:
¶10 Horngren contends that the police entry, in response to a suicide threat, was made pursuant to WIS. STAT. § 51.15, “Emergency detention.” Therefore, he argues that the entry occurred while the officers were “engaging in traditional law enforcement duties,” not community caretaker duties. We disagree.
§ 943.10, Burglary – Sufficiency of Evidence – Fingerprint Evidence
State v. Dennis E. Scott, 2000 WI App 51, 234 Wis. 2d 129, 608 N.W.2d 753
For Scott: Joseph E. Redding
Issue: Whether the evidence was sufficient to support conviction for burglary/theft.
Holding: Evidence that defendant’s fingerprint was found on the “dock station” from which a lap-top was stolen from an office that sold only to other businesses and was not open to the public; and that defendant neither had worked nor had permission to be there sufficed to support the conviction.
§ 943.10(1)(a), Burglary – Entry to Commit Felony (Bail Jumping, § 946.49(1)(b))
State v. Jerome G. Semrau, 2000 WI App 54, 233 Wis. 2d 508, 608 N.W.2d 376
For Semrau: John D. Lubarsky, SPD, Madison Appellate
Issue: Whether the commission of felony bail jumping, by entering the complainant’s home in violation of bond conditions, supports burglary-entry of dwelling with intent to commit felony.
Holding: The underlying felony component of burglary must be a crime against persons or property; Semrau’s “core conduct”
§ 943.38, Forgery – Endorsement with Fictitious Name as Commercially Acceptable Practice
State v. Scot A. Czarnecki, 2000 WI App 155, 237 Wis.2d 794, 615 N.W.2d 672
For Czarnecki: Patrick M. Donnelly, SPD, Madison Appellate
Issue: Whether use of an assumed name in endorsing a check may subject the endorser to forgery charge.
Holding:
¶7 In further support of his challenge to the sufficiency of the evidence, Czarnecki argues that even if he endorsed the checks with the surname “Dougan,” there was nothing false or unlawful about these endorsements.
§ 946.49, Bail Jumping — Condition Restricting Contact with Individual
State v. Peter J. Schaab, 2000 WI App 204, 238 Wis. 2d 598, 617 N.W.2d 872
For Schaab: Michael G. Artery
Issue: Whether the evidence supported bindover on bail jumping, where the allegedly violated bond condition allowed Schaab to have “incidental contact at work” with an individual, and Schaab was seen talking to the individual at the work site after Schaab was no longer employed there.
Holding: Bail jumping requires intentional violation of a bond condition,
Arrest — Probable Cause — Citizen-Informant — Connection Between Defendant and Deceased
State v. Joel L. Ritchie, 2000 WI App 136, 237 Wis.2d 664, 614 N.W.2d 837
For Ritchie: Stephen G. Bauer
Holding: Various informants were sufficiently reliable to support probable cause: though they weren’t expressly identified as citizen informants, they wree not suspects but, rather, “were ordinary persons who answered questions and provided information in response to a police investigation of a crime.” ¶15. (Note: though not mentioned by the court,