On Point blog, page 3 of 3

Stop – Basis – Reasonable Suspicion, “Evasion and Flight”

State v. Charles E. Young, 2006 WI 98, affirming 2004 WI App 227
For Young: Martha K. Askins, SPD, Madison Appellate

Issue/Holding: Refusal to obey an officer’s command to halt reinforces extant reasonable suspicion to stop the individual:

¶73      Officer Alfredson testified that after he ordered Young to return to the car the first time, Young “turned and started walking away.”

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Obstructing / Resisting, § 946.41 – “Lawful Authority,” Established by Probable Cause to Arrest

State v. Charles E. Young, 2006 WI 98, affirming 2004 WI App 227
For Young: Martha K. Askins, SPD, Madison Appellate

Issue/Holding: By fleeing from a police command to stop, the defendant provided probable cause to arrest for obstructing, and the officer therefore was acting with “lawful authority” under § 946.41(1), ¶¶77-78.

Also see U.S. v. Muhammad,

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Obstructing / Resisting, § 946.41 – “Lawful Authority,” Suspect’s “Evasion and Flight”

State v. Charles E. Young, 2006 WI 98, affirming 2004 WI App 227
For Young: Martha K. Askins, SPD, Madison Appellate

Issue/Holding: Refusal to obey an officer’s command to halt reinforces extant reasonable suspicion to stop the individual:

¶73      Officer Alfredson testified that after he ordered Young to return to the car the first time, Young “turned and started walking away.”

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Guilty Pleas – Factual Basis – Particular Instances: Obstructing (“Lawful Authority” of Police Officer)

State v. Anna Annina, 2006 WI App 202
For Annina: Robert R. Henak

Issue/Holding: Although police entry into the defendant’s house was pursuant to a search warrant later declared to be invalid, the defendant’s acts in response to that entry amounted to disorderly conduct which did allow for an arrest under lawful police authority; defendant could therefore be convicted for resisting a lawful arrest for disorderly conduct,

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Obstructing, § 946.41 – Exculpatory Denial Exception Doesn’t Extend to False Accusation of Others

State v. Brent R. Reed, 2005 WI 53, affirming as modified 2004 WI App 98, and overruling State v. Joseph M. Espinoza, 2002 WI App 51
For Reed: David H. Weber

Issue/Holding:

¶21    … Wisconsin JI——Criminal 1766A (2003) accurately sets forth the elements of obstructing an officer based on giving false information to police as follows:

1. 

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Obstructing, § 946.41(1) — Mere denial of Culapbility of Crime under Investigation

State v. Joseph M. Espinoza, 2002 WI App 51, subsequently overruled by State v. Brent R. Reed, 2005 WI 53
For Espinoza: Steven P. Weiss, SPD, Madison Appellate

Issue: Whether a suspect’s mere denial of guilt of the crime under investigation may in and of itself establish probable cause for the separate crime of obstructing, § 946.41(1).

Holding:

¶20.

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Resisting, § 946.41(1); Battery to Officer, § 940.20(2) – “official capacity”/”lawful authority

State v. Leslie M. Haynes, 2001 WI App 266, PFR filed 11/2/01
For Haynes: Gerald F. Kuchler

Issue: Whether “the arresting officer from Waukesha county was not acting in his official capacity or with lawful authority as a police officer when he asked [Haynes] to perform field sobriety tests, arrested her and transported her to a hospital for blood tests because the detention and arrest took place in Milwaukee county.”

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