On Point blog, page 22 of 24

OWI – PBT – Probable Cause to Administer

State v. Guy W. Colstad, 2003 WI App 25
For Colstad: T. Christopher Kelly

Issue/Holding: Authority to administer a preliminary breath test requires probable cause to believe a drunk driving law has been violated. ¶23. Probable cause existed here, given the driver’s (mild) odor of intoxicants; the “suspicious circumstance” of the collision (i.e., with a child on an unobstructed street, and the driver allegedly watching for children);

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Arrest — Probable Cause — Specific Examples: Homicide — Husband’s Involvement in Wife’s Disappearance

State v. Daniel H. Kutz, 2003 WI App 205, PFR filed 10/27/03
For Kutz: T. Christopher Kelly

Issue/Holding: The police had probable cause to arrest Kutz for involvement in his wife’s disappearance where: there was reason to believe that she had suffered serious harm given that she hadn’t returned to her mother’s house as expected, her family had unsuccessfully looked for her, and it was unlike her not to notify her family of a change in plans,

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Arrest — Probable Cause — OWI

State v. James L. Larson, 2003 WI App 150
For Larson: Rex Anderegg

Issue/Holding:

¶16. To determine if probable cause exists, the court must consider whether “the totality of the circumstances within the arresting officer’s knowledge at the time of the arrest would lead a reasonable police officer to believe … that the defendant was operating a motor vehicle while under the influence of an intoxicant.” 

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Search & Seizure – Applicability of Exclusionary Rule – Violation of Nonconstitutional Right – Investigative Stop Outside Officer’s Jurisdiction

State v. James W. Keith, 2003 WI App 47, PFR filed 3/5/03
For Keith: Christopher A. Mutschler

Issue/Holding: Evidence not suppressible merely because seized by officer effectuating stop outside of his or her jurisdiction: there is no “reason to ignore the well-established rule that suppression is required only when evidence is obtained in violation of a constitutional right or in violation of a statute providing suppression as a remedy,”

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Arrest – Legislator’s Exemption

State v. Brian B. Burke, 2002 WI App 291, PFR filed 11/29/02
For Burke: Robert H. Friebert

Issue/Holding:

¶22. We conclude that the members of the Wisconsin Constitutional Convention did not intend to create a legislative privilege from criminal arrest and prosecution when they included article IV, section 15 in the Wisconsin Constitution. The phrase “treason, felony and breach of the peace” in that section was intended to mean “all crimes.”

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Arrest — Search Incident to Arrest — Warrantless Blood Test — Person Offers to Take Breath Test

State v. Jay D. Krajewski, 2002 WI 97, affirming unpublished decision of court of appeals
For Krawjewski: Christopher A. Mutschler

Issue/Holding:

¶3. … (A) warrantless nonconsensual blood draw from a person arrested on probable cause for a drunk driving offense is constitutional based on the exigent circumstances exception to the warrant requirement of the Fourth Amendment, even if the person offers to submit to a chemical test other than the blood test chosen by law enforcement,

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Arrest — Probable Cause — Collective Knowledge Doctrine, Applied to Informant

State v. Eddie McAttee, 2001 WI App 262
For McAttee: Russell D. Bohach

Issue: Whether McAttee’s arrest was supported by probable cause.

Holding:

¶11. First, Detective Kuchenreuther was entitled to rely on Officer Smith’s knowledge of the confidential informant. See State v. Black, 2000 WI App 175, ¶17 n.4, 238 Wis. 2d 203, 617 N.W.2d 210 (arresting officer may rely on collective knowledge of police force conveyed to the officer prior to arrest),

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Arrest — Search Incident to Arrest — Probable Cause to Arrest Exists, but Officer Exercises Discretion Not to Arrest

State v. Robert F. Hart, 2001 WI App 283
For Hart: John Deitrich

Issue: Whether seizure of evidence may be sustained on a search-incident-to-arrest rationale, where the officer had probable cause to arrest, but was not going to arrest.

Holding:

¶11. What happens, however, when the police officer does not intend to make an arrest? Here, it is clear there was no intent on the part of the police officer to search Hart incident to the inevitable formal arrest for OWI.

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Arrest — Traffic Offense — Safety Glass Law

State v. Michael M. Longcore II, 2001 WI App 15, on appeal after remand of State v. Longcore I, 226 Wis. 2d 1, 594 N.W.2d 412 (Ct. App. 1999)
For Longcore: William E. Schmaal, SPD, Madison Appellate

Issue: Whether replacing a vehicle’s glass window with a plastic sheet violates the safety glass statute, § 347.43(1), so as to provide probable cause to arrest.

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Exigency — Automobile Exception to Warrant Requirement

State v. Robert J. Pallone, 2000 WI 77, 236 Wis. 2d 162, 613 N.W.2d 568, affirming State v. Pallone, 228 Wis. 2d 272, 596 N.W.2d 882
For Pallone: Steven J. Watson

Issue: Whether the search of a vehicle passenger’s duffel bag, following the driver’s arrest for the forfeiture offense of having open intoxicants, was proper.

Holding: The search was justified as both incident to arrest and as based on probable cause.

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