On Point blog, page 116 of 142
Search Warrant – Probable Cause – Online, Credit Card Purchase of Child Pornography
State v. Dennis M. Gralinski, 2007 WI App 233
For Gralinski: Martin Kohler; Craig Powell, PFR filed 10/5/07
Issue: Whether use of the defendant’s credit card number to purchase online membership to a child pornography site established probable cause for a search warrant of the defendant’s home.
Holding:
¶12 Gralinski argues that the special agent’s affidavit did not demonstrate probable cause for searching his home.
Warrants – Probable Cause – “Nexus” Between Objects Sought and Place to be Searched
State v. Christopher D. Sloan, 2007 WI App 146
For Sloan: Thomas E. Hayes
Issue/Holding: There was an insufficiently established “nexus” between the contraband found in a package and its return address to support a search warrant for that address:
¶31 What Hennen does not describe in his affidavit is critical to our analysis. He never tells the reader that he believes Sloan is,
Search Warrant – Staleness – Computerized Child Pornography Purchase 2+-Years Earlier
State v. Dennis M. Gralinski, 2007 WI App 233
For Gralinski: Martin Kohler; Craig Powell, PFR filed 10/5/07
Issue/Holding:
¶26 Gralinski next contends that the warrant was invalid because it was based on stale information such that no inference could be drawn that the items sought in the warrant would be located in his home two and one-half years after the membership to the Regpay website was purchased.
Wisconsin Electronic Surveillance Control Law, § 968.28 – Limited to “Enumerated Offenses” – Remedy for Invalid Wiretap Order
State v. Jeffrey Allen House, 2007 WI 78, affirming unpublished opinion
For House: Michael J. Steinle
Issue/Holding1:¶
¶12 House contends that because money laundering, racketeering, and continuing criminal enterprise are not specifically enumerated crimes for which wiretaps are authorized under the Wisconsin wiretap statutes, the order authorizing the wiretap in this case was unlawful. We begin our analysis by examining the words of Wisconsin’s wiretap statute,
Forfeiture – Dismissal with Prejudice, Failure to Hold Timely Hearing on Petition, § 961.555(2)
State v. Lamont D. Powell, 2007 WI App 127
For Powell: Nicholas C. Zales
Issue/Holding:
¶3 The sixty-day limit in Wis. Stat. § 961.555(2)(b) is mandatory and a forfeiture petition must be dismissed unless the requisite hearing is held within the sixty-day period because a person may not be deprived of his or her property “for an indefinite time” without a prompt judicial assessment of whether forfeiture is justified.
Reasonable Suspicion – Basis – Unusual Nervousness and Behavior, as Ground to Extend Routine Traffic Stop
State v. Philip R. Bons, 2007 WI App 124, PFR filed 4/24/07
For Bons: Vladimir M. Gorokhovsky
Issue: Whether a concededly proper traffic stop (for speeding) was extended without sufficient cause when the officer, after issuing the ticket and returning the license, asked to search the car.
Holding:
¶15 We conclude that Ramstack could have formed a reasonable suspicion that Bons was engaged in illegal activity,
Reasonable Suspicion – Basis – Traffic Stop – Vehicle’s Owner Known to Have Revoked License
State v. Frank C. Newer, 2007 WI App 236, PFR filed 11/8/07; prior history: Certification, 8/8/07, denied, 9/10/07
For Newer: Francis R. Lettenberger
Issue/Holding: The police have reasonable suspicion to stop a vehicle whose owner’s DL is known to have been revoked, given no reason to think someone other than the owner is behind the wheel:
¶2 We now reverse the circuit court’s suppression of the evidence and remand for further proceedings.
Reasonable Suspicion – Basis – Traffic Stop – Pretext
State v. Frank C. Newer, 2007 WI App 236, PFR filed 11/8/07; prior history: Certification, 8/8/07, denied, 9/10/07
For Newer: Francis R. Lettenberger
Issue/Holding: ¶4, n. 2.
The circuit court also refused to consider the alternative grounds of the observed speeding violation because the officer “wasn’t using that as a basis for the stop.” We note that the officer’s subjective motivation for making a stop is not the issue;
Frisk of Automobile – Reasonable Suspicion: Single Factor – “Furtive” Movement
State v. Gary A. Johnson, 2007 WI 32, affirming 2006 WI App 15
For Johnson: Eileen A. Hirsch, SPD, Madison Appellate
Issue/Holding:
¶34 Turning to the present case, the State contends that Johnson’s movement in the interior of the car was a sufficiently compelling factor to justify Stillman’s protective search of Johnson’s car. The State asserts that the court of appeals improperly concluded this single factor,
Reasonable Suspicion — Stop, Duration, Routine Traffic Violation
State v. Gary A. Johnson, 2007 WI 32, affirming 2006 WI App 15
For Johnson: Eileen A. Hirsch, SPD, Madison Appellate
Issue/Holding:
¶45 Another factor weighs strongly against the reasonableness of the protective search in this case. Before Johnson was asked to exit the vehicle and submit to a pat down, he gave Stillman paperwork showing that his vehicle had passed an emissions test recently,