On Point blog, page 57 of 60

Reasonable Suspicion – Stop – Duration – Automobile — Prolonged to determine if Driver Had Valid License

State v. Vernell T. Williams, 2002 WI App 306
For Williams: Michael A. Haakenson
Issue: Whether a stop whose purpose (to investigate possible connection to an earlier crime) had dissipated was unlawfully prolonged by a checking the driver’s license.

Holding:

¶19. In State v. Ellenbecker, 159 Wis. 2d 91, 464 N.W.2d 427 (Ct. App. 1990), we held that a request for a driver’s license from a driver whose vehicle was disabled,

Read full article >

Reasonable Suspicion — Stop — Duration — Prolonged to Seek Consent to Search Automobile

State v. Vernell T. Williams, 2002 WI App 306
For Williams: Michael A. Haakenson
Issue/Holding:

¶24. It is true that when an officer has fulfilled the purpose of a lawful stop, the officer’s request for permission to search the vehicle does not, in itself, transform the stop into an unlawful one. State v. Gaulrapp, 207 Wis. 2d 600, 558 N.W.2d 696 (Ct.

Read full article >

Reasonable Suspicion – Stop – Basis: Matching Description of Automobile Under Investigation for Earlier Crime

State v. Vernell T. Williams, 2002 WI App 306
For Williams: Michael A. Haakenson

Issue: Whether reasonable suspicion supported the stop of defendant’s car four days after a reported domestic abuse incident, because the car generally matched the description of the suspect’s car.

Holding:

¶14. We conclude that Officer Garcia did have knowledge of facts sufficient to provide a reasonable suspicion that the driver of the vehicle had been involved in the domestic abuse incident.

Read full article >

Reasonable Suspicion – Stop – Basis – Test – Within Residence

State v. Jeffrey Stout, 2002 WI App 41, PFR filed 2/21/02
For Stout: James L. Fullin, Jr., SPD, Madison Appellate

Issue: Whether Stout was seized when police entered the residence.

Holding:

¶21. … (W)e are left with the presence of three officers in the room and whether their presence, absent the display of a weapon, physical contact or use of language, was sufficient to establish a seizure.

Read full article >

Arrest — Traffic Offense — Duration — Effect on Consent to Search

State v. Charles A. Wallace, 2002 WI App 61
For Wallace: Martha K. Askins, SPD, Madison Appellate

Issue: Whether an arrest for a traffic stop, lawful at inception, was unlawfully prolonged in order to obtain the driver’s consent to a strip search not reasonably related to the traffic violation.

Holding: This issue is “closely related” to one raised in State v. Gaulrapp,

Read full article >

Reasonable Suspicion – Stop – Duration – General

State v. Kelsey C.R., 2001 WI 54
For Kelsey C. R.: Susan Alesia, SPD, Madison Appellate

Issue: Whether Kelsey’s detention was prolonged beyond its proper purpose.

Holding: The operative principle is settled: “an investigative detention … must last only long enough to fulfill the purpose of the stop.” ¶44. Applying that principle — (3-vote lead opinion:) The purpose of the stop was to dispel the idea that she was up to criminal activity;

Read full article >

Reasonable Suspicion – Stop – Basis – Flight

State v. Kelsey C.R., 2001 WI 54
For Kelsey C. R.: Susan Alesia, SPD, Madison Appellate

Issue: Whether the police seizure of Kelsey, after she fled upon encountering them, was based on reasonable suspicion that she had committed, or was about to commit, a crime.

Holding: (Lead, 3-vote opinion:)

¶42 … Upon de novo review, we conclude that the circuit court’s determination that Kelsey’s appearance,

Read full article >

Reasonable Suspicion – Frisk – Placing Person in Police Squad

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

Issue: Whether the need to transport in a police vehicle a person, who is not in custody, is itself an exigency justifying a pat-down search for weapons.

Holding:

¶17. … With five members of the court declining to adopt a per ser rule, the law in Wisconsin is that the need to transport a person in a police vehicle is not,

Read full article >

Reasonable Suspicion – Stop – Basis – Unidentified Cell Phone Caller

Paul Rutzinski, 2001 WI 22, affirming unpublished opinion of court of appeals
For Rutzinski: Craig A. Mastantuono, Maureen Fitzgerald

Issue: Whether an unidentified motorist’s cell phone report of suspicious driving justified a stop.

Holding:

¶38 In sum, we hold that the tip in this case provided sufficient justification for an investigative stop of Rutzinski. First, the tip contained sufficient indicia of the informant’s reliability: the information in the tip exposed the informant to possible identification and,

Read full article >

Reasonable Suspicion – Stop – Basis – anonymous tip

State v. Roosevelt Williams, 2001 WI 21, on remand, 529 U.S. 1050 (2000), previous historyState v. Roosevelt Williams, 225 Wis. 2d 159, 591 N.W.2d 823 (1999); State v. Williams, 214 Wis. 2d 412, 570 N.W.2d 892 (Ct. App. 1997)
For Williams: Melinda Swartz, SPD, Milwaukee Appellate.

Issue: “(W)hether an anonymous tip containing a contemporaneous report of drug trafficking,

Read full article >