State v. Royce Markel Wheeler, 2013 WI App 53; case activity Police went to a duplex in response to domestic abuse complaint from what they believed was the lower unit, with the caller saying she had been assaulted and was bleeding. (¶¶2, 4-6). After officers spent some 20 minutes knocking on the duplex’s common front… Read more
C. Warrant unnecessary
State v. Antoine Lamont Massey, 2012AP1124-CR, District 1, 3/5/13; court of appeals decision (not recommended for publication); case activity A daughter of the leaseholder had both actual and apparent authority to consent to a search of the apartment, including the back bedroom in which drugs were found, applying, among other cases, State v. Tomlinson, 2002 WI… Read more
State v. Daniel Cervantes, 2011AP1858-CR, District 1, 2/12/13; court of appeals decision (not recommended for publication); case activity The police lacked probable cause to arrest Cervantes when he opened the door of his apartment (¶¶10-16); there were neither exigent circumstances nor community caretaker grounds for the police to enter Cervantes’s apartment following his arrest to do… Read more
State v. Robert L. Tatum, Case No. 2011AP2439-CR, District 1, 1/29/13; court of appeals decision (not recommended for publication); case activity Denial of right to self-representation – competence to represent oneself The circuit court properly denied Tatum the right to represent himself based on his limited education and understanding of legal procedures, as evidenced by… Read more
State v. Derik J. Wantland, 2013 WI App 36, petition for review granted 11/21/13; case activity It was not unreasonable for the police to search a briefcase found in a vehicle during a traffic stop after the driver consented to a search of the car and the passenger did not unequivocally assert ownership of the… Read more
State v. Juan G. Gracia, 2013 WI 15; affirming unpublished court of appeals decision; case activity Warrantless Entry – “community caretaker” exception Entry into Gracia’s bedroom by police, who had linked him to a serious traffic accident, was justified by the community caretaker doctrine because the police had an objectively reasonable basis to believe Gracia… Read more
State v. Edward C. Lefler, 2013 WI App 22; case activity Probable cause found to search trunk of vehicle for evidence of burglary-related crimes, after an indisputably lawful stop for drunk driving: ¶11 … “If probable cause justifies the search of a lawfully stopped vehicle, it justifies the search of every part of the vehicle and its… Read more
State v. Robert Edwin Burkhardt, 2009AP2174-CR, District 1/4, 12/6/12 court of appeals decision (not recommended for publication); case activity Search & Seizure – Consent Consent to search isn’t vitiated by nonpretextual threat to obtain a search warrant: ¶16 … (I)t is well established that, “[t]hreatening to obtain a search warrant does not vitiate consent if ‘the… Read more