B. Search warrants

State v. Travis M. Ranta, 2012AP1663, District 4 (1-judge, ineligible for publication); case activity Police were called to a campsite where the defendant admitted to drinking with underage individuals.  An hour later, another officer was called to the same site, where he observed the defendant behaving in a “belligerent, uncooperative [and] loud” manner.  A PBT… Read more

Bailey v. United States, USSC No. 11-770, 2/19/13 United States Supreme Court decision, reversing and remanding United States v. Bailey, 652 F.3d 197 (2d Cir. 2011) The Court holds it was not reasonable for police to seize an individual incident to the search of the individual’s residence when the individual was not in the “immediate… Read more

State v. James G. Brereton, 2013 WI 17, affirming 2011 WI App 127; case activity Search and seizure of vehicle — attaching GPS tracking device After lawfully stopping Brereton, the police removed him from his car, towed it to a lot, and, after obtaining a warrant, attached a GPS tracking device. The car was returned… Read more

Dane County v. Steven D. Koehn, 2012AP1718, District 4, 1/10/13 Court of appeals decision (1 judge; ineligible for publication); case activity Motion to suppress evidence of intoxication properly denied because arresting officer had probable cause to administer a preliminary breath test. The court of appeals rejects Koehn’s claims that the officer’s failure to testify about… Read more

State v. Bobby L. Tate, 2012AP336-CR, District 1, 12/27/12;  court of appeals decision (not recommended for publication), petition for review granted 6/12/13; case activity Order allowing police to track the current location of cell phone upheld, rejecting Tate’s argument that it constituted an illegal search warrant: ¶8        The heart of Tate’s argument on appeal is that the order… Read more

Village of Little Chute v. John D. Bunnell, 2012AP1266, District 3, 11/14/12 court of appeals decision (1-judge, ineligible for publication); case activity Officer’s failure to perform FSTs pursuant to established protocols (HGN test requires 4-second pass-of-the-eye, and officer used 2-second pass), “compromises the validity of the test results,” and therefore “cannot be used to support a determination of probable cause to arrest,” ¶19… Read more

Winnebago County v. Anastasia G. Christenson, 2012AP1189, District 2, 10/31/12 court of appeals decision (1-judge, ineligible for publication); case activity Probable Cause – PBT, § 343.303 ¶11      At the time Putzer administered the PBT to Christenson, he was aware that she had driven her car into a ditch, smelled of “intoxicating beverages” around midnight on Saturday… Read more