STATE of Wisconsin, Plaintiff-Appellant, v. James Beryl BRADY, Defendant-Respondent.
No. 84-1886-CR
Supreme Court
Argued October 29, 1985.—Decided June 4, 1986.
388 N.W.2d 151
For the defendant-respondent there were briefs and oral argument by Robert D. Junig, Sr., Beloit.
Amicus curiae brief was filed by Christine M. Wiseman, Milwaukee, for Wisconsin Civil Liberties Union Foundation, Inc.
WILLIAM G. CALLOW, J. This case arises from a John Doe investigation into fund-raising activities in Rock county. Judge Edwin C. Dahlberg, the presiding judge at the John Doe proceeding, issued a material witness arrest warrant for James Beryl Brady. Brady was arrested pursuant to the warrant and consented to a search of his premises. After being warned of his Miranda rights, he voluntarily made allegedly inculpatory statements. The state then charged Brady with theft by fraud, contrary to
Brady moved the circuit court for Rock county, Judge J. Richard Long, to suppress the evidence discovered after the arrest. He asserted that his arrest was illegal because the John Doe judge lacked authority to issue a material witness arrest warrant. The circuit court agreed that a John Doe judge lacks authority to issue material witness arrest warrants under
A material witness arrest warrant cannot be issued in violation of the
The state acknowledges that the law of the case doctrine generally restrains a circuit court from reconsidering an order that an appellate court has affirmed.
“[A] decision on an issue of law made at one stage of a case becomes a binding precedent to be followed in successive stages of the same litigation.” 1B Moore‘s Federal Practice par. 0.404[1] at 117 (2d ed. 1984).
The state makes two arguments to support its assertion that the law of the case doctrine should not preclude reconsideration in these circumstances. First, the state argues that the issue upon which it seeks reconsideration, adoption of a good-faith exception, was not decided in the prior appeal. Second, it contends that the change in the law manifested in Leon comes within an exception to the general rule restricting reconsideration.
Brady maintains that the suppression order is the law of the case because of the court of appeals’ affirmance. He argues that the circuit court is prohibited from modifying or reviewing the suppression order in any respect. Granting that a circuit court may have the power to reconsider a prior order in some circumstances, Brady argues that the court is not obliged to do so and did not abuse its discretion in refusing to reconsider its suppression order in this case.
In McGovern v. Eckhart, 200 Wis. 64, 227 N.W. 300 (1929), we departed from our tradition of rigid adherence to the law of the case doctrine and held that we could reconsider a prior ruling in a case “whenever cogent, substantial, and proper reasons exist.” Id. at 78. “[I]t is within the power of the courts to disregard the rule of ‘law of the case’ in the interests of justice.” Id. at 75. The McGovern case, however, did not speak expressly to the issue of a circuit court‘s authority to reconsider a decision that an appellate court had affirmed at an earlier stage in the proceedings. Nonetheless, two of the reasons for allowing an appel-
“[A] decision of a legal issue or issues by an appellate court establishes the ‘law of the case’ and must be followed in all subsequent proceedings in the same case in the trial court or on a later appeal in the appellate court, unless the evidence on a subsequent trial was substantially different, [or] controlling authority has since made a contrary decision of the law applicable to such issues.” White v. Murtha, 377 F.2d 428, 431-32 (5th Cir. 1967).
To conclude that a circuit court has the authority, in some circumstances, to reconsider an order affirmed by an appellate court does not compel the conclusion that the circuit court must reconsider such an order whenever those circumstances arise. Because the law of the case is a question of court practice, and not an inexorable rule, McGovern, 200 Wis. 2d at 75-76, it requires the exercise of judicial discretion. While the circuit court may have acted within its discretion in denying the state‘s motion for reconsideration in this case, however, it is within our discretion, now that the case is before us, to review any issues of law which the case presents. We declined to review the issues on the merits during the initial appeal of the nonfinal suppression order. Subsequently, the Supreme Court issued its decision in Leon in which it created a good-faith exception to the exclusionary rule. The court of appeals certified this case to us in light of the Leon decision. Accordingly, we choose to exercise our authority to review the propriety of the circuit court‘s suppression order.
The circuit court concluded that the arrest warrant was invalid and ordered the suppression of any evidence which resulted from the arrest because the court believed that a John Doe proceeding does not fit within the definition of a felony criminal proceeding. The court equated a “criminal proceeding” to a “criminal action.” Relying upon
The state maintains that the material witness arrest warrant was valid. The state argues that Judge Dahlberg had authority to issue a warrant under
Brady argues that the material witness arrest warrant was invalid. He contends that a John Doe judge does not have authority to issue such warrants under
Were we to accept the state‘s argument and hold that a John Doe judge has either the statutory authority or the inherent authority to issue material witness arrest warrants, our resolution of that question would not be dispositive. Regardless of which authority Judge Dahlberg relied upon in issuing Brady‘s material witness arrest warrant, this case turns on a more fundamental question—whether the warrant was issued in conformity with the
A material witness arrest warrant cannot be issued in violation of the
Judge Dahlberg issued the material witness arrest warrant in reliance upon an affidavit prepared by Captain Pittner of the City of Beloit Police Department.1
The affidavit contains nothing resembling an affirmative assertion that the police had tried to obtain Brady‘s presence by subpoena or that the police had reason to believe that obtaining his presence by subpoena would be impracticable. The affidavit indicates that Brady is from West Virginia and had been in Beloit for only eight days, but that in itself is not a sufficient basis for the judge to find that Brady was likely to leave the state or unlikely to respond to a subpoena, especially when the affidavit also indicates that Brady was entirely cooperative when Captain Pittner talked with him two days prior to the issuance of the material witness arrest warrant. Notably, the material witness arrest warrant itself states that Judge Dahlberg found probable cause only with regard to Brady‘s status as a material witness.
Relying upon the Supreme Court‘s decision in United States v. Leon, supra, however, the state argues that even if the arrest was illegal, suppression of the evidence is an inappropriate remedy because the officers acted in good-faith reliance upon the material witness arrest warrant in arresting Brady. Leon created a good-faith exception to the exclusionary rule. The exception applies in situations in which the exclusion of evidence would not promote the exclusionary rule‘s purpose, which is to deter police conduct in violation of the
We conclude that this case is not a proper vehicle for deciding whether to adopt a good-faith exception to the exclusionary rule. In Leon the Supreme Court expressly acknowledged that an officer would not “manifest objective good faith in relying on a warrant based on an affidavit ‘so lacking in indicia of probable cause as to render official belief in its existence entirely unreasonable.‘” Leon, 104 S. Ct. at 3422 [quoting Brown v. Illinois, 422 U.S. 590, 611 (1975) (Powell, J., concurring in part)]. The
By the Court.—The order of the circuit court is affirmed.
SHIRLEY S. ABRAHAMSON, J. (concurring). This case comes before this court on certification from the court of appeals to settle a conflict in published opinions of the court of appeals regarding the adoption, for the purposes of the Wisconsin Constitu-
Because the Wisconsin exclusionary rule is “based upon the Wisconsin Constitution,” majority opinion at page 453, independent of an exclusionary rule imposed on the states by the federal Constitution, Hoyer v. State, 180 Wis. 407, 415, 193 N.W. 89 (1923), the parties agree that absent our adopting a good faith exception to the Wisconsin exclusionary rule, the circuit court‘s suppression order must be affirmed.
I agree with the majority‘s conclusion that “this case is not a proper vehicle for deciding whether to adopt a good-faith exception to the exclusionary rule.” At page 454. This case involves a John Doe judge (magistrate) who has no authority to issue material witness warrants. See State v. Brady, 118 Wis. 2d 154, 345 N.W.2d 533 (Ct. App. 1984). By contrast, in Leon the magistrate had authority to issue warrants but the warrant violated the probable cause requirement of the
STEINMETZ, J. (concurring). I agree with the majority‘s holding that there was insufficient evidence presented to the John Doe judge for the material witness warrant to be issued pursuant to
I therefore find unnecessary the discussion which relates a material witness warrant to the
The
This case also does not decide whether and to what extent Miranda warnings are required whenever a material witness arrest warrant is executed. A question about Miranda‘s first two admonitions seemingly exists if interrogation is prohibited. The two cautions include the detainee‘s right to remain silent and the warning that any statements he makes may be used against the person. It may be a long way temporally and geographically from the seizure of the person to the appearance before a judge for the setting of bail. Because volunteered and incriminating statements may be made during that time, the Miranda issue is important to determine the admissibility of such evidence in a criminal proceeding. It appears that other advice in Miranda is inappropriate, i.e., that the detainee has the right to an attorney and to have one appointed at government‘s expense if he is indigent.
By unnecessarily mentioning the
The issues that I perceive arise because the exclusive purpose of the material witness arrest warrant is to bring the person directly before the John Doe judge or to assure his presence by imposing bail. A material witness warrant, therefore, may not authorize the same police conduct as a criminal arrest warrant. Thus, the majority opinion raises unnecessary questions foreign to this case as to the restrictions on police executing a material witness arrest based on the statutory warrant provisions.
Since we do not reach the Leon2 “good faith” exception to the warrant requirement in this case, and we accepted the case through certification, I would affirm the trial court‘s order of suppression. Because the documentation in this record before the John Doe judge was insufficient for the issuance of the material witness warrant, that issue is decisive. The insufficiency in the statutory process is that there is no statement that the witness was intending to leave the jurisdiction, except by innuendo, not even inference, and that he would not have responded to a subpoena. Therefore, we do not get to the issue for which certification of the case was granted.
The concurrence by Justice Abrahamson also is disturbing in its suggestion that the exclusionary rule under
I emphasize that there is no basis in our prior decisions which indicates that
“The federal and many other courts, however, have held that on proper challenge the state will not be permitted to use against a defendant charged with crime evidence which appears to have been seized or obtained by government officials by or through a violation of constitutionally guaranteed rights.” Id. at 412.
The court then decided to “align itself with rulings of the United States Supreme Court” by adopting an exclusionary rule. The court stated:
“For ourselves we elect to stand, as this court has heretofore stood, with the federal and other courts which consider these provisions of the Bill of Rights as embodied in constitutions to be of substance rather than mere tinsel. We hold, therefore, that the evidence challenged in this case was taken by the officers by unlawful search and seizure and contrary to
sec. 11, art. I, Wis. Const. , supra, and was improperly received in evidence against him on the trial in violation of his rights undersec. 8, art. I, Wis. Const.
“This court squarely aligned itself with rulings of the United States supreme court in Thornton v. State, 117 Wis. 338, 341, 93 N.W. 1107, and State v. Murphy, 128 Wis. 201, 207, 107 N.W. 470, each of which cited with approval Boyd v. U.S., 116 U.S. 616, 6 Sup. Ct. 524, and Bram v. U.S., 168 U.S. 532, 18 Sup. Ct. 183, infra.” Id. at 415.
Thus, Hoyer is not an example where this court construed
Finally, I do not believe it appropriate, as the concurring opinion has done, to comment on or attempt to analyze United States v. Leon, since we have stated in the majority opinion that we do not reach the Leon case and its “good faith” exception to the exclusionary rule due to the inadequate affidavits for issuance of the material witness arrest warrant.
I am authorized to state that Mr. JUSTICE LOUIS J. CECI joins this concurring opinion.
LOUIS J. CECI, J. (concurring). Although I join Justice Steinmetz‘s concurrence, I write separately to emphasize the proper characterization of Hoyer v. State, 180 Wis. 407, 193 N.W. 89 (1923). Justice Abrahamson‘s concurrence states that Hoyer stands for the proposition that the exclusionary rule has been established in this jurisdiction on grounds independent of the federal constitution and United States Supreme Court decisions. Although superficially appealing to some, such a proposition may not accurately be inferred from the Hoyer decision. On the contrary, Hoyer
There is no question that the Hoyer court, after noting that
Indeed, there is inherent logic in looking toward the federal courts for guidance in interpreting our own constitution, particularly when the relevant provisions are virtually identical, as here. When the committee on the bill of rights to the Wisconsin constitutional convention drafted a bill of rights, it proposed a section against unreasonable searches and seizures. The section was and is identical in wording to the
Notes
“I, Truett Pittner, being first duly sworn, on oath deposes and states as follows:
“1. That I am Captain of detectives for the City of Beloit Police Department and have been a police officer for the City of Beloit Police Department for approximately fifteen (15) years and that I have total police experience of approximately eighteen (18) years; that your affiant has been conducting an investigation into a solicitation scheme that is being conducted in Beloit, Rock County, Wisconsin, and that in connection with that scheme, he talked with a subject who identified himself as James Brady and Brady informed him that he was the promoter of this scheme and that he was from Morgantown, West Virginia and that he has been in the City of Beloit for only eight (8) days and that he had retained Linda Hurley, amongst others, to operate telephone banks to solicit funds within the greater Beloit community and that this was done under the guise of being a charitable contribution for the Kiwanis Club of Greater Beloit and that he expected to net $27,465.00 and of that amount approximately $4,000.00 would go to the Kiwanis Club and that the remainder would go to Linda Hurley and her telephone solicitors, himself and to the show that is to be put on and attended by handicapped children; Brady further stated that Linda Hurley gets 15% of the solicitations she takes in and that he gets 35% for his promoter[‘]s fees and the remainder is split as previously mentioned; that your affiant talked to Brady on May 19, 1982; and Brady further stated that he does not go out and actively solicit various organizations to give handicapped children tickets to the show that is being arranged but if any organization contacts him that does represent handicapped children, he would give them tickets;
“2. That your affiant has a copy of the sales pitch used in this
game and the sales pitch stresses that the money donated is for tickets for handicapped children;“3. That your affiant spoke with a citizen informant who identified herself to him and this citizen informant told him that she was contacted by a solicitor in this game and that the solicitor informed her, amongst others, that this solicitation originally started as a solicitation for the Kiwanis Club of Greater Beloit and that she ask[ed] the solicitor if this was in any way affiliated with the Beloit Police Department and received a yes answer to that;
“4. That your affiant has seen the automobile driven by the aforementioned Brady and that this automobile bears license plates from West Virginia.”
Miranda v. Arizona, 384 U.S. 436 (1966). In its preratification existence,