STATE of Wisconsin, Plaintiff-Respondent-Petitioner, v. Daniel J. SEPULVEDA, Defendant-Appellant.
No. 82-1496-CR
Supreme Court of Wisconsin
June 27, 1984
August 29, 1984
350 N.W.2d 96
Argued February 29, 1984.
For the defendant-appellant there was a brief and oral argument by Mark Lukoff, first assistant state public defender.
LOUIS J. CECI, J. This is a review of an unpublished court of appeals decision which reversed a judgment of conviction rendered by Honorable Max Raskin, Reserve Circuit Judge, in Kenosha county circuit court.
On August 20, 1981, the defendant, Daniel J. Sepulveda, confronted a thirteen-year-old girl as she was leaving a grocery store. The defendant showed her a badge and told her that some people from the store had informed him that she had stolen an item from the store by putting it in her shirt. He then told her to remove her shirt. When the girl refused, the defendаnt told her that she had to get into his car. He repeated this to her several times, and, when she failed to follow his demands, he grabbed her by the wrist. The victim tried to pull away from him, and the defendant released her only when he saw a woman approaching them. He told the victim that he would follow her home and left the area.
The defendant was arrested that same day, and a criminal complaint was filed on August 24, 1981. On December 21, 1981, a jury trial was commenced in the Kenosha county circuit court, before Honorable Max Raskin, Re-
On December 23, 1981, the jury returned a verdict, finding the defendant guilty of abduction, contrary to
The state recommended that the defendant be imprisoned. The defendant‘s attorney, on the other hand, recommended that the defendant be placed on probation and allowed to continue outpatient treatment with his psychologist, Dr. Richard Fogle. Dr. Fogle testified that the defendant‘s behavior could effectively bе controlled by virtue of this therapy. The probation agent who had prepared the presentence report, Mark Colby, recommended that the defendant be placed on probation with the condition that he voluntarily admit himself to the Mendota Mental Health Institute for intensive inpatient therapy.
At the conclusion of the sentencing hearing, the trial judge sentenced the defendant to thirty days in the county jail for the charge of personating a peace officer. He stayed this sentence and placed the defendant on probation for one year. Concerning the abduction charge, the judge sentenced the defendant to a term not to
On January 14, 1982, the defеndant was interviewed by psychiatrist James Richard Thiel of the Mendota institute. Based upon this interview, the defendant was denied admission to the institution. Dr. Thiel concluded that the defendant suffered from a personality disorder, or antisocial personality, and, in the doctor‘s opinion, psychotherapy has had “very little if any success” in treating such disorders.
Subsequently, the probation department attempted to revoke the defendant‘s probation. However, at the revocation hearing no probable cause was found to revoke the defendant‘s probation, and the proceedings were dismissed.
On February 4, 1982, the state filed a motion for reconsideration of the sentence imposed by the court on December 30, 1981. A hearing was conducted on February 11, 1982, during which Dr. Thiel testified as to the reasons why the defеndant was denied admission to the mental health institute.
The defendant subsequently moved the court to vacate the February 11, 1982, sentence, alleging that there was no statutory authority for the state to have requested the defendant‘s resentencing and that the court‘s action had violated the double jeopardy clauses of the Wisconsin and United States Constitutions. The court denied the defendant‘s motion and, on August 6, 1982, issued a written decision adhering to its former view that the defendant‘s nonacceptance at Mendota constituted “‘identifiable factual data not known to the trial judge at the time of the original sentencing proceedings,‘” citing North Carolina v. Pearce, 395 U.S. 711, 751 (1969) (White, J., concurring). The trial judge also relied on language found in the case of State v. Dean, 102 Wis. 2d 300, 306 N.W.2d 286 (Ct. App. 1981) [Dean I], which was subsequently
On August 6, 1982, the defendant appealed his second amended judgment of conviction to the court of appeаls. In a brief, unpublished opinion, the court of appeals reversed and remanded the cause to the circuit court with directions. The court concluded that the case fit squarely within the holding of Dean II and that Sepulveda‘s resentencing after being placed on probation violated his constitutional rights. The trial court was directed to reimpose the original sentence, and modification of probation conditions through the proper administrative procedures was ordered.
The state subsequently petitioned this court for review, and we granted the petition.
On review, then, we are faced with the following two issues: (1) Did the trial court have the authority to modify the defendant‘s probation from institutionalization in a mental hospital to incarceration in a state prison; and (2) when a trial court grants prоbation as the form of disposition in a criminal case and imposes
We note that for purposes of this review, the state has conceded that the original imposition of probation constituted a form of punishment.
I.
DID THE TRIAL COURT HAVE THE AUTHORITY TO MODIFY THE DEFENDANT‘S PROBATION FROM INSTITUTIONALIZATION TO INCARCERATION?
The defendant argues that the trial court did not have the authority to modify or set aside the defendant‘s probation in such a manner as to change the terms from institutionalization to incarceration. As support, the defendant directs our attention to
“973.09 Probation. (1) (a) Except as provided in par. (c) or if probation is prohibited for a particular offense by statute, if a person is convicted of a crime, the court, by order, may withhold sentence or impose sentence under s. 973.15 and stay its execution, and in either case place the person on probation to the department for a stated period, stating in the order the reasons therefor. The court may impose any conditions which appear to be reasonable and appropriate. The period of probation may be made consecutive to a sentence on a different charge, whether imposed at the same time or previously.
“....
“(3) (a) Prior to the expiration of any probation period, the court, for cause and by order, may extend
probation for a stated period or modify the terms and conditions thereof.” “973.10 Control and supervision of probationers. ....
“(2) If а probationer violates the conditions of probation, the department may:
“(a) If the probationer has not already been sentenced, order the probationer brought before the court for sentence which shall then be imposed without further stay under s. 973.15; or
“(b) If the probationer has already been sentenced, order the probationer to prison, and the term of the sentence shall begin on the date the probationer enters the prison.”
Therefore, the defendant maintains that once the trial court imposes probation and transfers custody of the defendant to the department, it retains only the authority to modify the defendant‘s probation, while the department of health and social services must be the party to revoke the defendant‘s probation. The defendant argues that the judge‘s modification to include incarceration essentially amounted to a revocation, which exceeds the court‘s authority under
“Modification of probation conditions must be addressed through the proper administrative processes and not in the manner here attempted by the state.”
We begin our discussion with the observation that the court‘s sentencing power is derived solely from the statutes and that the courts must adhere to statutory limits when fashioning sentences.3 The defendant has not
In Huggett v. State, 83 Wis. 2d 790, 266 N.W.2d 403 (1978), this court discussed the probation statute, particularly
“‘The dual goals of probation are “the rehabilitation of those convicted of crime and the protection of the state and community interest.“‘” State v. Tarrell, 74 Wis. 2d 647, 653, 247 N.W.2d 696 (1976). Id. at 798.
Concerning the court‘s extension of the defendant‘s probation, the court stated,
“Failure to make restitution within the original probation period might constitute cause for extending probation and continuing restitution if there is a basis for believing that additional restitution would effectuate the objectives of probation. . . .” Id. at 803 (Emphasis added.)
This court recognized in Huggett that inherent within the probation statute is the court‘s continued power to effectuate the dual purposes of рrobation, namely, rehabilitating the defendant and protecting society, through the court‘s authority to modify or extend probationary terms.
In the instant case, Judge Raskin utilized the following language when he placed the defendant on probation:
“The Court will stay that sentence and place the defendant on probation for a period of three years with certain conditions. With respect to those conditions, the Court adopts the recommendations made by the probation officer in his report. . . which means that the defendant shall voluntarily admit himself to the Mendota Institution for the intensive care and treatment that the Court feels that he must have in order to live a peaceful and nonviolative life in this community.” (Emphasis added.)
The court‘s language obviously indicates that the judge had determined that confinement in a structured setting was necessary for the rehabilitation of the defendant, as well as for the protection of society. It is equally obvious that the court specifically rejected outpatient therapy for the defendant, as had been recommended by the defendant‘s psychologist. The structured setting that was chosen by the court was the Mendota institute. This is an appropriate condition under sec. 3.2 of the American Bar Association‘s Standards Relating to Probation (Approved Draft 1970), as adopted by this court.4
We believe that what occurred in the instant case, through the defendant‘s inability to gain admission to Mendota, completely circumvented the intent behind the judge‘s grant of probation. In essence, a failure of a primary condition, namely, confinement, became impossible because of the nature of the defendant‘s mental condition which was unknown to the judge at the time of sentencing. As we noted above, the judge‘s grant of probation was based upon the primary condition of complete confinement and specifically rejected outpatient therapy. This grant was fashioned with the purpose of rehabilitating the defendant, yet protecting society by
We noted above that inherent within the probation statute is the judge‘s authority to effectuate the purposes behind probation. Huggett v. State, 83 Wis. 2d at 803. In this case, because of the fact that the grant of probation was premised upon confinement, we hold that the trial judge possessed the authority to modify probation to include incarceration when this primary condition becomes unachievable, thereby circumventing the intent behind the grant of probation.5
We hold that this modification is not a revocation. It is instead a very limited extension of the power to modify the terms of probation and should only be utilized by the courts in cases such as the instant one, where the judge‘s intent behind the grant of probation is completely frustrated due to the failure of a primary condition. An analogy to the court‘s authority to exercise this power to modify may be found in the Wisconsin cases addressing resentencing following a new trial or postconviction remedy due to the judge‘s knowledge of a new factor. For example, in State v. Leonard, 39 Wis. 2d 461, 159 N.W.2d 577 (1968), the defendant successfully vacated a sentence imposed by the court following revocation of probation because the defendant had not been afforded his constitutional right to counsel at the sentencing. Id. at 464. Upon resentencing, the court increased the vacated sentence by three years. Although this court remanded the case for resentencing in accordance with the standard adopted in the opinion, the opinion set forth the following standard:
“Hereafter, on resentencing following a second conviction after retrial, or mere resentencing, the trial court shall be barred from imposing an increased sentence un-
less (1) events occur or come to the sentencing court‘s attention subsequent to the first imposition of sentence which warrant an increased penalty; and (2) the court affirmatively states its grounds in the record for increasing the sentence.” Id. at 473.
Subsequently, in Denny v. State, 47 Wis. 2d 541, 178 N.W.2d 38 (1970), this court reiterated the Leonard standard. The Denny opinion also noted that the United States Supreme Court had reached a decision similar to Leonard in North Carolina v. Pearce, 395 U.S. 711, and this court quoted the following language from Pearce in its discussion of new factors:
““A trial judge is not constitutionally precluded, in other words, from imposing a new sentence, whether greater or less than the оriginal sentence, in the light of events subsequent to the first trial that may have thrown new light upon the defendant‘s “life, health, habits, conduct, and mental and moral propensities.” Williams v. New York, 337 U.S. 241, 245.‘” Denny v. State, 47 Wis. 2d at 545, citing North Carolina v. Pearce, 395 U.S. at 723.
Although the Denny opinion acknowledged that new factors may involve more generalized factors than those found in the definition set out in Pearce, such as “any objective, identifiable factual data not known to the trial judge at the time of the original sentencing proceeding,”6 we find that events which transpired in the instant case fit squarely within the above rationale. Events following the grant of probation, namely, the defendant‘s denial of admission to Mendota, shed light upon the defendant‘s “life, health, habits, conduct, and mental and moral propensities.” In particular, the testimony of Dr. Thiel from Mendota revealed to Judge Raskin that the defendant suffered from a personаlity disorder which was, for all
“‘a fact or set of facts highly relevant to the imposition of sentence, but not known to the trial judge at the time of original sentencing, either because it was not then in existence or because, even though it was then in existence, it was unknowingly overlooked by all of the parties.‘” State v. Hegwood, 113 Wis. 2d 544, 546, 335 N.W.2d 399 (1983) (emphasis added), citing Rosado v. State, 70 Wis. 2d at 288.
As we noted earlier in our analysis, the trial judge apparently strove to fashion a disposition which would rehabilitate the defendant through treatment, yet protect society from any further aсtions by the defendant. This was based partially upon Dr. Fogle‘s testimony that the defendant had cooperated in his treatment, had admitted to having sexual problems, and appeared to be benefiting from the therapy. However, at the February 11, 1982, hearing, Dr. Thiel testified that the defendant denied any responsibility for the offenses for which he had been convicted. The doctor‘s testimony indicates that the defendant boasted of his sexual prowess and, when asked about the concept of controlling his own sexual impulses, he made remarks that the doctor considered to show “bravado.”
We further observe that the doctor testified that the defendant suffered from a “personality disorder” or “characterological defect,” which he described as follows:
“That is a characterological dеfect, where a person does not have internal control upon his beliefs and actions and feels not responsible for negative kinds of things that should happen to him.”
“The individual does not except [sic] responsibility for his or her position enough to have success in dealing within the realm of psychiatry and psychotherapy with a person, the person needs to be a participant in the process, has to recognize that he or she has difficulty.”
The dоctor testified that neither inpatient nor outpatient therapy offers much benefit in treating such disorders. When asked to make an assumption regarding the treatment available at institutions other than Mendota, the doctor testified that he could not make the assumption that a person suffering from such a disorder is “treatable.” Upon further questioning regarding the effects of working with the defendant in a nonsecure setting, Dr. Thiel stated the following:
“It is impossible for me to predict people‘s behaviors. Given the past history of this particular individual and given that the best predictor of future behavior is past behavior, there is an increased chance that this individual‘s future behavior would be similar to his past behavior should there not be some constraints placed upon him.”
The untreatable nature of the defendant‘s pеrsonality disorder is clearly similar to a “new factor” in resentencing and justifies the inclusion of incarceration in the court‘s power to modify the terms of probation under
This court has stated that whether a new factor warrants modification of a sentence is a question of discretion. State v. Hegwood, 113 Wis. 2d at 546.
“Discretion is not synonymous with decision-making. Rather, the term contemplates a process of reasoning. This process must depend on facts that are of record or that are reasonably derived by inference from the record and a conclusion based on a logical rationale founded upon proper legal standards.” McCleary v. State, 49 Wis. 2d 263, 277, 182 N.W.2d 512 (1971).
Keeping the above concerns in mind, we believe that the same argument may be applied to the instant case concerning the modification of probation. The record indicates that the trial judge properly exercised his discretion by choosing to modify the terms of probation to include incarceration. The trial court gave his reasons as follows:
“At the time that the Court imposed sentence of the conditional probation, neither the prosecution nor the defense nor the Court were [sic] apprised of the possibility that the defendant would not be accepted as a patient at Mendota. It did not cross the mind of any the parties, least of all the Court that the defendant, by his attitude that he‘d ever need such treatment or was guilty of any wrong doing, could impede his acceptance as a patient and thereby frustrate the entire process of probation.”
Based upon the fact that the defendant had proved to be “untreatable,” a structured prison setting offered the only viable alternative available to the judge to ensure the protection of society by providing the necessary constraints upon the defendant‘s impulses.
Because we have concluded that the judge exercised the proper discretion and authority by modifying the grant of probation to include incarceration, we must now address the issue of whether or not this action violates the double jeopardy provisions of the Wisconsin and Federal Constitutions.
II.
WHEN A TRIAL COURT GRANTS PROBATION AS THE FORM OF DISPOSITION IN A CRIMINAL CASE AND IMPOSES THE CONDITION THAT THE DEFENDANT MUST VOLUNTARILY ADMIT HIMSELF TO A MENTAL HEALTH INSTITUTION FOR INTENSIVE TREATMENT, DOES MODIFICATION OF THE ORDER OF PROBATION TO INCLUDE IMPRISONMENT WHEN THE DEFENDANT IS DENIED ADMISSION TO THE INSTITUTION VIOLATE DOUBLE JEOPARDY?
The issue in DiFrancesco was whether
“It protects against a second prosecution for the same offense after acquittal. It protects against a second prosecution for the same offense after conviction. And it protects against multiple punishments for the same offense.” Id. at 129, citing North Carolina v. Pearce, 395 U.S. at 717. See also, State v. Bohacheff, 114 Wis. 2d 402, 407, 338 N.W.2d 466 (1983); State v. Gordon, 111 Wis. 2d 133, 141, 330 N.W.2d 564 (1983); and State v. Rabe, 96 Wis. 2d at 64.
The second part of the Court‘s analysis concerned whether or not the increase of a sentence upon review under the statute constitutes multiple punishment, contrary to the double jeopardy provision. The Court noted that in the case of United States v. Benz, 282 U.S. 304, 307 (1931), it had set forth dictum to the effect that the federal practice of prohibiting an increase in sentence by the trial court after the defendant has begun serving the sentence is based upon the Constitution. The Court noted that the dictum‘s source was Ex parte Lange, 85 U.S. (18 Wall.) 163, 167 (1873), and that Ex parte Lange merely stands for the premise that a defendant cannot receive a greater sentence than the legislature has authorized.
In this case, we are faced with an area which the DiFrancesco Court did not address: Does a double jeopardy violation occur when a grant of probation, rather than a sentence, is modified to include incarceration? We are faced with applying the double jeopardy clause to a situation essentially unexplored by this court. As we noted in a recent decision,
“Although the federal constitutional guarantee against double jeopardy has ‘its roots in antiquity,’ it is ‘one of the least understood . . . provisions of the Bill of Rights.‘” State v. Bohacheff, 114 Wis. 2d at 406. (Citation omitted.)
The United States Supreme Court in DiFrancesco echoed similar concerns:
“That [the clause‘s] application has not proved to be facile or routine is demonstrated by acknowledged changes in direction or in emphasis.” United States v. DiFrancesco, 449 U.S. at 127.
The language of the DiFrancesco case is general, and the Court in its analysis of the clause did not confine itself only to the ramifications of the statute allowing the state to appeal a special offender sentence. Rather, the Court addressed numerous situations where the double jeopardy clause is not violated, such as seсond trials where the defendant has terminated a trial prior to the jury‘s verdict, United States v. Wilson, 420 U.S. 332 (1975), and resentencing following a reconviction, North Carolina v. Pearce, 395 U.S. 711. Consequently, we believe that the principles set forth in DiFrancesco should govern our analysis of this case, even though we are dealing with a modification of probation.
In particular, the Supreme Court noted that the double jeopardy focus is not upon the appeal, but on the relief requested. United States v. DiFrancesco, 449 U.S. at 132. The Court concluded that,
“The double jeopardy considerations that bar reprosecution after an acquittal do not prohibit review of a sentence.” Id. at 136.
When we focus upon the relief requested in the instant case, it is that the judge‘s original grant of probation be allowed to stand in spite of the total circumvention of its purpose due to the failure of its primary accompanying condition. As in the DiFrancesco case, we are asked to afford the judge‘s original grant of probation the finality of an acquittal. We refuse to do so.8 The DiFrancesco Cоurt found the difference between the imposition of a new sentence after retrial and a statute allowing the state to seek review of a sentence to be a mere “conceptual nicety.” Id. at 136, citing North Carolina v. Pearce, 395 U.S. at 722. Similarly, we find the difference between a statute allowing the state to appeal a sentence, as in DiFrancesco, and modification following a failure of a condition of probation and the ensuing frustration of its purposes to be a mere conceptual nicety. Neither occurs as the result of any action by the defendant. It is also clear that the modification procedure in the instant case did not involve an adversary proceeding of any sort on the underlying question of guilt or innocence, but was based upon an informational type of process. The modification did not subject the defendant to “embarrassment, expense, anxiety, and insecurity, and the possibility that he may be found guilty even though innocent”
We find further support for our decision in the Court‘s discussion of the defendant‘s “legitimate expectations” in DiFrancesco. Id. at 137. We conclude that in the instant
We also conclude that the defendant‘s inability to gain admission to Mendota should not serve as an opportunity for him to remain on probation without any sort of constraints on his behavior, particularly on his sexual impulses. This was obviously a great concern to the trial judge, since the defendant‘s victim in the instant case was a child. Also, the means by which the defendant chose to perpetrate his crime, that of posing as a police officer, makes other potential child victims particularly vulnerable, since many parents teach their children to respect and trust police officers.
In summary, then, we hold that the court possessed the аuthority to modify the grant of probation from institutionalization to incarceration, due to the failure of the primary condition of the grant of probation and the ensuing frustration of the judge‘s intent. Also, we hold that this modification is not violative of the defendant‘s double jeopardy rights.
By the Court.-The decision of the court of appeals is reversed; the judgment of the circuit court is affirmed.
DAY, J. (concurring). I concur in the majority opinion and write solely for the purpose of expressing my opinion that the penalty for personating a police officer is woefully inadequate. In this case the defendant used a phony badge to “prove” to the victim that he was in fact a police officer. It is fortunate that she refused to accompany him.
One need only note the frequency with which the press reports crimes by persons claiming to their victims that they are police officers. Many sexual offenders use this method to coerce victims into automobiles.
Law abiding citizens are especially prone to follow directives from one they believe to be an officer of the law.
The crime of personating a peace officer is defined in
The potential for harm which this offense presents should in my opinion be amended to be defined as one of the more serious felonies.
I am authorized to state that JUSTICE WILLIAM G. CALLOW joins in this concurring opinion.
SHIRLEY S. ABRAHAMSON, J. (concurring). This case presents a very unusual fact situation. Under the circumstances of this case, the majority opinion concludes that the circuit could “modify” probation to imрrisonment.
The primary condition of probation in this case was the defendant‘s admission to the Mendota Mental Health Institute. Indeed I view the circuit court‘s order in this case as, in effect, being conditioned on the defendant‘s admission to the Institute. Since it was impossible for this
Notes
However, it was not upon the defendant‘s refusal to acknowledge guilt that the judge based his actions. Rather, he based his decision to incarcerate the defendant through modification of probation upon the failure of the primary condition of the grant of probation, namely, the confinement of the defendant through institutionalization. Therefore, we find this case to be distinguishable from Scales, and the fact that the defendant denied culpability is of little relevance.
There is also some dispute in the record as to whether the defendant could, in effect, accept responsibility for his actions, even though the defendant stated the following to the judge when asked if he had anything to say at the conclusion of the sentencing hearing: “Yes, your Honor. I would like to just say that I know
The Jones court concluded that the defendant‘s legitimate expectations were frustrated by resentencing. Id. at 638. However, we note that the Jones decision did not address the issue of whether a defendant‘s expectations are frustrated by resentencing resulting from a defendant‘s unintentional misrepresentation of his affairs. Id. at 639, n. 6.
In the instant case, although it is not alleged that the defendant unintentionally misrepresented his willingness to accept responsibility for his conduct and thus be admitted to Mendota for treatment, we find that the testimony of Dr. Fogle may have unintentionally led the trial judge to receive a more optimistic view of the defendant‘s disorder than was realistic. Consequently, we believe that this case fits squarely within that issue which the Jones court chose not to address.
