Anderson v. State

223 N.W.2d 879, 66 Wis. 2d 233, 1974 Wisc. LEXIS 1630
CourtWisconsin Supreme Court
DecidedDecember 20, 1974
DocketState 137
StatusPublished
Cited by11 cases

This text of 223 N.W.2d 879 (Anderson v. State) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Wisconsin Supreme Court primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Anderson v. State, 223 N.W.2d 879, 66 Wis. 2d 233, 1974 Wisc. LEXIS 1630 (Wis. 1974).

Opinion

Beilfuss, J.

The defendant has raised several claimed errors dealing with the sufficiency of the complaint, search and seizure, admission of photographic evidence, use of illustrative evidence, failure to suppress a statement made by the defendant, errors in jury instructions, sufficiency of the evidence and improper sentence.

In the early morning hours of September 21, 1972, Officers Fred Schwartz and Joseph Galewski of the Oak Creek police department were in their squad car patrolling an area of highway and bridge construction between the 100 block and 1300 block of West Ryan Road in Oak Creek. It was raining and the mud and gravel road was closed to through traffic. At approximately 2:57 a. m., the officers observed á 1964 Ford parked in the 500 block of West Ryan Road, facing east. As the officers approached the car in their squad from the east, the car’s headlights went on and it started moving towards them. One of the officers turned on the red flashing light but the car continued past them. Officer Schwartz testified that as the car went past, he observed that the driver was defendant Anderson, whom he recognized from prior contact.

Officer Schwartz turned the squad around and followed the car. He observed defendant Anderson switch seats with the other occupant, codefendant Robert Wallich, so that when the car came to a stop, Wallich was in the driver’s seat and Anderson was in the front passenger’s seat. The officers got out of the squad and approached the car, Officer Schwartz going to the driver’s side and Officer Galewski going to the passenger’s side. Wallich *238 denied switching seats. While inspecting Wallich’s driver’s license, Officer Schwartz shined his flashlight through a window into the back seat of the car and observed three heavy duty impact wrenches and a long tubular device lying on the rear floor. From his experience in road construction, Officer Schwartz recognized the tools as being used in road construction work. Schwartz asked who the tools belonged to and defendant Anderson said they were his. Anderson then asked why they were being held, to which Officer Schwartz replied “for switching drivers and possible suspicion of theft.”

The officers then called for an assist squad, which arrived about five minutes later. Officer Galewski left with one of the newly arrived officers to inspect other parts of the construction area. A few minutes later he radioed back to Officer Schwartz that one of the trailers used on the construction site, about three blocks away, had been broken into. Officer Schwartz then placed the defendants under arrest for burglary.

The tools, which were subsequently removed from the car, were stamped with the initials “W. B. & I.” Mr. Floyd King, general foreman for the Wisconsin Bridge and Iron Company, which was involved in the Ryan Road construction project, testified that when he left the construction site at about 4:20 p. m., on September 20th, he locked his office trailer with a padlock. Inside the trailer were a torque wrench with a five-foot handle, used to measure the pounds of tension on bolts, and several impact wrenches, used to fasten bolts. on the bridgework. These tools were kept in locked tool boxes inside the trailer. When Mr. King returned to the jobsite the next morning, September 21st, he observed that the trailer door was open and the locks were missing on the trailer door and on the tool boxes inside. The torque wrench and two impact wrenches were missing. Mr. King was in exclusive control of the trailer, and no one else had *239 keys to it except personnel at the company’s main office. He had not given consent to anyone to enter the trailer between 4:20 p. m. on September 20th and 7:30 a. m. on September 21st.

The jury found both defendants, who were tried jointly, guilty of burglary in violation of sec. 943.10 (1) (d), Stats. Defendant Wallich was sentenced to an indeterminate term of not more than six years. Defendant Anderson was sentenced to an indeterminate term of not more than ten years. Codefendant Wallich is not a party to this appeal.

The defendant contends that the complaint in this action was insufficient to establish probable cause. In the complaint, Officer Schwartz, the complainant, stated on information and belief that the defendants William A. Anderson and Robert C. Wallich:

“. . . on the 21st day of September A. D., 1972, in the County of Milwaukee, Wisconsin, did feloniously and intentionally enter a locked construction trailer, the property of Wisconsin Bridge and Iron Co., Inc., without the consent of Wisconsin Bridge and Iron Co. and with intent to steal therein, contrary to Section 943.10 (1) (d) of the statutes. ...
“Complainant further states that his information is based upon the statement of Floyd King, the general foreman of Wise. Bridge & Iron Co. crew presently constructing a bridge at the 800 block of W. Ryan Rd.; Floyd King further states that his company has placed a truck in the 800 block of W. Ryan Rd., said trailer being used as an office, that he personally closed and locked said trailer on 9-20-72 at 4:20 P. M. That at said time numerous large construction tools belonging to Wise. Bridge & Iron Co. were located in said trailer.
“Floyd King further states he returned to said site at 7:30 A. M. on 9-21-72 and found the lock missing from the trailer and found the tools stored therein missing. Floyd King further states he thereafter observed tools missing from said truck in the Oak Creek Police Station. Floyd King further states he gave no one permission to enter said trailer after 4:20 P. M. on 9-20-72.
*240 “Complainant further states his information is based upon personally observing' defendants seated in an auto stopped in the 500 block of W. Eyan Ed. at approximately 2:50 A. M. on 9-21-72 and then observed said auto drive off. Complainant further states he then stopped said auto and observed numerous construction tools in said auto; That he removed said tools and found them to bear the initials WB&I and took said tools to the Oak Creek Police Dept, where he displayed them to Floyd King.”

The defendant argues that the complaint, which is based in part on the hearsay statements of Floyd King, fails to satisfy the two-pronged test of Aguilar v. Texas (1964), 378 U. S. 108, 114, 84 Sup. Ct. 1509, 12 L. Ed. 2d 723; and that State v. Knudson (1971), 51 Wis. 2d 270, 274, 187 N. W. 2d 321, requires that when the complaint is based on other than eyewitness observations of the complainant, i.e., hearsay, the reliability of the hearsay must be established in the complaint by indicating:

“ ‘. . . (1) The underlying circumstances from which he [the complainant] concludes that the informant is reliable; and (2) that the underlying circumstances or manner in which the informant obtained his information is reliable.’ ” .

With respect to the second requirement, it is obvious from a reading of the complaint that the statements of Floyd King were based on his personal observations at the trailer and at the Oak Creek police station.

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Bluebook (online)
223 N.W.2d 879, 66 Wis. 2d 233, 1974 Wisc. LEXIS 1630, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/anderson-v-state-wis-1974.