La Claw v. State

165 N.W.2d 152, 163 N.W.2d 147, 41 Wis. 2d 177, 1968 Wisc. LEXIS 863
CourtWisconsin Supreme Court
DecidedDecember 20, 1968
DocketState 59
StatusPublished
Cited by12 cases

This text of 165 N.W.2d 152 (La Claw 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
La Claw v. State, 165 N.W.2d 152, 163 N.W.2d 147, 41 Wis. 2d 177, 1968 Wisc. LEXIS 863 (Wis. 1968).

Opinions

Heffernan, J.

The defendant’s principal contention is that the court erred in permitting the introduction of the defendant’s statement without a separate and prior determination by the court on the issue of voluntariness.

It is clear that the standards for determining volun-tariness as prescribed by State ex rel. Goodchild v. Burke (1965), 27 Wis. 2d 244, 133 N. W. 2d 753, and Jackson v. Denno (1964), 378 U. S. 368, 84 Sup. Ct. 1774, 12 L. Ed. 2d 908, 1 A. L. R. 3d 1205, were not complied with.

[185]*185Prior to the introduction of the defendant’s statement, her attorney objected to its introduction on the basis that there “has not been a complete and thorough examination by the court ... as to the voluntariness.” When the court said that the statement would be admitted, it raised the question in defense counsel’s mind whether it was being admitted as a confession or as an admission. In response to counsel’s question, the trial judge stated, “I don’t designate it one way or the other now, because I haven’t read it.” It is apparent that the trial judge made no determination as to voluntariness and left that entire question to the jury. Not only must there be a separate finding of the court that a statement is voluntary but also the fact that such a finding was made must be apparent in the record. Boles v. Stevenson (1964), 379 U. S. 43, 85 Sup. Ct. 174, 13 L. Ed. 2d 109. The district attorney was then permitted to read the statement of Ann La Claw to the jury. The following is the excerpt from the testimony as it appears in the transcript :

“ ‘My name is Ann La Claw. I’m 38 years old. I live at 208 E. Michigan Avenue. I was with Clyde Newman at 11 o’clock on the night of June 5th, 1963. We got into my car and Clyde was driving and we drove Mary Rozga to her home in Ironwood. We left her off then we were going into Lens Dairy Store and have pop. I said if we were going to Woodruff let’s get started right away. Clyde said on second thought I don’t want you to drive me back because I don’t want you to drive back alone. I said O.K. good I don’t feel good anyway so instead we went and had a beer at the Town Pump at 11:30 P. M. We talked to Elie Steppa about some book he was reading. I had finished a part of a tall bottle of beer and Clyde drank 2 bottles of beer. We weren’t drunk. We left the Town Pump at 12:30. We got into the car and Clyde was driving and we drove to my apartment in Ironwood. We went to my apartment. I remember he kissed me goodnight and I went to the bathroom. When I came from the bathroom he was gone. But Clyde must have come back and asked me to drive him to Woodruff. So [186]*186I must have got into the car and Clyde sitting beside me we drove off. I can’t remember what route we took to Hurley but we went down U. S. 51. When we got 2 miles South of Hurley going around the curve Clyde fell out the door. I kept on driving. I don’t know how I got home. But I was at home in bed when the telephone rang telling me about Clyde’s accident. Ellen Vitich called me and said Ann I got bad news for you. Clyde is a victim of hit and run. I asked her is he dead. I dressed right away and got into my car. The first person I saw was the nurse and I asked is Clyde Newman here. She said yes. The police officers came and took me into emergency. The nurse and the officers asked if Clyde was my husband and I said no. The officers left and said they wanted to talk to me later. I went and got a drink of v/ater then the nurse said I could go if I want to. She was a dark-haired nurse. I went outside walked around for a while drove down to the intersection turned around and went back to the hospital. I don’t know how or when but I then disposed of the shoes at the creek on Sunset road. Then I went back to the hospital. After that I came back to the Sheriff’s office. I had Clyde’s saw and the rest of Clyde’s clothing.’
“ T make this statement of my own free will — it consists of 21/4 half pages. I swear everything in this statement is the truth. I was not promised anything or threatened with any harm by any of the police officers to whom I gave this statement. I know I do not have to sign this statement. I am advised that anything I say in this statement can’t be used as evidence in a court of law. [Emphasis supplied.] I am free to call an attorney before signing this statement.’
“ ‘Dated at Hurley, Wis.
“ ‘June 20,1968.
“ ‘s/ Ann La Claw
“ ‘s/ Louis Oberto
Deputy Sheriff.
“ ‘s/ James J. Thomas,
Sheriff, Iron County.”
“Added to this statement on the margin: T give this statement on condition be given to anyone for the purpose of suing me for damages or money.’ ”

We conclude that the admission of this statement without a prior determination of voluntariness constitutes [187]*187error under Goodchild, supra, and Denno, supra. The rule of those cases requires that the court make a separate finding of voluntariness following a hearing not in the presence of the jury.

In the instant case to conclude that the Goodchild rule is applicable we need not apply the rule retrospectively, for this conviction is now before us on direct review by writ of error, and the question of whether or not a rule of criminal procedure is to be applied retrospectively arises only for causes that have been finalized. In State ex rel. La Follette v. Raskin (1966), 30 Wis. 2d 39, 48, 139 N. W. 2d 667, we stated the cases were finalized only when “there has been a judgment of conviction, sentence and exhaustion of rights of appeal.” This cause has not reached the stage of finalization.

We also point out that the trial court’s procedure in respect to this statement failed to comply with the approved pr e-Goodchild practice in this state. That practice is outlined in State v. Bronston (1959), 7 Wis. 2d 627, 97 N. W. 2d 504, 98 N. W. 2d 468, Pollack v. State (1934), 215 Wis. 200, 253 N. W. 560, 254 N. W. 471, and Bosket v. State (1966), 31 Wis. 2d 586, 143 N. W. 2d 553.

In Bosket, at page 589, the pr e-Goodchild procedure was described by Mr. Chief Justice Currie :

“Before this evidence was offered a hearing was conducted by the trial court in the absence of the jury to determine whether the confession and other admissions by defendant were so clearly involuntary as to require that they be excluded. After taking testimony at this hearing the trial court concluded that the confession and other admissions should not be excluded but that the issue of their voluntariness should be submitted to the jury. . . .
“This manner of handling the issue of voluntariness of a confession or admission by a defendant in a criminal prosecution was in accordance with decisions of this court prior to State ex rel. Goodchild v. Burke.”

It is apparent that the failure to hold a proper hearing on the question of voluntariness was prejudicial to the [187a]*187arights of the defendant to have a fair trial. In Linkletter v. Walker

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La Claw v. State
165 N.W.2d 152 (Wisconsin Supreme Court, 1968)

Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
165 N.W.2d 152, 163 N.W.2d 147, 41 Wis. 2d 177, 1968 Wisc. LEXIS 863, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/la-claw-v-state-wis-1968.