Schroeder v. State

280 N.W.2d 352, 90 Wis. 2d 604, 1979 Wisc. App. LEXIS 2689
CourtCourt of Appeals of Wisconsin
DecidedMay 31, 1979
DocketNo. 77-386-CR
StatusPublished

This text of 280 N.W.2d 352 (Schroeder v. State) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Court of Appeals of Wisconsin primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Schroeder v. State, 280 N.W.2d 352, 90 Wis. 2d 604, 1979 Wisc. App. LEXIS 2689 (Wis. Ct. App. 1979).

Opinion

DECKER, C.J.

Sehroeder contends, with respect to the first issue, that sec. 946.62, Stats.,1 prohibiting the commission of a crime with concealed identity intended to prevent identification, is a “penalty enhancer” and not a substantive crime. The significance of Schroeder’s contention is that that statutory rule of accomplice liability, sec. 939.05, Stats., is applicable to a substantive crime but not a penalty enhancer. State v. Charbarneau, 82 Wis.2d 644, 648, 264 N.W.2d 227, 229 (1978). Thus in this case Sehroeder contends that he could not be sentenced for concealed identity because his accomplice was “masked.”

[607]*607We recently discussed this issue in Vogel v. State, 87 Wis.2d 541, 558-560, 275 N.W.2d 180 (Ct. App. 1979), and concluded, as we do again, that “concealing identity while committing a crime is a separate crime.” Vogel v. State, supra at 560.

Recently the supreme court discussed sec. 946.62, Stats., in the context of the double jeopardy clause proscription against multiple punishments for the same offense, Haldane v. State, 85 Wis.2d 182, 270 N.W.2d 75 (1978). The charge and conviction in that case was identical to this case although Haldane was a masked gunman. Haldane contended that his conviction was barred by the double jeopardy clause because one offense was divided into three charges — robbery, armed robbery and concealing identity — resulting in multiple punishments.

Noting that the “same evidence” or “additional fact” test was codified in sec. 939.71, Stats.,2 the court rejected Haldane’s contentions as follows:

In the case at bar the defendant was sentenced to an indeterminate term of not more than eighteen years on the armed robbery charge, and a concurrent three year term for concealed identity. Sec. 943.32 provides that anyone convicted of armed robbery may be imprisoned for not more than thirty years; sec. 946.62 provides that any one who commits a crime while his identity is concealed may in addition to the maximum punishment fixed for the crime, be sentenced to an additional five years in the case of a felony. While sec. 946.62 on concealment of identity is a separate statute, its application merely makes it an aggravating factor of the underlying [608]*608crime. In the case at bar, the court submitted three possible verdicts: one was guilty of armed robbery, the second was guilty of armed robbery while identity was concealed and the third form of verdict was not guilty. The court made it very clear in its instructions that in order to find the defendant guilty of armed robbery while identity was concealed, the jury must first find the defendant guilty of armed robbery. It stands in the same relation to robbery as the difference between armed robbery and robbery. Armed robbery is an aggravated form of robbery; armed robbery while identity is concealed is an aggravated form of armed robbery. The legislature could have provided extra punishment for each and every crime in the statutes by adding a concealment of identity subsection to every section of the criminal code. However, the legislature followed the very logical path of making concealment an aggravation of any crime by enacting sec. 946.62. There is no offense to the double jeopardy clause of the constitution in either the statutory structure or the manner in which it was applied in this case.
The defendant’s second argument is without merit. It contends that he is being forced to defend against charges of both robbery and armed robbery. This is not true. The charge is under 943.32(1) (b) and (2). Sub. (2) qualifies sub. (1) ; it is not a separate charge. 85 Wis.2d 182, 196-97, 270 N.W.2d 75, 82 (1978).

In expressly rejecting Haldane’s contentions of a double jeopardy violation', the supreme court implicitly rejected the corollary that robbery, armed with identity concealed, was a multiplicitous charge of three offenses.

We read Haldane to specify that robbery [sec. 943.32 (1) (b), Stats., (1975)], armed robbery [secs, 943.32(1) (b) and (2), (1975)], and concealing identity while committing a crime [sec. 946.62(1975)] are three different crimes. Although Haldane addressed the issue whether a single course of conduct had been fractionated with multiplicitous charges contrary to the double jeopardy clauses, the issue of whether “concealing identity” was a penalty enhancer or separate crime was not presented. [609]*609Nonetheless, the issues are logically and integrally interrelated.

Haldane descriptively concluded that “[A]rmed robbery while identity is concealed in an aggravated form of armed robbery.”3 In arriving at that conclusion the supreme court expressly rejected the contention that an armed robbery charge constitutes two charges (crimes) “of both robbery and armed robbery” and thus found armed robbery to be a single crime. A contrary finding by the supreme court would have compelled the conclusion that arming oneself with a dangerous weapon was merely a penalty enhancer.

Although the legislative history of sec. 946.62, Stats. (1975) and its predecessors is ambiguous and inconclusive with respect to whether it establishes a separate crime, we view Haldane’s treatment of “concealing identity” with respect to double jeopardy as dispositive of its character as a separate crime. When Haldane applied the “additional fact” or “same evidence” test and concluded that concealing identity was a different offense for double jeopardy purposes, and further found armed robbery was but one offense and not two offenses “of both robbery and armed robbery,” it rejected the concept that arming oneself with a dangerous weapon to commit robbery and concealing identity were penalty enhancers.

It follows that armed robbery and concealing identity while committing a crime are substantive crimes, that is, crimes which are independent and not interdependent. To convict one for the crime of concealing identity requires combination proof: the elements of some statutory crime and its commission with intent to make identification less likely by concealment, disguise or alteration. Neither the combination of a statutory crime with in[610]*610tended concealed identity nor the judicial gloss that intended concealed identity “aggravates the crime” creates an interdependence. As the supreme court noted, legislative efficiency and economy in drafting the statute enabled importing the elements of any crime into the crime of concealing identity.

Our view of Haldane’s conclusions is consistent with supreme court application of the rule of accomplice liability to the crimes of armed robbery and concealed identity. Accomplice liability pursuant to sec. 939.05 has been laconically described as “[W]hat either did both did.” Curl v. State, 40 Wis.2d 474, 488, 162 N.W.2d 77, 85 (1968). It has been applied in the armed robbery convictions of unarmed vehicle drivers who aided their armed accomplices, Roehl v. State, 77 Wis.2d 398, 407-08, 253 N.W.2d 210

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Bluebook (online)
280 N.W.2d 352, 90 Wis. 2d 604, 1979 Wisc. App. LEXIS 2689, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/schroeder-v-state-wisctapp-1979.