State v. Fuller

204 N.W.2d 452, 57 Wis. 2d 408, 1973 Wisc. LEXIS 1559
Wisconsin Supreme Court·Decided February 27, 1973·No. State 103·Published·Cited by 3 cases

Opinion

Hanley, J.

Two issues are presented on this appeal.

Did the October 14, 1969, order of this court which substituted Judge Crane for Judge Coffey to preside at defendant’s trial prohibit Judge COFFEY from presiding over defendant’s probation revocation hearing; and

*412 Under the facts of this case, was defendant’s conviction for both forgery and attempted theft by false representation really a conviction of both the forgery and uttering of the same instrument.

Probation revocation.

Despite the fact that the defendant in no way claims that Judge Coffey was prejudiced against him in his ultimate decision to revoke probation, and despite the fact that he specifically consented to Judge Coffey sitting in judgment at his revocation hearing, defendant, nevertheless, takes the position that he was without power to waive away the order of this court which was at the time outstanding, and which cited the substitution of Judge Crane because of the “disqualification” of Judge Coffey.

As support for his proposition that his probation revocation was but another stage of his original criminal proceeding, defendant cites Mempa v. Rhay (1967), 389 U. S. 128, 88 Sup. Ct. 254, 19 L. Ed. 2d 336. In Mempa, the United States Supreme Court said that the defendant’s sixth amendment right to counsel applied since his actual sentencing was deferred and, therefore, contemporaneous with his parole revocation hearing.

The defendant in the case at bar was initially sentenced and the execution stayed and he was placed on probation. The Mempa rationale is in no way applicable to the issue presented before this court of whether a probation hearing is so closely related to the original conviction as to have the order of disqualification remain in effect to thereby prohibit Judge Coffey from presiding at the hearing.

The fact that Mempa presented exceptional circumstances regarding the relationship of parole or probation revocations with the original criminal proceeding was most recently emphasized by the United States Supreme *413 Court in Morrissey v. Brewer (1972), 408 U. S. 471, 480, 92 Sup. Ct. 2593, 33 L. Ed. 2d 484. In reaching the determination that a parolee was entitled to a revocation hearing, grounded on the “due process clause” of the fourteenth amendment to the United States Constitution, the court stated:

“We begin with the proposition that the revocation of parole is not part of a criminal prosecution and thus the full panoply of rights due a defendant in such a proceeding does not apply to parole revocations. Cf. Mempa v. Rhay, 389 U. S. 128 (1967). Parole arises after the end of the criminal prosecution, including imposition of sentence.”

Later, addressing itself specifically to the factual inquiry into the basis for revocation, the court again made reference to the relationship of the hearing to the original case.

“We emphasize there is no thought to equate this second stage of parole revocation to a criminal prosecution in any sense.” (Emphasis added.) 408 U. S. at page 489.

This court in State ex rel. Johnson v. Cady (1971), 50 Wis. 2d 540, 185 N. W. 2d 306, had an opportunity to comment on the overall relationship between an initial criminal conviction and a subsequent parole revocation. Commenting on the type of hearing necessary, this court quoted with approval language from Johnson v. Stucker (1969), 203 Kan. 253, 453 Pac. 2d 35, 42, certiorari denied, 396 U. S. 904, 90 Sup. Ct. 218, 24 L. Ed. 2d 180, at page 549 of its decision:

“ ‘A revocation hearing is not a trial in the traditional sense, nor is the board necessarily concerned with the commission of a criminal offense. As a matter of fact, a prisoner having been granted conditional freedom on parole, the primary question before the board is whether *414 within its discretion the parolee is still a good parole risk. . . .’ ”

The only question before Judge Coffey was whether or not the defendant, given his past conduct of violating the conditions of his probation, was still a “good risk.” Such a determination was completely independent from defendant’s original conviction for the crimes charged. Since both the defendant and his attorney did not challenge Judge Coffey as the presiding judge at either of the two revocation hearings he should now not be heard to complain.

We conclude that the order of October 14, 1969, which substituted Judge Crane for Judge Coffey to preside at defendant’s trial did not prohibit Judge Coffey from presiding over defendant’s probation revocation hearings on January 5,1971, and March 18,1971.

Question of included crime.

The defendant contends now that where one is charged with both forgery and attempted theft by false representation, only one conviction may be had where the attempted theft under the particular set of facts present in this case merges or is included within the uttering of the document forged in the same transaction; that is to say, the attempted theft by false representation is the included crime of uttering and is, therefore, barred. 2 *415 While there is no question that there cannot be a conviction for both forgery (sec. 943.38 (1), Stats.) and uttering (sec. 943.38 (2)), where they are part of the same transaction, State v. Nichols (1959), 7 Wis. 2d 126, 95 N. W. 2d 765, it need not necessarily follow that the crime of attempted theft by false representation (sec. 943.20 (1) (d)), is an included crime of uttering (sec. 943.38 (2)). The actual facts disclosed at trial must be considered.

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State v. Fuller, 204 N.W.2d 452, 57 Wis. 2d 408, 1973 Wisc. LEXIS 1559 (Wis. 1973).

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