State v. Gregory M. Sahs

2013 WI 51, 832 N.W.2d 80, 347 Wis. 2d 641, 2013 WL 2990669, 2013 Wisc. LEXIS 262
Wisconsin Supreme Court·Decided June 18, 2013·No. 2009AP002916-CR·Published·Cited by 5 cases

Opinions

SHIRLEY S. ABRAHAMSON, C.J.

¶ 1. This is a review of an unpublished decision of the court of appeals that affirmed the judgment of conviction entered by the Circuit Court for Milwaukee County, Jeffrey A. Conen, Judge.1

¶ 2. Gregory M. Sahs, the defendant, was convicted of possession of child pornography in violation of Wis. Stat. § 948.12(lm) (2007-08).2

¶ 3. The charge of possessing child pornography arose from incriminating admissions the defendant made to his probation agent. The defendant was on probation as a result of a prior conviction for possession of child pornography. After the defendant made incriminating statements to his probation agent, the police were alerted and found the computer the defendant used to [645] access and possess child pornography, leading to a revocation of his probation and these additional criminal charges.

¶ 4. After being criminally charged, the defendant moved the circuit court to suppress the admissions to his probation agent, claiming that they were compelled, testimonial, and incriminating in violation of his state and federal constitutional privilege against self-incrimination. The Fifth Amendment to the United States Constitution3 and Article I, Section 8 of the Wisconsin Constitution4 provide that no person shall be compelled in any criminal case to be a witness against himself.

¶ 5. The defendant's admissions are clearly testimonial and incriminating. The issue is whether the admissions were compelled.

¶ 6. The legal issue before this court is the same as the legal issue before the circuit court and court of appeals: Should the incriminating statements made

by the defendant to his probation agent admitting possession of child pornography be suppressed on the ground that the statements were compelled in violation of the defendant's federal constitutional privilege against self-incrimination?5

[646] ¶ 7. The court of appeals concluded that the circuit court properly denied the motions to suppress: "[T]he evidence that Sahs relies upon [namely a Department of Corrections document] does not appear in the record" and "the facts in the record are insufficient to show compulsion."6

¶ 8. We affirm the decision of the court of appeals.

¶ 9. The defendant has failed to meet his burden to prove that his initial, oral statements were compelled.7 Neither the circuit court nor this court can consider the Department of Corrections form that the defendant claims advised him that his incriminating statements cannot be used against him in criminal proceedings. The form is not in the record. The parties did not agree about its existence, the details of its use, or the defendant's knowledge of its contents before the defendant made his oral admissions.

[647] ¶ 10. The defendant has failed to put sufficient evidence into the record to show that the rules of his probation rendered his incriminating statements compelled. No documents, no testimony, and no undisputed, agreed-upon facts by the parties are in the record to evidence any compulsion of the defendant to admit possession of child pornography to his probation agent.

¶ 11. Because there is not sufficient evidence in the record to show compulsion, we affirm the decision of the court of appeals, which affirmed the circuit court's order denying suppression of the statements and the judgment of conviction.8

I

¶ 12. We first turn to the facts. The Complaint charging the defendant with two counts of possession of child pornography was filed on July 2, 2008. The defendant waived a preliminary hearing. The State filed the information based on the complaint. The defendant entered a plea of not guilty to the two counts charged.

¶ 13. The defendant then filed his motion seeking to suppress the statements he made to his probation agent. The State opposed the motion. The circuit court requested that the parties participate in an evidentiary hearing regarding the suppression motion. Instead, both parties proffered facts in written briefs to the circuit court and stipulated that the circuit court could decide the case based on the factual representations set forth in the briefs.

[648] ¶ 14. The facts set forth here are therefore predominantly taken from the parties' briefs filed in the circuit court. The circuit court explained that it was "dealing with representations here and not a factual record by affidavit."9

¶ 15. As one might suspect from the proceedings we have described thus far, the record in this case relating to the suppression motion is extremely thin. What follows are the parties' undisputed, agreed-upon facts we have culled from the parties' briefs and the findings of fact the circuit court made.

¶ 16. The parties agree that the defendant was sentenced to probation in 2005 arising from a conviction for possession of child pornography.

¶ 17. The parties agree that Department of Corrections Probation/Parole Agent Michael Krause was assigned to supervise the defendant's probation and that the defendant was required to participate in sex offender group therapy as a condition of his probation.10 The other conditions of the defendant's probation are not in the record.

¶ 18. The parties finally agree that the defendant was on probation when, in January 2007, he made statements to Agent Krause indicating that he again possessed child pornography. From there, the parties' factual assertions diverge.

[649] ¶ 19. The defendant asserts that he was required to take a polygraph test as a condition of sex offender treatment and that he failed this polygraph test on December 15, 2006,11 when he untruthfully answered that he had not broken any of his probation rules.

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State v. Gregory M. Sahs, 2013 WI 51, 832 N.W.2d 80, 347 Wis. 2d 641, 2013 WL 2990669, 2013 Wisc. LEXIS 262 (Wis. 2013).

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