State v. Hager (In Re Commitment of Hager)

2018 WI 40, 911 N.W.2d 17, 381 Wis. 2d 74
CourtWisconsin Supreme Court
DecidedApril 19, 2018
Docket2015AP001311
StatusPublished
Cited by17 cases

This text of 2018 WI 40 (State v. Hager (In Re Commitment of Hager)) 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
State v. Hager (In Re Commitment of Hager), 2018 WI 40, 911 N.W.2d 17, 381 Wis. 2d 74 (Wis. 2018).

Opinions

MICHAEL J. GABLEMAN, J.

*84¶ 1 This is a review of two published decisions of the court of appeals, State v. Hager, 2017 WI App 8, 373 Wis. 2d 692, 892 N.W.2d 740, and State v. Carter, 2017 WI App 9, 373 Wis. 2d 722, 892 N.W.2d 754.1 Both cases involve the discharge procedure for a person civilly committed as a sexually violent person pursuant to *23Wis. Stat. ch. 980 (2015-16) ("Chapter 980").2 David Hager, Jr., and Howard Carter both filed petitions for discharge from commitment as sexually violent persons pursuant to Wis. Stat. § 980.09 with the Chippewa County Circuit Court3 and Brown County Circuit Court,4 respectively, and both petitions were denied. Hager and Carter appealed.

¶ 2 In Hager, the court of appeals reversed, concluding that the circuit court erred in two ways: (1) by considering evidence unfavorable to Hager's discharge petition; and (2) by weighing the evidence in favor of the discharge petition against the evidence opposed. Hager, 373 Wis. 2d 692, ¶ 5, 892 N.W.2d 740. Based on its review of the record, the court of appeals concluded that Hager had satisfied his burden of production5 and reversed and remanded the matter to *85the circuit court with instructions to conduct a discharge trial pursuant to Wis. Stat. § 980.09(3) - (4). Id. In Carter, the court of appeals affirmed the circuit court, concluding that Carter had not satisfied the standard it had established in Hager. Carter, 373 Wis. 2d 722, ¶ 3, 892 N.W.2d 754.

¶ 3 Both cases involve the proper interpretation of Wis. Stat. § 980.09(2), as amended by 2013 Wis. Act 84,6 which establishes the procedures for discharge from commitment. Carter raises two additional issues before this court: (1) whether § 980.09(2) violates the right to due process of law as guaranteed by the Fourteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution and Article I, Section 1 of the Wisconsin Constitution ; and (2) whether Act 84 applies retroactively to Carter. We review this last issue, whether Act 84 applies retroactively to Carter, through the lens of ineffective assistance of counsel because Carter's counsel did not contest the application of the amended standard to Carter. See State v. Erickson, 227 Wis. 2d 758, 768, 596 N.W.2d 749 (1999).

¶ 4 We hold as to both Hager and Carter that the court of appeals erred in concluding that Wis. Stat. § 980.09(2) limits circuit courts to considering only the evidence favorable to petitions for discharge. We hold that circuit courts are to carefully examine, but not weigh, those portions of the record they deem helpful *86to their consideration of the petition, which may include facts both favorable as well as unfavorable to the petitioner.

¶ 5 We further hold that Wis. Stat. § 980.09(2) does not violate the constitutional right to due process of law as guaranteed by the Fourteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution and Article I, Section 1 of the Wisconsin Constitution, and furthermore, Carter's counsel was not ineffective for failing to challenge retroactive application of Act 84 to Carter.

¶ 6 As to Hager, we reverse the decision of the court of appeals and remand the matter to the circuit court for further proceedings consistent with this opinion; as to *24Carter, we affirm the decision of the court of appeals, albeit on different grounds.

I. FACTUAL AND PROCEDURAL BACKGROUND

A. State v. Hager

¶ 7 Hager was involuntarily committed in 2008 as a sexually violent person pursuant to Chapter 9807 *87as he neared the completion of prison sentences he was serving as a result of having been convicted of two sexual offenses.

¶ 8 He filed the discharge petition we consider herein on February 27, 2014. Hager attached to the petition the report of Hollida Wakefield, M.A. In her report, Wakefield concluded that Hager did not satisfy the third criterion for commitment because he was not likely to engage in acts of sexual violence. She based this conclusion on the results of two actuarial instruments, the Static-99R and MATS-1.8

*88¶ 9 The circuit court denied Hager's petition because Wakefield's report did not indicate any change in Hager; rather, the circuit court found "Mr.

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Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
2018 WI 40, 911 N.W.2d 17, 381 Wis. 2d 74, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/state-v-hager-in-re-commitment-of-hager-wis-2018.