State v. J.P. (In re J.P.)

2018 WI App 66, 921 N.W.2d 529, 384 Wis. 2d 415
CourtCourt of Appeals of Wisconsin
DecidedSeptember 5, 2018
DocketAppeal No. 2017AP1905
StatusPublished

This text of 2018 WI App 66 (State v. J.P. (In re J.P.)) 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
State v. J.P. (In re J.P.), 2018 WI App 66, 921 N.W.2d 529, 384 Wis. 2d 415 (Wis. Ct. App. 2018).

Opinion

Brennan, J.1

¶ 1 J.P. appeals the trial court's denial of his suppression motion as well as the court's entry of a restitution order for lost instructional time.

¶ 2 With regard to the suppression motion, J.P. argues on appeal that there was no probable cause for his arrest or the seizure of his phone, and that because he alone had the authority to give consent, his mother's consent was without lawful authority and accordingly the resultant search of his phone was unlawful. Additionally, he argues his confession was involuntary.

¶ 3 With regard to the restitution order, J.P. argues that the court lacked authority to enter an award for lost instructional time under the juvenile restitution statute, WIS. STAT. § 938.34(5) and the order must be vacated.

¶ 4 We conclude that the denial of J.P.'s suppression motion was proper because probable cause existed for J.P.'s arrest and the seizure of the phone. We conclude that his mother's consent to search the phone provided a lawful basis for the search because she had actual authority to consent and her consent was not involuntary. We conclude that J.P.'s confession was voluntary. But we reverse the trial court's entry of a restitution order for lost instructional time because although the adult restitution statute explicitly authorizes such restitution, the juvenile restitution statute does not.

BACKGROUND

Four Bomb Threats

¶ 5 On January 25, 2015,2 a written bomb threat appeared on the boys' bathroom wall at West Allis Central High School saying something like "there's a bomb in the school, and everyone will die." Surveillance cameras showed that students went in and out of that bathroom during the day, but the first student to report the threat was J.P. The cameras showed that the next student to use the bathroom also reported the bomb threat. No charges were issued that year.

¶ 6 On February 4, 2016, the school received a phoned-in threat from a male with an unknown caller ID saying that there was a bomb in the school and "everyone will die." The West Allis police officer assigned to the school, Sergeant Nicole Moews, noticed that the threat used the same words as the one from the previous year: "everyone will die." Moews testified that the school's video footage revealed J.P. was in a school bathroom when this bomb threat was made.

¶ 7 Moews further testified that one month later, on March 7, 2016, at 9:31 a.m., the school received another phoned-in bomb threat, and video footage showed J.P. was in the hall, going into or out of one of the bathrooms at the time of the threat. There are no cameras inside of the bathrooms. The students were evacuated from the school as a result of this threat. No bomb was discovered.

¶ 8 The next day, on March 8, 2016, at 9:45 a.m., the school secretary answered a call from a male who said, "There are bombs in the lockers." She described the caller's voice as that of a younger African-American. She reported the call to police and the school was again evacuated.

¶ 9 Detective Eric Sturino investigated the March 8 incident and testified at trial that the principal told him that the school's IT staff had identified the caller's number because it came in unblocked and had a 622 prefix. The call on March 7 had also been determined to be from a 622 prefix. Sturino had tried to call the number but received a message that the caller was unavailable. At the time of the March 8 bomb threat, school surveillance cameras again showed that J.P. had entered the boys' bathroom where there are no cameras. Sturino was informed that based on the investigation into the IP address, the March 8 call came from within the school.

¶ 10 Moews testified that two girls came up to her on March 7, 2016, during the bomb threat evacuation and reported that they had received a text message during the March 7 bomb threat evacuation, saying, "You know, I'm watching you, you've been warned." The text message was signed with the letter "A." The girls told Moews that this message was similar to messages on the television show "Pretty Little Liars" where a group of girls torments other girls with messages that are signed with a capital "A." Then Moews testified that as she conducted her investigation on March 8, she observed J.P. talking to the two girls who had reported the odd text message on their phones during the March 7 incident. She thought it odd when on the day after the suspicious text messages, J.P. was talking to these two girls when she had never see him talk to them before. She reported her observations to Sturino.

¶ 11 Moews testified that Sturino told her on March 9 to bring J.P. to the station so that he could talk to him about the threats. She went to the school and had the hallway administrator escort J.P. to the office. It is school policy that students being escorted to the office are not to be allowed on their phone. Typically the hallway administrator puts the phone in the student's backpack or carries it to the office. The hallway administrator in this instance handed Moews the phone. Moews then put it in J.P.'s backpack.

¶ 12 Moews told J.P. that she needed him to come to the police station because of the suspicious text messages during the bomb threat. She told him he was not under arrest and did not put him in handcuffs. She was in uniform. She testified that he came voluntarily. She drove him in her squad, he sat in the back seat, and she turned him and his backpack over to Sturino.

Seizure of the phone and arrest of J.P.

¶ 13 After J.P. had spoken to Moews about the investigation, Sturino placed J.P.'s phone on police inventory, gave him his Miranda3 warnings, and commenced a seventeen-minute interview with him and with Detective Darlene Wink also present. The interview took place at the West Allis police station interview room. The door was shut, J.P. was not handcuffed, and the detectives were dressed in plain clothes. Sturino testified that he probably had his weapon on him in a side holster but was seated during the interview. At that time, J.P. was sixteen years old and in the tenth grade. Sturino testified that J.P. was not under arrest, was free to go, said he understood his rights, and did not ask for an attorney.

¶ 14 Sturino showed J.P. the still photographs showing J.P.'s presence near the bathrooms during the bomb threats on March 7 and 8. J.P. denied his involvement in the bomb threats. He gave Sturino his cell phone number, but he refused to consent to a search of the phone. Sturino drove J.P. back to school, but because there had been another bomb threat, the school had been evacuated to a church, and Sturino dropped J.P. off there.

¶ 15 Afterwards, Sturino received a message that J.P.'s mother4 had called the station and was angry because she felt the police were picking on her son. He returned her call and explained to her that he had talked to her son because of the investigation into the school bomb threats. He explained that he had not fingerprinted or photographed her son. J.P.'s mother wanted to talk to him in person and came to the station on March 9 with another woman and J.P.

¶ 16 Sturino met with them in the conference room at the station, not an interview room. J.P.'s mother said the phone was hers and she wanted it back immediately. Sturino explained that he had seized it and was intending to apply for a search warrant for it. She asked if she could get it back faster by consenting to a search of it.

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Bluebook (online)
2018 WI App 66, 921 N.W.2d 529, 384 Wis. 2d 415, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/state-v-jp-in-re-jp-wisctapp-2018.