State v. Kilgore

2016 WI App 47, 882 N.W.2d 493, 370 Wis. 2d 198, 2016 WL 2888652, 2016 Wisc. App. LEXIS 307
CourtCourt of Appeals of Wisconsin
DecidedMay 18, 2016
DocketNo. 2015AP997-CR
StatusPublished
Cited by4 cases

This text of 2016 WI App 47 (State v. Kilgore) 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. Kilgore, 2016 WI App 47, 882 N.W.2d 493, 370 Wis. 2d 198, 2016 WL 2888652, 2016 Wisc. App. LEXIS 307 (Wis. Ct. App. 2016).

Opinions

NEUBAUER, C.J.

¶ 1. Bradley L. Kilgore appeals from a judgment convicting him of second-degree sexual assault after a jury found him guilty. During the execution of a search warrant at a residence Kilgore shared with David Peters where the suspected sexual assault of K.A.B. took place, Kilgore made multiple statements. He contends that the circuit court should have suppressed these statements, which were not preceded by Miranda1 warnings, because he was in custody. Kilgore also contends that probable cause to obtain a buccal swab of his cheek for DNA testing was lacking. We reject both these contentions and, thus, affirm.

FACTUAL BACKGROUND

KA.B. 's Report of Rape

¶ 2. On April 12, 2013, City of Sheboygan police responded to Sheboygan Memorial Medical Center to interview K.A.B. who had reported that she had been sexually assaulted earlier that morning. K.A.B. re[205]*205counted that after midnight, she and some friends had gone to a bar. K.A.B. consumed two drinks, which she did not leave unattended. She did not feel intoxicated. While at the bar, she saw Peters, someone she had met several years before, but had not seen in a long time. Peters introduced K.A.B. to his roommate, Kilgore. Peters asked K.A.B. for her phone number, and she gave it to him. K.A.B. left the bar and drove a friend home.

¶ 3. While K.A.B. was on her way home, Peters called her and asked her to come to his home where he lived with Kilgore. She agreed. There, Kilgore gave K.A.B. a drink containing orange juice; she did not see him make the drink. K.A.B. asked Peters for Tylenol for her back pain. He gave her two pills, and she took them without looking to see if they were Tylenol. Toxicology would later show that K.A.B. had benzodi-azepines and zolpidem in her system, the latter which is a sleeping aid comparable to Ambien and could significantly sedate a person unfamiliar with it. The last thing K.A.B. remembered was taking a photo of herself and Peters sitting together on a blue chair in the living room.

¶ 4. At 1:00 p.m., K.A.B. woke up in Peters' bedroom wearing only an undershirt. She went to leave and started vomiting. Her vomit was orange and foamy. She felt dazed and confused. K.A.B. started driving home but was having double vision. She pulled over and called a friend who took her to the hospital.

¶ 5. At the hospital, a rape kit was taken. K.A.B. said she had pain in her genitals and numerous bruises were observed on her buttocks, inner thighs, neck, and chest. K.A.B. told the police that Peters showed her needles he used for heroin, and he mentioned that he had cocaine and heroin at his residence.

[206]*206 The Execution of the Search Warrant

f 6. As a result of KA.B.'s report, a City of Sheboygan police detective, Tamara Remington, applied for a warrant to search the Peters/Kilgore residence. Among the things the police sought to recover were a comforter, drugs, and DNA samples from Peters and Kilgore.

¶ 7. On April 16, 2013, at approximately 2:00 p.m., the police executed the search warrant. According to the suppression hearing testimony of Remington, she was assisted by a captain, a detective, an officer, and members of the SWAT team. The target of the warrant was Peters, Remington said, because K.A.B. knew him and woke up naked in his bed. The only information the police had that Kilgore might have raped K.A.B was a text message Peters sent her asking if Kilgore had raped her. Remington denied that Kilgore was a suspect, rather, the police were seeking his DNA only to rule him out, including when testing the evidence they recovered, such as bedding. In fact, when Remington first drafted the warrant application, she "hadn't even thought of [Kilgore] personally." Someone else had "brought [Kilgore] to [her] attention," that he should be included in the warrant in order "to rule him out." Remington explained that the police always obtained DNA from the residents who lived there in order to rule them out. DNA would clear Kilgore, Remington thought. She considered Kilgore as a "potential witness."

f 8. During the execution of the search warrant, the SWAT team, who was heavily armed, surrounded the house. There was a voice at the door, Kilgore, who let the SWAT team inside. The SWAT team placed Kilgore facedown in the kitchen and held him at [207]*207gunpoint. Meanwhile, the rest of the officers cleared the residence looking for any type of imminent danger. Once the residence was secured, the SWAT team vacated it.

¶ 9. Remington and the captain searched a seat in the living room and then directed Kilgore to that seat. Three or four other officers, meanwhile, searched the residence. Remington explained that while the detectives were heavily armed upon their entry into the residence, those weapons were secured by the time the residence had been cleared. The detectives had only handguns on their persons. No longer were any weapons drawn on Kilgore. Kilgore was not in handcuffs. However, Kilgore was not free to leave the residence. In other words, the police "would not let him just walk out," but, this was never conveyed to him. Kilgore was given a copy of the warrant and told that the police would be taking a buccal swab from the inside of his cheek. Kilgore said, "no problem," that he had never touched K.A.B., and that "his DNA would not be on her or in her."

¶ 10. Before the swab was taken, "[t]here was a great deal of conversation." In talking with Kilgore, Remington testified that she was "trying to find out about David Peters, our primary target, his location." Peters was well known by the police, he was a frequent criminal suspect, and considered "[v]ery dangerous." Remington testified that the police did not have the same concerns with Kilgore. In response, Kilgore was "very talkative," "very cooperative, helpful," and "cordial," even offering things "spontaneously."

¶ 11. For example, they discussed Kilgore's landlord, and how Kilgore was scared that he was going to be evicted because of Peters' "antics," meaning people "coming for drugs and things like that." They talked [208]*208"about things [Kilgore] liked, games he liked to play," and his daughter. Remington asked Kilgore about Peters' whereabouts, and Kilgore said that he had some disease and was probably at the doctor. In fact, Peters called the house a couple of times, and Remington spoke with him briefly.

¶ 12. Remington asked Kilgore about Peters' involvement, and Kilgore said that on the prior evening Peters had brought a "nice white girl home." Remington asked him who made drinks for the victim, and Kilgore said that she did. Kilgore was pointing out different alcohols in the kitchen, and Remington would go into the kitchen to look while the captain stayed in the living room with Kilgore. Kilgore talked about pills that Peters supplied and crushed and snorted with K.A.B., identifying where that took place. He said that he was unable to hear what went on when Peters and K.A.B. went into Peters' bedroom, because he had on headphones while playing a video or computer game.

¶ 13. Kilgore talked about how Peters ate "pills like candy" and used heroin because he took too many prescription pills. Kilgore said he had to keep the drugs in his room to keep Peters from overusing them. Kilgore offered to help find Peters' drugs, but he was told to stay seated, and that the police would find them.

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Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
2016 WI App 47, 882 N.W.2d 493, 370 Wis. 2d 198, 2016 WL 2888652, 2016 Wisc. App. LEXIS 307, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/state-v-kilgore-wisctapp-2016.