State v. Thomas Michael Barrett

2020 WI App 13, 941 N.W.2d 866, 391 Wis. 2d 283
CourtCourt of Appeals of Wisconsin
DecidedFebruary 4, 2020
Docket2018AP002324-CR
StatusPublished
Cited by1 cases

This text of 2020 WI App 13 (State v. Thomas Michael Barrett) 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. Thomas Michael Barrett, 2020 WI App 13, 941 N.W.2d 866, 391 Wis. 2d 283 (Wis. Ct. App. 2020).

Opinion

2020 WI App 13

COURT OF APPEALS OF WISCONSIN PUBLISHED OPINION

Case No.: 2018AP2324-CR

†Petition for Review filed

Complete Title of Case:

STATE OF WISCONSIN,

PLAINTIFF-RESPONDENT,

V.

THOMAS MICHAEL BARRETT,

DEFENDANT-APPELLANT.†

Opinion Filed: February 4, 2020 Submitted on Briefs: November 5, 2019 Oral Argument:

JUDGES: Brash, P.J., Dugan and Donald, JJ. Concurred: Dissented:

Appellant ATTORNEYS: On behalf of the defendant-appellant, the cause was submitted on the brief of Adam Welch of Stroud, Willink & Howard, LLC of Madison.

Respondent ATTORNEYS: On behalf of the plaintiff-respondent, the cause was submitted on the brief of Lisa E.F. Kumfer, assistant attorney general, and Joshua L. Kaul, attorney general. 2020 WI App 13

COURT OF APPEALS DECISION NOTICE DATED AND FILED This opinion is subject to further editing. If published, the official version will appear in the bound volume of the Official Reports. February 4, 2020 A party may file with the Supreme Court a Sheila T. Reiff petition to review an adverse decision by the Clerk of Court of Appeals Court of Appeals. See WIS. STAT. § 808.10 and RULE 809.62.

Appeal No. 2018AP2324-CR Cir. Ct. No. 2011CF3855

STATE OF WISCONSIN IN COURT OF APPEALS

DEFENDANT-APPELLANT.

APPEAL from a judgment and an order of the circuit court for Milwaukee County: JONATHAN D. WATTS and T. CHRISTOPHER DEE, Judges. Affirmed.

Before Brash, P.J., Dugan and Donald, JJ.

¶1 DONALD, J. Thomas Michael Barrett appeals a judgment of conviction, following a jury trial, of one count of possession of a firearm silencer, No. 2018AP2324-CR

contrary to WIS. STAT. § 941.298(2) (2017-18).1 Barrett also appeals from the order denying his postconviction motion for relief.

BACKGROUND

¶2 On August 16, 2011, Barrett was charged with one count of possession of a firearm silencer. According to the criminal complaint, Barrett purchased a semiautomatic .22 caliber handgun with an attached silencer from M.B., a confidential informant working with the Federal Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF). The complaint states that M.B. had a series of recorded phone conversations with Barrett regarding the sale of two firearms, one of which had an attached silencer. During the phone conversations, Barrett acknowledged the illegality of the silencer, but agreed to meet M.B. in the parking lot of a local shopping mall to look at the firearms. Law enforcement monitored the meeting by video and audio recording and by surveillance. The complaint states that Barrett told M.B. that the silencer was “highly, highly, highly, highly illegal,” calling it a “hit man’s gun,” but told M.B. that if caught with a silencer, he would simply “say I was going to dispose of it[.]” Barrett purchased two firearms and the silencer, but removed the silencer from the .22 caliber firearm and placed it in a separate metal box. Recordings from the meeting show that Barrett, an attorney, told M.B.:

I ain’t even going to put that in the same box.... That way they [the police] have to have a warrant to get in there on my way home…. I put it in a metal box. They can’t x-ray that fucker without a warrant and then … I can say, well I was just going to destroy it for a client[.] Then we’re protected by attorney-client privilege. They can never get the shit out of me!

1 All references to the Wisconsin Statutes are to the 2017-18 version unless otherwise noted.

2 No. 2018AP2324-CR

Barrett placed the firearms and silencer in the trunk of his car, and was subsequently arrested and charged.

I. Pretrial Constitutional Challenges

¶3 Barrett filed a motion to dismiss the charge on the grounds that WIS. STAT. § 941.298, the statute generally prohibiting the possession of firearm silencers, was facially unconstitutional. Barrett argued that the statute “impermissibly infring[es] upon the fundamental right to keep, use and bear arms under the Federal and Wisconsin Constitutions[.]” Barrett also argued that the statute was void for vagueness. At a hearing on the motion, the trial court 2 found “that there is absolutely no basis for this motion to dismiss and that the statute is perfectly constitutional.” Specifically, the trial court found that silencers do not constitute firearms and that “the right to keep and bear arms is totally separate from a silencer[.]”

¶4 Barrett, by new counsel, filed a subsequent motion challenging the constitutionality of WIS. STAT. § 941.298 on its face and as applied to him, arguing that the trial court did not address the vagueness argument in his first motion. Barrett’s motion argued that “[t]he statute does not give fair warning to those wishing to obey the law. The language of the statute is vague in that it arguably includes any object that has the effect of muffling the report of the firearm.” The trial court3 again rejected Barrett’s constitutional challenge. In a written decision, the trial court stated that Barrett “cannot show that there are no possible applications or interpretations of the statute which would be constitutional.” As to Barrett’s as-

2 The Honorable Charles F. Kahn presided over Barrett’s motion to dismiss. 3 The Honorable Jonathan D. Watts presided over this motion and Barrett’s trial.

3 No. 2018AP2324-CR

applied argument, the trial court found that Barrett lacked standing to challenge the statute’s constitutionality because “a defendant who engages in some conduct that is clearly proscribed cannot complain of the vagueness of the law as applied to the conduct of others.” The trial court found that under the facts of the case, Barrett’s conduct constituted the exact conduct prohibited by the statute.

II. Proceedings Related to M.B.

¶5 Pretrial, the State filed a witness list naming M.B. as one of its potential witnesses. The State did not provide M.B.’s address, but stated that it “will assist the defense with personal service of this individual.” Barrett, however, attempted to subpoena M.B. himself by hiring a private investigator, Gary Wait, who posed as a gun dealer willing to sell firearms to felons. M.B., unaware that Wait was actually a private investigator, notified the Milwaukee Police Department and the ATF, informing them that he was contacted by an individual willing to sell firearms to prohibited persons. At the law enforcement departments’ instruction, M.B. recorded his conversations with Wait. Wait met with M.B., identified himself as a private investigator, and served M.B. with a subpoena.

¶6 Barrett then filed a motion to admit other acts evidence that “M.B. offered numerous inducements to Wait to purchase firearms, even though Wait had never mentioned that he was interested in purchasing firearms.” The crux of the motion was that evidence of M.B.’s “inducements” to Wait supported a defense of entrapment. Specifically, Barrett argued that “evidence of M.B.’s efforts to induce Wait to purchase firearms is admissible to establish that it was M.B.’s plan to induce Barrett to possess the allegedly illegal pistol.” The trial court conditionally granted the motion, allowing the introduction of other acts evidence if the defense first introduced some evidence showing that M.B. induced Barrett to buy the silencer so

4 No. 2018AP2324-CR

as to put the entrapment defense at issue. The matter proceeded to trial where neither party called Wait as a witness.

III. Trial

¶7 Barrett testified in detail about his conversations with M.B., his meeting with M.B., and his thought process during the meeting.

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Related

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2022 WI App 53 (Court of Appeals of Wisconsin, 2022)

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Bluebook (online)
2020 WI App 13, 941 N.W.2d 866, 391 Wis. 2d 283, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/state-v-thomas-michael-barrett-wisctapp-2020.