Opinion ID: 1848945
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 4

Heading: Does Goodchild make a pretrial hearing mandatory

Text: In the instant case on appeal, the defendant prefers to denominate the hearing held herein as a Goodchild hearing and, on that basis, concludes that the hearing held by Judge SCHAEFER was improper inasmuch as Goodchild requires that the hearing be prior to trial. It was not the intention of this court, however, to make mandatory the determination of a Goodchild matter only in a pretrial hearing. True, the clear implication of Goodchild was that this court considered that such a hearing should preferably be held before trial so as not to interrupt the orderly process of presenting a case to a jury. That preference was reiterated in Bradley v. State (1967), 36 Wis. 2d 345, 153 N. W. 2d 38, 155 N. W. 2d 564, but the latter case made it clear that the effectiveness of the Goodchild procedure was to be tested not by the time at which it was held during the trial proceedings, but by whether the hearing and the findings were in compliance with the standards set forth in Goodchild. It would appear in the interest of good judicial administration to follow the suggested procedure of Goodchild. in respect to both Goodchild and Miranda objections, but it is very clear that a court's failure to do so in no way vitiates the effect of otherwise proper hearing and findings.