Opinion ID: 2178271
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: if the complaint must state probable cause, do the uniform traffic citations and complaints issued to these defendants state probable cause?

Text: [4] The next question is whether the complaints challenged in this case met the requirements of probable cause. The criminal complaint must answer the following five questions before it will be deemed to state probable cause: (1) Who is charged?; (2) What is the person charged with?; (3) When and where did the alleged offense take place?; (4) Why is this particular person being charged?; and (5) Who says so? or How reliable is the informant? State ex rel. Evanow v. Seraphim, 40 Wis.2d 223, 230, 161 N.W.2d 369 (1968). There is no dispute that the complaints in this case answer satisfactorily the first three questions. [6] The name of each defendant, the section of the statutes allegedly violated, and the time and place that the offense occurred is printed on the complaint. In State ex rel. Warrender v. Kenosha County Ct., 67 Wis.2d 333, 231 N.W.2d (1975), a uniform traffic citation and complaint was issued to the defendant for operating a vehicle with an expired registration. The defendant objected to the complaint arguing that it did not state probable cause. In cases involving nonmoving violations, the reliability of the informant is unquestioned because, as the court found, [t]here is no doubt that . . . an officer obtains the information for a traffic citation through personal observation. Therefore, the court held in that case that the question of Who says so? is adequately answered by the uniform traffic citation and complaint. In a similar manner, the court in Warrender found that for a nonmoving violation the requirement that the complaint states why a particular individual is being charged was also satisfied by the uniform traffic citation and complaint. The defendant is charged because the police officer observed an expired registration. The state argues that the same kinds of inferences may be drawn from the offenses charged in the present cases as were drawn in Warrender. As for the reliability of the informant, the state asserts that because a police officer signs the complaint, it must have been issued on reliable information. In addition, it is argued that driving after revocation is easily observed, especially in less populated counties, because police officers are presumed to be more familiar with the status of licensed drivers. The state reasons that the same is true of the driving while intoxicated charge. The police officer will observe the violation personally. Using this analysis, the state finds a ready answer to the inquiry Why is this person being charged? The individual is charged according to this reasoning, because he was observed committing the offense. The analysis used in Warrender does not extend to the crimes charged in this case. Warrender involved a nonmoving violation of a noncriminal statute. The inferences the state wishes to draw do not automatically flow from the offenses charged. Police officers cannot be presumed to know which individuals are operating vehicles with valid or revoked operators' licenses. Neither does the charge of driving while intoxicated always stem from a police officer's personal observation. The complaints in this case do not adequately set forth why the defendants were charged or the reliability of the information contained in the complaint. The court of appeals was correct when it stated that based on these complaints . . . there are simply no facts upon which this court, or any court, could determine why the defendants are being charged or who says so. The complaints do show the names of the statutes under which the defendants are charged. This may answer the question `what,' but it goes no further. [5] No probable cause being shown on the face of the complaints, the circuit court lacked jurisdiction over the defendants and the court of appeals was correct in vacating the judgments of conviction. By the Court.  The decision of the court of appeals is affirmed.