Opinion ID: 1237709
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 5

Heading: refusal of probation

Text: Finally, one of the defendants, Ms. Carol Robbins, challenges Judge McMahon's refusal to honor her request for a sentence of incarceration and not probation. Ms. Robbins was placed on eighteen months probation, conditioned upon her not violating any criminal law and not having any contact within 500 feet of the facility. Ms. Robbins told Judge McMahon she would rather be sentenced instead of being placed on probation. Judge McMahon refused and Ms. Robbins now appeals. Ms. Robbins relies on Garski v. State, 75 Wis. 2d 62, 77, 248 N.W.2d 425 (1977), and State v. Smith, 100 Wis. 2d 317, 302 N.W.2d 54 (Ct. App. 1981), overruled on other grounds, State v. Firkus, 119 Wis. 2d 154, 350 N.W.2d 82 (1984), for the proposition that she has the right to reject probation if she believes it is more onerous than a possible sentence. In Garski, this court stated: If the defendant finds the conditions of the probation more onerous than the sentence which would have been imposed he can refuse the probation. Garski, 75 Wis. 2d at 77. This statement was based upon this court's interpretation of the probation statute, sec. 973.09, Stats. (1977), at the time of Gaski. The current version of sec. 973.09 is substantially similar to the 1977 statute in respect to when probation may be imposed and we feel bound by our prior interpretation of this statute in the absence of very compelling reasons to overrule our prior interpretation. Presumably the legislature was aware of this court's holding in Garski that a defendant may refuse probation. Since Garski, the legislature has amended sec. 973.09, Stats., in 1979, 1981, 1983, 1985 and 1987. In none of these amendments has it changed the effect of this court's ruling that a defendant need not accept probation in lieu of sentencing. Section 973.09(7m)(a), Stats., permits a defendant to refuse the imposition of community service as a condition of probation. Nowhere else, however, has the legislature stated that probation or any other condition of probation which may be imposed may be refused by a defendant. Thus it is clear that the legislature has not seen fit to change the statute to overcome the effects of the Garski decision. We recognize that our interpretation can prevent a circuit court from imposing probation which, in a given case, may be more desirable both for society and an individual defendant than the imposition of a sentence; in this case up to ninety days in jail or a fine not to exceed $1,000 or both as provided by the statute. The legislature might consider that rejection of probation in some circumstances may result in jail overcrowding; however in view of our prior holding, the matter of a defendant's option to reject probation is a question better left to the legislature. We respectfully suggest that the legislature give consideration to amending the probation statute to eliminate optional rejection of probation by a convictee. Consequently, we conclude that Judge McMahon erred by failing to honor Ms. Robbins' refusal of probation and we remand the matter for resentencing. By the Court.  The order of the circuit court for Milwaukee county, Honorable Thomas Doherty, judge, dismissing the criminal complaint against Monica Migliorino and Edmund Miller is reversed. The cause is remanded for further proceedings not inconsistent with this opinion. The judgments of conviction by the circuit for Milwaukee county, Honorable Patricia McMahon, judge, are affirmed. The order of probation issued in the case of State v. Haines, et al., for Carol Robbins is vacated and the matter is remanded for further proceedings not inconsistent with this opinion. STEINMETZ, J. (dissenting). I dissent to the majority opinion. When compared to constitutional principles, I believe the majority has overreached in interpreting the statute as did the legislature in adopting it. I do not comment extensively on the behavior of the defendants while on the premises of Affiliated Medical Services. However, I do believe the behavior complained against could have been charged criminally under sec. 947.01, Stats., disorderly conduct, which tends to confirm that the state need not punish these defendants under sec. 943.145 in order to keep the peace. Texas v. Johnson, 1989 U.S. LEXIS 3115, 22 (filed June 21, 1989). In City of Oak Creek v. King, 148 Wis. 2d 532, 545, 436 N.W.2d 285 (1989), this court stated: It is not necessary that an actual disturbance must have resulted from the appellant's conduct. The law only requires that the conduct be of a type which tends to cause or provoke a disturbance, under the circumstances as they then existed. If the defendants' conduct constituted substantial intrusions which offend the normal sensibilities of average persons or significantly abusive or disturbing demeanor in the eyes of reasonable persons, then they are chargeable under sec. 947.01, Stats. State v. Givens, 28 Wis. 2d 109, 122, 135 N.W.2d 780 (1965). It must be emphasized that in both King and Givens the defendants' conduct triggered their arrest and eventual conviction. In King, the defendant entered a restricted area after an airplane crash and refused to leave when advised to do so by the police. King, 148 Wis. 2d at 537-38. In Givens the defendants conducted a sit-in demonstration on the floor of the waiting room and of the corridor leading to the office of the Milwaukee county board of supervisors.... Givens, 28 Wis. 2d at 111-12. Section 943.145, Stats., makes a person chargeable with a violation not for any behavior or actions of the defendant but for mere entry of the person on a premise, public or private, if the circumstances provoke a breach of the peace. In other words, if a person's entry, expression or even appearance upsets someone who then causes a disturbance, the gravamen or fault rests with the person exercising the constitutional right of freedom of expression and right to move about unfettered in public facilities. Mere entry or expression is a criminal violation. This broad restriction applies not only to these defendants but to anyone who espouses a philosophy contrary to the persons on the premises and is upset by that individual's expression or appearance. Section 943.145, Stats., treats as criminal behavior the mere entry of a public or private medical facility that causes a response or reaction by someone else that breaches the peace. As recently stated by the United States Supreme Court: [i]t would be odd indeed to conclude ... that the Government may ban the expression of certain disagreeable ideas on the unsupported presumption that their very disagreeableness will provoke violence. Johnson, 1989 U.S. LEXIS at 20. Jacobs v. Major, 139 Wis. 2d 492, 524, 407 N.W.2d 832 (1987) dealt with a privately-owned facility. As the dissent in Jacobs noted, additional rights are guaranteed in public places. Id. at 532 (Abrahamson, J., concurring in part and dissenting in part). This statute overbroadly applies to both public and private medical facilities. I believe sec. 943.145, Stats., is constitutionally defective in that it impermissibly invades a person's right to free speech. First, medical facility is defined in sec. 50.33(2) which includes public and private medical facilities. Hospitals as well as clinics are the beneficiaries of this criminal statute, with no distinction between public and private facilities. Thus, the entry into either a public or private medical facility, state owned or privately owned, is prohibited if such entry is without the consent of some person lawfully on the premises and this alone could trigger the offense. Consent, by the wording of the statute, can be given by anyone lawfully on the premises. That could include any doctor, employee, patient or member of the public lawfully there and, therefore, lacks certainty. Such entry into a public facility should not be prohibited even if done for purposes of expressing a thought or by mere presence. Section 943.14, Stats., is the only other criminal statute which makes mere entry a violation if it tends to create a or provoke a breach of the peace. However, sec. 943.14 concerns the entry into a dwelling not entry into a public facility. Consent is always necessary when entering a dwelling; this requirement is not needed when entering a public facility. I believe that a law aimed at and which threatens one group's constitutional right to free speech threatens the rights of all Americans. I find sec. 943.145, Stats., too broad and in violation of constitutional rights and therefore dissent from the majority opinion. LOUIS J. CECI, J. (dissenting). I dissent because I believe that sec. 943.145(2). Stats., is unconstitutionally vague on its face. The concept of vagueness or indefiniteness rests on the constitutional principle that procedural due process requires fair notice and proper standards for adjudication. The primary issues involved are whether the provisions of a penal statute are sufficiently definite to give reasonable notice of the prohibited conduct to those who wish to avoid its penalties and to apprise judge and jury of standards for the determination of guilt. If the statute is so obscure that people of common intelligence must necessarily guess as to its meaning and differ as to its applicability, it is unconstitutional. City of Oak Creek v. Ah King, 148 Wis. 2d 532, 546, 436 N.W.2d 285 (1989), citing State v. McCoy, 143 Wis. 2d 274, 285-86, 421 N.W.2d 107 (1988); Bachowski v. Salamone, 139 Wis. 2d 397, 406, 407 N.W.2d 533 (1987). `A statute or ordinance is unconstitutionally vague if it fails to afford proper notice of the conduct it seeks to proscribe or if it encourages arbitrary and erratic arrests and convictions. The test to determine vagueness is whether the statute or ordinance is so obscure that men of ordinary intelligence must necessarily guess as to its meaning and differ as to its applicability . . . [it] must be sufficiently definite so that potential offenders who wish to abide by the law are able to discern when the region of proscribed conduct is neared and those who are charged either with enforcing or applying it are not relegated to creating their own standards of culpability instead of applying the standards prescribed in the law.' City of Milwaukee v. Nelson, 149 Wis. 2d 434, 446-47, 439 N.W.2d 562 (1989), quoting Milwaukee v. Wilson, 96 Wis. 2d 11, 16, 291 N.W.2d 452 (1980) (footnotes omitted). Section 943.145(2), Stats., provides: Whoever intentionally enters a medical facility without the consent of some person lawfully upon the premises, under circumstances tending to create or provoke a breach of the peace, is guilty of a Class B misdemeanor. I believe that the phrase under circumstances tending to create or provoke a breach of the peace is not sufficiently definite to give reasonable notice of the prohibited conduct to those who wish to avoid its penalties and to apprise judge and jury of standards for the determination of guilt. I believe sec. 943.145(2) is so obscure that people of common intelligence must necessarily guess as to its meaning and differ as to its applicability. For example, sec. 943.145(2) could apply to an individual who enters a medical facility without consent wearing a shirt which graphically depicts what that person believes happens during an abortion procedure if under the circumstances such conduct tended to create or provoke a breach of the peace. Similarly, sec. 943.145(2) could apply to an individual who enters a medical facility without consent wearing a shirt which extols the virtues of a particular athletic team if under the circumstances such conduct tended to create or provoke a breach of the peace. I believe that the foregoing demonstrates that sec. 943.145(2) simply does not give reasonable notice of the type of conduct prohibited by the statute to those who wish to avoid the penalty for violation of the statute. I note that the fact that a statute fails to itemize with particularity every possible kind of conduct which would violate such statute does not make it unconstitutionally vague. Ah King, 148 Wis. 2d at 546. For example, in State v. Givens, 28 Wis. 2d 109, 115, 135 N.W.2d 780 (1965), this court, in finding that the disorderly conduct statute, sec. 947.01, Stats., [1] is reasonably explicit, held that: [T]he six types of affirmative conduct which are expressly listed in the statute all tend to disrupt good order and to provoke a disturbance. When the statute, after the specific enumerations, in a `catch-all' clause proscribes `otherwise disorderly conduct' which tends to `provoke a disturbance,' this must mean conduct of a type not previously enumerated but similar thereto in having a tendency to disrupt good order and to provoke a disturbance. Such interpretation rests upon the rule of ejusdem generis. ... Upon this approach, the instant statute sufficiently identifies the type of behavior which the legislature intended to be contrary to law. (Citations omitted.) In contrast, sec. 943.145(2), Stats., does not provide any examples of the type of conduct which tends to create or provoke a breach of the peace. As a result, people of common intelligence must necessarily guess as to its meaning and differ as to its applicability. Therefore, I would hold that sec. 943.145(2) is unconstitutionally vague on its face.