Court Opinion

ID: 9655956
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-23 19:27:34.012043+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T10:18:41.489942
License: Public Domain

ANN WALSH BRADLEY, J.
¶ 47. (dissenting). At issue in this case is the permissible unit of prosecution under the theft statute, Wis. Stat. § 943.20. I believe that the permissible unit of prosecution for theft is found in the statutory definition of the crime. In examining the statutory definition, I conclude that the legislature did not intend that two discrete violations of the theft statute be parsed into fifteen separate charges.
¶ 48. Yet, the majority ignores the unit of prosecution defined by the statute and determines the unit of prosecution to be the number of firearms stolen. In defining the underlying substantive offense by looking to the penalty provision of the statute, the majority is allowing the tail to wag the dog. Because the majority misreads the statute, misconstrues the legislative history, and allows for gross over-prosecution of theft offenses, I respectfully dissent.
¶ 49. In essence, today's case should be viewed as an inquiry into legislative intent. See Bell v. United States, 349 U.S. 81, 82-83 (1955). Whether the defendant's challenge is addressed under a multiplicity *553analysis or as a question of statutory interpretation, the intent of the legislature is ultimately determinative of the appropriate unit of prosecution. See Missouri v. Hunter, 459 U.S. 359, 366-67 (1983).
¶ 50. The majority misreads § 943.20 when it concludes under its multiplicity analysis that these offenses are not the same in law and fact. The majority hinges its conclusion that the offenses are not the same in fact on the assertion that the State must prove the identity of each specific firearm. Majority op. at ¶ 28. However, under a proper construction of the statute, no such proof is needed.
¶ 51. With respect to theft, the unit of prosecution intended by the Wisconsin legislature is embodied in § 943.20(l)(a), which provides the substantive definition of the offense:
(1) ACTS. Whoever does any of the following may be penalized as provided in sub. (3):
(a) Intentionally takes and carries away, uses, transfers, conceals, or retains possession of movable property of another without the other's consent and with intent to deprive the owner permanently of possession of such property.
When the State has convinced a jury beyond a reasonable doubt that all of these elements are satisfied, a defendant is guilty of the crime of theft.
¶ 52. Under § 943.20(1)(a), theft is defined by the defendant's conduct in engaging in one of the enumerated acts. Provided that the property is moveable property of another, the nature of that property is irrelevant to the initial question of whether the defendant is guilty of theft. Cf. Sartin v. State, 44 Wis. 2d 138, 148, 170 N.W.2d 727 (1969) (value of property stolen is not an element of the crime of theft). The substantive definition of the offense leaves no room for asking what *554was taken, how many were taken, or from whom specifically the property was taken. The sole focus is the act of the defendant.
¶ 53. It follows that the number of charges allowable is dependent upon the number of such acts that were committed. The appropriate unit of prosecution is the act that violates § 943.20(1). In this case there were two such acts: the act of taking the guns from the Lehman home and the subsequent act of concealing them. Accordingly, it is permissible under § 943.20(1)(a) that Trazwitzki be charged with two violations of the statute.1
¶ 54. Only after the substantive elements of the offense have been established is the nature of the property relevant. The statute is divided into three subsections: (1) Acts, (2) Definitions, and (3) Penalties. *555Under the express terms of the statute, the penalty provisions are not triggered until a violation of subsection (1), "Acts," is established. See Wis. Stat. § 943.20(3) ("Penalties. Whoever violates sub. (1)...."). It is only under the penalty provisions that we aré required to examine the nature of the property that is the object of the theft.
¶ 55. In the ordinary case, subsection (3), "Penalties," requires that the value of the property taken (or concealed) in an act of theft under § 943.20(l)(a) be assessed after a theft violation of subsection (1) is established. Wis. Stat. § 943.20(3). The value of the property taken will determine the appropriate penalty level.
¶ 56. However, the legislature has placed special emphasis on two kinds of property that will allow for a heightened penalty where they are the object of the theft: domestic animals and firearms. § 943.20(3)(d)l & 5. When a firearm is the object of a theft and where the value of the property taken does not exceed $2,500, the defendant's theft conviction is classified as a Class D felony, and the defendant may be properly sentenced to a term of imprisonment not to exceed ten years. If the property that is the object of the act of theft exceeds $2,500, the defendant is guilty of a Class C felony. The same analysis applies to domestic animals.
¶ 57. Proper construction of § 943.20 in this case would require that the jury first answer whether the elements of § 943.20(l)(a) were satisfied. Upon that determination, the jury would then have to decide whether a firearm was an object of the theft. See Wis JI — Criminal 1441B cmt. If so, the defendant may be sentenced to a term of imprisonment not to exceed ten years, regardless of the value of that weapon.
*556¶ 58. Thus, contrary to the majority's assertions, the State must simply prove, in addition to the other elements of the offense, that the defendant took and concealed the movable property of another. Nothing in the statutory scheme requires the State to prove the identity of each individual weapon. If the State desires to pursue a Class D felony it must then prove that a firearm was the object of the theft.
¶ 59. The fact that more than one firearm was taken and more than one was concealed should be relevant only in determining the overall value of the property taken and concealed. If upon aggregating the value of all the guns, the value exceeds $2,500, the defendant may be sentenced to a term of imprisonment not to exceed 15 years (Class C felony).2 However, the number of firearms stolen does not define the number of theft convictions that are permissible.
¶ 60. The majority also misreads the legislative history in justifying its result. I agree with the court of appeals' conclusion that "[t]he history of Wis. Stat. § 943.20 offers little insight as to what the legislature intended regarding the allowable unit of prosecution when a number of firearms are stolen or concealed in a single episode of theft." State v. Trawitzki, 2000 WI App 205, ¶ 14, 238 Wis. 2d 795, 618 N.W.2d 884. All that the legislative history reveals is an intent to increase the penalty when the object of a theft is a firearm. An offense that might otherwise be a misdemeanor under Wis. Stat. § 943.20(3)(a), because of limited value, is treated as a felony. The legislative *557emphasis on the danger of a stolen firearm that the majority describes is reflected in the increased penalty.
¶ 61. The legislative history does not indicate that the legislature intended that a new offense be created. The crime is theft, not theft of a firearm. The increase in the penalty does not change the nature of the underlying offense. The required proof for a theft conviction remains the same. It is unfounded to infer from the legislative history that the upgrading of the offense of theft where a firearm is involved to a Class D felony is tantamount to the creation of the new offense of theft of a firearm. Yet, that is exactly what the majority infers. While the legislature may no doubt create such an offense, it simply has not done so.
¶ 62. The unfortunate consequence of the majority's opinion is the gross over-prosecution that its decision will allow. In the instant case, Jason Trawitzki, age 16, committed two theft offenses. Nonetheless, at the hands of a zealous prosecutor and majority of this court, he is marked for the remainder of his .life as a felon — 15 times over — for those two offenses.
¶ 63. The majority attempts to limit its decision to the theft of firearms under § 943.20(3)(d)5. See majority op. at ¶ 34. Its attempts are futile. By deconstructing the theft statute in a manner that allows the unit of prosecution required by the statute to be ignored, today's decision may have untold consequences in ordinary theft cases.
¶ 64. Under the majority's analysis an overzealous prosecutor may now be free to disregard the unit of prosecution defined by § 943.20(l)(a), and through artful pleading can subdivide any act of theft into any number of charges. See majority op. at ¶ 14. Indeed, at oral argument the State advanced the untenable posi*558tion that an ordinary theft offense may be subdivided into numerous charges based on the individual items stolen. The State believes that the theft of five compact discs in one episode of theft may result in five separate theft charges. Because it is now apparently the prosecutor's, and not the legislature's, definition of the offense that controls, the presumption of the validity of separate charges in such a case will attach. It may take some careful analysis on the part of the majority to prevent today's decision from having such an effect in future cases.
¶ 65. While I agree with the majority's conclusions regarding the effectiveness of Trawitzki's trial counsel, I disagree with its conclusions regarding the allowable number of theft charges. The majority's result can be justified only through its misreading of § 943.20 and misconstruing of the legislative history. By defining the unit of prosecution in theft cases in a manner that ignores the statutory text and misinterprets the legislative history, the majority may have opened the door to the unbridled over-prosecution of theft offenses.
¶ 66. I am authorized to state that Chief Justice SHIRLEY S. ABRAHAMSON and Justice WILLIAM A. BABLITCH join this opinion.

 The commentary of one authority who sat on the Criminal Code Advisory Committee that assisted in the drafting of Wis. Stat. § 943.20 and the 1955 criminal code, reveals that it is the act, and not the object of the offense, that defines the appropriate unit of prosecution in theft cases:
Where several items are taken or damaged by a single act, it seems that only one offense can be charged. For example, a defendant who steals a suitcase cannot be charged with separate thefts for each item of clothing contained in the suitcase. Nor can a defendant who takes two suitcases at the same time and from the same place be so charged. However, where the thefts or acts of damage occur at different times or at different places the prosecution can, but need not, charge a single offense.
Frank J. Remington & Allan J. Joseph, Charging, Convicting, and Sentencing the Multiple Criminal Offender, 1961 Wis. L. Rev. 528, 540.
The same view pervades the statutory and common law of a majority of states. See, e.g., 37 A.L.R.3d 1407, 1409 (1971) (explaining that a majority of jurisdictions subscribe to the "single larceny doctrine").

 Indeed, in the case at hand it seems that the appropriate penalty for the act of taking and carrying away the ten firearms should have been a Class C felony. The State advances in its brief, and the criminal complaint reflects, that the alleged aggregated value of these weapons exceeded $2,500.