Court Opinion

ID: 9850032
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-09-24 04:51:12.57248+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T09:20:30.603504
License: Public Domain

DAVID T. PROSSER, J.
¶ 74. (concurring). I concur in the conclusion that the State may prosecute Brent Reed for obstructing an officer under Wis. Stat. § 946.41. Both the majority opinion of Justice Butler and the concurring opinion of Chief Justice Abraham-son reason persuasively that if a jury finds that Reed not only falsely denied driving his car but also falsely identified another person as the driver, it may find that Reed violated the statute.
¶ 75. The majority opinion celebrates truth telling but it does so by delivering a literal, inflexible interpretation of the statute. I see the opinion as long on philosophy but short on reality. The concurrence, by contrast, recognizes reality but it ends up authorizing deception. I am unable to join either of these two opinions and thus write separately.
¶ 76. The majority opinion is not likely to change the behavior of people who have something to hide. "Denial," Mark Twain once quipped, "ain't just a river in Egypt." It is a human flaw dating back to the Garden of Eden.
*103¶ 77. What the majority opinion may change is the behavior of law enforcement. Law enforcement officers may try harder to pose questions that will incriminate suspects if they are answered truthfully, or subject them to additional charges if they are denied. Because police officers are not jurors, a suspect who remains silent is often presumed to deserve increased investigation.
¶ 78. Courts are likely to respond to this in the manner so clearly foreshadowed by the Chief Justice in her concurrence, by fashioning new warnings to suspects and developing new rationales for suppressing evidence. Thus, for prosecutors, the happiness derived from the majority opinion may be short lived.
¶ 79. While it is hard to deny the appeal of the majority opinion, I am fearful that its broad language opens a Pandora's box. I would prefer that we decide the case very narrowly and then move on.