Court Opinion

ID: 9695337
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-25 18:15:47.302434+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T18:20:10.884145
License: Public Domain

ANNETTE KINGSLAND ZIEGLER, J.
¶ 133. {concurring in part, dissenting in part). The majority decision, which suppresses both the documents and the statements, proceeds much further than necessary. I agree that the circuit court has authority to preclude the documents and to require the State to go through the correct process to obtain them for future use. However, I disagree with doing so on a statutory or constitutional basis. If there is such authority to preclude the documents, it lies in the court's inherent authority to administer justice. Under the facts presented, however, no authority exists for suppressing the statements.
¶ 134. The majority finds that the statutory language calls for suppression as a remedy. If the language of this statute provides for suppression, then almost any statute from this point forward does so as well. That has never been the law. Moreover, no authority exists for going even further and suppressing the statements based on the statute, the fruit of the poisonous tree doctrine, or otherwise. This is a good example of bad facts making bad law.
¶ 135. The law is well established that unless the statute provides for suppression or unless constitutional protections exist, suppression is not a remedy. The majority decision extends the law to unworkable standards and leaves a black hole with respect to the suppression of evidence. Suppression law is no longer linked to the language of the statute, nor is it tethered to a constitutional right. No longer is there any stop*661ping point to suppression. As a result, I cannot join the majority and, instead, must concur in part and dissent in part.
¶ 136. Under the unique facts of this case, the circuit court should have the authority to preclude the documents because the subpoena at issue was fatally defective: (1) the district attorney used the wrong subpoena (a civil subpoena was used by the district attorney in a criminal investigation); (2) the district attorney had no authority to obtain documents by using the civil statutes; while there is no record that this was done in bad faith, using the wrong subpoena and civil procedure were more than a scriveners' error; (3) although the record reflects that the investigating officer faxed a probable cause affidavit to the district attorney, nothing suggests that a probable cause affidavit was submitted to the court, and no such document is in the record; (4) nothing suggests that a probable cause determination was made by any judicial officer;1 (5) the documents sought were not returned through the circuit court but instead were returned directly to the State; and (6) all safeguards at the circuit court failed.
*662I. SUBPOENA POWER IN WISCONSIN
¶ 137. In short, the State had no authority to obtain the documents by using purely a civil subpoena process in a criminal investigation. When a court realizes that it issued a subpoena without any authority, it can and should quash the subpoena under its own authority in the administration of justice.2 So long as there is no bad faith, the court may then require the State to use the correct process to obtain the records by subpoena. From this record, there is no bad faith by any person. The State made mistakes in obtaining the subpoena, and the court made mistakes in signing the subpoena under the wrong authority and without a probable cause affidavit.
¶ 138. The State utilized a civil subpoena statute, Wis. Stat. § 805.07, to subpoena the defendant's bank records. Nowhere in the subpoena does the State cite the criminal statute. The State may not circumvent the criminal process by using civil subpoena statutes.3 The criminal law has its own subpoena statutes, which the State was required to use.
*663¶ 139. The Wisconsin criminal code specifically provides that chapter 885, Witnesses and Oral Testimony, "shall apply in all criminal proceedings." Wis. Stat. § 972.11(1). As a result, any attorney, including the district attorney, may secure a witness to testify at a hearing. Wis. Stat. § 885.01.4 By virtue of Wis. Stat. §§ 885.01 and .02, an attorney, including a district attorney, may require a witness to bring documents with him or her to a scheduled hearing.
*664¶ 140. The district attorney possesses additional subpoena power by virtue of Wis. Stat. § 968.135.5 This subpoena power is meant to enhance the investigative powers of law enforcement. It can be used before a crime is even charged and no scheduled hearing is required. However, because § 968.135 bestows upon the State great power, certain safeguards apply such as a court finding probable cause, documents being returned to the court, and providing the circuit court the power to completely quash or limit the subpoena.
¶ 141. The State, in this case, should have used Wis. Stat. § 968.135 rather than Wis. Stat. § 805.07 — a civil subpoena statute meant for civil litigants.6 Because the State should have used Wis. Stat. § 968.135, the majority looks to that statute for a remedy. However, the record does not support that § 968.135 was ever used. This was not a mere scriveners' error or malfunctioning tape recorder; this was a subpoena, which at every juncture of the entire process, was defective.
II. DEFECTIVE SUBPOENA
¶ 142. The State's subpoena was fatally defective. Absolutely nothing was done correctly with respect to this subpoena. The district attorney had no authority to request it, and the judge should not have signed it. If there is a remedy for this unusual statutory violation, it lies in the court's inherent authority to administer justice since the legislature did not provide for suppression as a remedy in the statute and the violation did not *665invoke constitutional protections. The proper remedy in a case like this, where no bad faith exists, is to permit the judge — when the error is discovered — to quash the subpoena and require the State to subsequently seek the documents through a properly enforced subpoena. In finding that Wis. Stat. § 968.135 calls for suppression of the documents — and ultimately the statements — the majority weaves a remedy that unravels years of precedent.7
¶ 143. A circuit court judge has the authority to quash a subpoena that is defective.8 In this case, the defective subpoena was in part due to the circuit court's own errors. It is nonsensical to not allow a circuit court *666judge to remedy such a procedural error. It is unnecessary to undertake the majority's analysis. In this case, the subpoena was fatally defective in a number of ways. The State may never utilize civil subpoena statutes for a criminal investigation. Probable cause is always required when utilizing criminal investigative subpoenas. There is a procedure for which evidence is returned to the circuit court. It is logical that a circuit court should be able to use inherent authority to right such a wrong and require the State to obtain the documents through the proper means. Once the subpoena is quashed, and if no bad faith exists, the State may seek the same documents through a proper subpoena.
¶ 144. The majority eliminates longstanding precedent that suppression is required only if the statute specifically provides for suppression. Majority op., ¶¶ 57-71. The majority questions whether any justification exists for such a rule. Majority op., ¶ 70. We, however, need not look any further than well respected and accepted principles of statutory construction and interpretation for justification. When the legislature intends to provide suppression for a statutory remedy, it specifically does so,9 and if it does not, this court should not insert words into the statute.10 Rather, when no *667suppression remedy exists in the statute, a statutory violation — and thus most likely a procedural violation —should be corrected by ordering the violator to repeat the process or procedure in a manner that complies with the statute. Suppression is appropriate for constitutional violations, which by their very nature are serious violations, and suppression is appropriate when the legislature deems a statutory violation so significant that permanent exclusion is appropriate.
¶ 145. Here, the majority is making new law. No case has ever suppressed evidence without specific statutory authority unless there has been a constitutional violation. With this new basis for suppression, is there any stopping point? Is anything attenuated? If something is suppressed in a case, does that now mean that anything obtained thereafter is suppressed? If not, why not? What is the standard? For example, if law enforcement obtains a lead in an investigation and that evidence is later found to be inadmissible, is all evidence obtained thereafter suppressed because officers built a case based upon various leads? Is law enforcement now required to obtain an independent basis for *668the admission of each piece of evidence for fear that something earlier may be suppressed?
¶ 146. In order to suppress the documents, the majority decides that suppression is allowed under Wis. Stat. § 968.135. However, § 968.135 was never utilized by the State to subpoena the documents or by the court that issued the subpoena. From the record, the State and the court relied solely on the civil statute and procedure to subpoena the documents — Wis. Stat. § 805.07. Instead of deciding the case on the basis that there exists no authority to so subpoena the documents civilly, the majority contorts this into a criminal subpoena. It is not. The subpoena was fatally defective.
III. FRUIT OF THE POISONOUS TREE DOCTRINE
¶ 147. The majority takes the extra step of suppressing the statements that were obtained when the defendant was subsequently shown the bank documents. While the majority frames its analysis under the auspices of statutory authority, it really does so by an unprecedented application of the fruit of the poisonous tree doctrine, shx so doing, the majority undermines longstanding case law. There is no legal support for the proposition that the court can suppress the statements as fruit of the poisonous tree or, as the majority has now done, under the language of the statute. The statute at issue does not list suppression as a remedy and the fruit of the poisonous tree doctrine has never been extended to a statutory violation. Unlike using its inherent authority in the administration of justice to quash the improperly issued subpoena, the court's inherent authority does not extend to suppressing the attenuated statements, especially where there is no bad faith. In *669order to suppress the statements there must be authority in the statute or in constitutional law. No such authority exists here.
¶ 148. We have no reason to believe that law enforcement acted in bad faith to obtain the documents. There is no reason to believe that law enforcement used the documents in bad faith. The majority suppresses the statements by finding that there was a statutory violation in obtaining the documents in the first instance; it then suppresses the "fruit" of the "poisonous tree" — the statements derived from the use of those documents.
¶ 149. The fruit of the poisonous tree doctrine has never been applied to suppress statements elicited by virtue of a defendant being shown documents obtained from a faulty civil subpoena. This doctrine applies to constitutional violations, and no constitutional violation has occurred in this case.
It is true that evidence obtained as a direct result of a violation of a constitutional right is inadmissible and the exclusionary rule applies to intangible evidence as well as tangible evidence, such as statements following an unlawful arrest or entry. Not only evidence obtained by the primary illegality is inadmissible but also derivative evidence if such evidence is obtained 'by exploitation of that illegality.1
State v. Schneidewind, 47 Wis. 2d 110, 118, 176 N.W.2d 303 (1970).11 However, if the majority were to find a *670constitutional violation, our existing body of case law would be blurred beyond recognition.
¶ 150. Suppression of derivative evidence does not occur every time a procedural mishap occurs with the subpoena process. In this case, there is no showing of bad faith on the part of law enforcement. The majority fails to provide any direction to our circuit courts, district attorneys, defense lawyers, and law enforcement with regard to when a circuit court judge must "suppress" derivative evidence or when it simply can quash a subpoena that was issued without authority and order compliance with the statute at issue. Surely not all procedural violations demand such drastic measures as the court prescribes in this case.
IV CONCLUSION
¶ 151. The majority, instead of directly deciding the issue at hand, proceeds down a path of "correcting" law that does not need correction. At the fault of both the State and the circuit court, a fatally defective subpoena was issued. The State had no authority to use the subpoena, and the court had no authority to issue the requested subpoena. This case does not call upon us to decide whether our current case law needs any clarification or changing with regard to when suppression is permitted. Because of the majority's decision, the law has been contorted to fit an outcome. Longstanding precedent is called into question. Courts and law enforcement are left with uncertainty.
*671¶ 152. The proper remedy in a case such as this is to permit the judge — when the error is discovered — to quash the subpoena and require the State to subsequently seek the documents through a properly enforced subpoena. The State should be able to reissue the subpoena and obtain the documents lawfully, but the fruit of the poisonous tree doctrine should not be applied under the guise of statutory interpretation in order to suppress the statements. In giving proper respect to precedent, there is no other authority upon which the documents can be suppressed. There is no authority to suppress the statements.
¶ 153. While the circuit court did not invoke its inherent authority in the case at hand because it had improperly suppressed based upon a constitutional expectation of privacy in bank records, we should remand to the circuit court with instructions that no such expectation of privacy exists12 and the proper remedy can be found under its inherent authority as articulated throughout this opinion.
¶ 154. For the foregoing reasons, I concur in part and dissent in part.

 Not only was no probable cause found prior to the subpoenas being issued, but no subsequent opportunity existed for a judicial officer to correct this problem. In this case, Judge Kinney signed the civil subpoena that produced the bank records from F&M Bank and used in eliciting incriminating statements from the defendant. No probable cause affidavit was attached to that subpoena. Judge Mangerson presided over the subsequent suppression hearing. However, because Judge Man-gerson did not sign the subpoena at issue and no probable cause affidavit was provided to him, Judge Mangerson could not make a finding of probable cause or correct the record as to why the subpoena was issued. There is nothing in the record to indicate that the criminal process was utilized.

 Although inherent authority was not utilized by the circuit court in this case, we should remand with directions that the circuit court consider utilizing its inherent authority.

 Perhaps the argument in favor of allowing the State to use civil subpoena statutes-arises out of Wis. Stat. § 972.11(1), which makes the rules of civil actions applicable to all criminal proceedings. However, this is impermissible when the "context of a section or rule manifestly requires a different construction." Wis. Stat. § 972.11(1). A different construction is required in this case. The criminal law has its own subpoena statutes, and therefore, it does not need to rely on, nor should it rely on, civil subpoena statutes. See Wis. Stat. § 972.11(1) (stating chapter 885 shall apply to criminal proceedings); Wis. Stat. § 885.01 (providing subpoena power); Wis. Stat. § 968.135 (providing criminal investigative subpoena power).

 Section 24.11 of Wisconsin Criminal Practice and Procedure states in relevant part:
The "subpoena power" is the authority to require "the attendance of any witness, residing or being in any part of this state, to testify in any matter or cause pending or triable. . . ." Compelling a witness to appear in a Wisconsin court may he accomplished by any attorney practicing before that court. This situation exists because WS.A. 757.01(1)2 bestows subpoena power on all state courts of record, and WS.A. 885.01(1)3 permits issuance of subpoenas by "any judge or clerk of a court or court commissioner or municipal judge" within that officer's or the appropriate court's jurisdiction. W.S.A. 757.355 then provides that the clerk of any court of record may deliver blank, pre-signed and sealed process forms to any attorney practicing before that court. Upon completion by the attorney, these documents have the same force as they would if they were perfected by the clerk. Utilizing this procedure, attorneys practicing in Wisconsin have subpoena power.
The Wisconsin attorney general and district attorneys, or persons acting in their stead, may also statutorily sign and issue subpoenas to compel the appearance of witnesses in any court or before any magistrate, from any part of the state, on behalf of the state. Similarly, under the Children's Code, a juvenile who is alleged to have performed a delinquent act must be informed by the intake worker that the juvenile has a "right to present and subpoena witnesses."
9 Christine M. Wiseman, Nicholas L. Chiarkas, & Daniel D. Blinka, Criminal Practice and Procedure § 24.11 (1996) (internal footnotes omitted).

 See 9 Wiseman et al., supra, § 24.16.

 See 9 Wiseman et al., supra, § 24.11, n.6 (stating that "[i]n civil cases, attorneys have subpoena power under Wis. Stat. § 805.07").

 See Justice Roggensack's dissent, ¶ 165.

 See City of Sun Prairie v. Davis, 226 Wis. 2d 738, 749-50, 595 N.W.2d 635 (1999) (citing to a number of cases and stating "the court exercises inherent authority i[n] ensuring that the court functions efficiently and effectively to provide the fair administration of justice"); State v. Holmes, 106 Wis. 2d 31, 44, 315 N.W.2d 703 (1982) (discussing inherent powers, which are "those powers which must necessarily be used by the various departments of government in order that they may efficiently perform the functions imposed upon them hy the people"). See, e.g., Marth v. Hevier, No. 81-1639, unpublished slip op. at 2 (Wis. Ct. App. Nov. 10, 1982) (as an example of the trial court quashing a subpoena issued under Wis. Stat. § 805.07 because it was defective as to form since it was directed to a corporation rather than an individual); In re Grand Jury Proceedings of June 16, 1981, 519 F. Supp. 791, 795 (E.D. Wis. 1981) (exercising the "inherent powers th[e] court possesses to supervise the grand jury and quash th[e] subpoena"); People v. Hart, 552 N.E.2d 1, 4 (Ill. App. Ct. 1990) (allowing the trial court to quash a subpoena that was defective because it allowed documents to be returned directly to the district attorney rather than through the court); James v. Booz-Allen & Hamilton, Inc., 206 F.R.D. 15, 18 (D.D.C. 2002) (allowing trial court to quash service of process because the defendant served the wrong person).

 See, e.g., Wis. Stat. § 968.30(9)(a). It provides in part:
Any aggrieved person ... may move before the trial court or the court granting the original warrant to suppress the contents of any intercepted wire, electronic or oral communication ....

 See State ex rel. Kalal v. Circuit Court for Dane County, 2004 WI58, ¶ 39,271 Wis. 2d 633, 681 N.W.2d 110 (citing to the United States Supreme Court, Connecticut Nat'l Bank v. Germain, 503 U.S. 249, 253-54 (1992), asserting that "[w]e have stated time and again that courts must presume that a legislature says in a statute what it means and means in a statute what it says there"); 2A Norman J. Singer & J.D. Shambie *667Singer, Statutes and Statutory Construction (7th ed. 2007) (§ 46.3, "Expressed intent," stating "[w]hat a legislature says in the text of a statute is considered the best evidence of the legislative intent or will"; § 46.6, "Each word given effect," stating "it is also the case that every word excluded from a statute must be presumed to have been excluded for a purpose"; § 47.23, "Expressio unius est exclusio alteráis," stating "where a form of conduct,... there is an inference that all omissions should be understood as exclusions"; § 47.38, "Insertion of words," stating "[i]n construing a statute, it is always safer not to add to or subtract from the language of a statute unless imperatively required to make it a rational statute") (internal footnotes omitted).

 See also State v. Yang, 2000 WI App 63, ¶ 20, 233 Wis. 2d 545, 608 N.W.2d 703 (stating that United States Supreme Court, "[i]n Elstad, the Court examined the fruit of the poisonous tree doctrine and determined that it only applies to a constitutional violation"); State v. Noble, 2002 WI 64, ¶¶ 7, 13, 29-31, 253 Wis. 2d 206, 646 N.W.2d 38; but see Muetze v. State, 73 Wis. 2d *670117, 134-35, 243 N.W.2d 393 (1976) (applying the fruit of the poisonous tree doctrine to a statutory privilege violation that led to obtaining a search warrant without probable cause once the privileged information was excluded). Muetze, however, is distinguishable from the case at hand because the statutory violation here did not directly lead to a constitutional violation.

 United States v. Miller, 425 U.S. 435 (1976); State v. Swift, 173 Wis. 2d 870, 496 N.W.2d 713 (Ct. App. 1993).

 All further references to the Wisconsin Statutes are to the 2005-06 version unless otherwise indicated.