Court Opinion

ID: 9859953
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-09-24 23:03:59.629862+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T11:11:18.566194
License: Public Domain

PIVARNIK, Justice,
concurring and dissenting.
I concur in this opinion except insofar as the majority remands the cause to the trial court for imposition of a standard sentence or a new habitual offender proceeding. It is my view there was sufficient evidence presented to sustain the finding of habitual offender and that the trial court should also be affirmed in that regard.
The only problem the majority finds is that there was no showing that burglary is a felony in Wisconsin. I would first note that I believe it is recognizable that burglary is a felony in any jurisdiction. Secondly, even if the majority is correct that the only showing was that Defendant got a sentence of sixty days and two years probation, that showing alone would qualify as a sufficient showing inasmuch as a person cannot receive a period of probation longer than the sentence that could be imposed upon him. In other words, if the crime for which he was convicted carried a term of less than a year, then he could not be put on probation for two years. However, there is a more cogent reason to find sufficiency here and that is that the Probation Officer of LaPorte County testified that Defendant was sentenced to a term of two years. The Probation Officer testified that he received this defendant on probation in LaPorte County on a transfer from the State of Wisconsin. This is a recognized reciprocal procedure in which a person being supervised by a probation officer in one jurisdiction can request transfer of that person to the probation office of another jurisdiction in another state. The LaPorte Probation Officer testified that he did receive this defendant from Wisconsin and agreed to take transfer of him into LaPorte County. The Probation Officer testifying was the defendant's supervising Probation Officer. He testified that all of the doe-uments and papers submitted to him in *630regard to said transfer indicated the defendant had received a two year sentence. He said he discussed this with the defendant and the defendant never denied nor objected to the assertion that he was convicted of a felony and sentenced to two years. The fact the defendant was put on probation for the two year period is irrelevant. There is more than sufficient showing that Defendant received a sentence of more than a year and, therefore, under all of the reasons given above, there was sufficient showing that he was convicted of a felony in Wisconsin.
I would affirm the trial court in all respects.
GIVAN, C.J., concurs.