Court Opinion

ID: 9670111
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-24 03:14:48.129869+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T18:16:02.609743
License: Public Domain

Gordon, J.
{concurring). I fully agree with the conclusion that the appeal must be dismissed. This concurring opinion is designed to emphasize what I perceive to be the scope of sec. 958.12 (1) (d), Wis. Stats., in light of the constitutional restriction imposed by sec. 8, art. I of the Wisconsin constitution. This constitutional clause provides that “no person for the same offense shall be put twice in jeopardy of punishment.” The statute permitting appeals by the state has been held constitutional in State v. Witte (1943), 243 Wis. 423, 10 N. W. (2d) 117.
The provision of the United States constitution prohibiting second jeopardy is a limitation only on the power of the federal government and does not bind the states. Brock v. North Carolina (1953), 344 U. S. 424, 73 Sup. Ct. 349, 97 L. Ed. 456. Therefore, unless there is a violation of due process, the breadth of sec. 958.12, Wis. Stats., is to be tested only under the terms of the Wisconsin constitution.
In my opinion, Mr. Justice Wickhem thoughtfully analyzed the extent of the state’s statutory right to appeal in State v. Evjue (1949), 254 Wis. 581, 37 N. W. (2d) 50. The following portions of that opinion are significant to an understanding of the relationship of the constitutional clause and the statute:
“Thus, in the case of a trial by jury and a verdict of acquittal where the evidence of guilt is undisputed and unimpeached, and where as a matter of law the evidence establishes guilt there can be no review of the acquittal itself. This conclusion is not dependent upon ascertaining whether questions of fact or law were determined, [p. 590.]
“If, therefore, it appears that what is sought to be reviewed is not procedural error in the course of the trial but the ultimate determination of the tribunal to acquit, the *466review is not within the permission of the statute and if it were the statute would violate sec. 8, art. I, Const, [p. 591.]
“We conclude that if the trial court, upon waiver of jury, considers the evidence and finds defendant not guilty this ruling may not be reviewed upon the ground that the ultimate determination was against the evidence or arrived at by an error of law. If, however, the error consists of rejecting all of the state’s evidence so there is left no evidence of guilt, or if the trial court rules the evidence insufficient to support the finding of guilt and consequently declines either to consider the case on the merits or to submit it to a jury, the rulings are reviewable because the court acts, not as the ultimate tribunal deciding the case upon its merits, but as a trial court deciding procedural questions, [p. 592.] “. . . we consider it immaterial whether the trial court erred in point of fact or of law provided it actually acquitted defendant upon the evidence submitted, [p. 594.]”
I have misgivings about the use of the words “procedural error.” Whether the error is procedural or substantive, it should be reviewable if committed before the trier of fact addresses himself to the “ultimate determination.” It is not easy to determine when an error is committed “upon the trial” or occurs during “the ultimate determination of the tribunal to acquit.” Perhaps the standards for review of a criminal case at the instance of the state may be better understood from the six examples which follow. Of course, each appeal requires the discretionary permission of the trial court.
1. In a trial to the jury, an order for a directed verdict of acquittal may be reviewed. This is what occurred in State v. Kennedy (1962), 15 Wis. (2d) 600, 606, 113 N. W. (2d) 372. It is reviewable because the direction of a verdict constitutes a ruling as a matter of law that there is nothing upon which the trier of fact may act.
2. In a trial to the jury, an order setting aside a verdict of guilty may be reviewed. This is what occurred in State v. Witte, supra. This, like the previous example, is *467reviewable because the court in setting aside a verdict is ruling on the merits as a matter of law, without acknowledgment of any role for the trier of fact.
3. In a trial to the court, without a jury, if there is an unadorned, unexplained finding of not guilty by the judge, review may not be had. Such a finding is comparable to the jury’s verdict of not guilty and neither conclusion may be appealed.
4. In a trial to the court, without a jury, if there is a finding of not guilty based solely upon the court’s avowed refusal to examine the facts of the case, review may be had. Thus, an appeal would lie if the trial judge determined that the statute supporting the charge was unconstitutional. This would be an example of the court’s “rejecting all of the state’s evidence,” as Mr. Justice Wickhem put it at page 592 in the Evjue Case.
5. In a trial to the court, withoüt a jury, if there is a finding of not guilty based in any degree upon the judge’s application of the law to the facts of the case, review may not be had even if the judge expressly or impliedly misconstrues the law or patently ignores it. This would be “an ultimate determination” even though it may embody an error of law. This is the situation which prevailed in the case of State v. Evjue, supra.
6. In a trial to the court, without a jury, if it is not clear whether the judge based his finding of not guilty on a challenged issue of law or, on the other hand, based it upon the facts of the particular case, such finding is not subject to appeal by the state. This would appear to be the resultant rule from the case at bar. Thus, if there is uncertainty as to whether the trial judge made a finding of not guilty based upon a dubious proposition of law or, on the contrary, was making an ultimate determination on the facts of the case before him, it will be presumed to be the latter and not be reviewable. Any doubts, as the court’s *468opinion puts it, “are to be resolved in favor of the defendant.”
Perhaps these comments will make it somewhat easier for counsel to understand when there can be ah appeal on the part of the state within the framework of the constitutional barrier.
I am authorized to state that Mr. Justice Dieterich joins in this concurring opinion.