Court Opinion

ID: 9687824
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-24 16:50:34.048805+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T18:18:32.113836
License: Public Domain

SCHUDSON, J.
¶ 33. (concurring). Although I agree with the Majority's conclusion, I believe its opinion goes too far.
¶ 34. Was Jerrell's statement coerced? Because, as the Majority correctly concludes, (1) the trial court's factual findings are not clearly erroneous, and (2) Theriault v. State, 66 Wis. 2d 33, 223 N.W.2d 850 (1974), precludes the per se rule the Remington Center seeks, the answer is no. And here, under the totality of the circumstances, the answer is all the more clear because Jerrell's request to call his parents came after he confessed.
¶ 35. That should conclude the analysis of the central issue in this appeal. The Majority, however, while acknowledging that its additional discussion "does not affect the disposition of this appeal," Majority at ¶ 24, goes on to comment at length on various topics relating to the possible propriety of a per se rule, Majority at ¶¶ 25-32. In doing so, the Majority approvingly cites certain case law and commentaries even though, in this case, they were not subjected to any debate or adversarial testing. This, I think, is unwise.
*461¶ 36. For sound reasons, we usually refrain from addressing issues that need not be resolved. See State v. Mikkelson, 2002 WI App 152, ¶ 17 n.2, 256 Wis. 2d 132, 647 N.W.2d 421 (we decide cases on the narrowest grounds). And for equally sound reasons, we usually resist the temptation to offer advisory opinions, particularly when the subject is a complicated one that has not been thoroughly explored through the adversarial process. See State v. Robertson, 2003 WI App 84, ¶ 32, 263 Wis. 2d 349, 661 N.W.2d 105 ("Courts act only to determine actual controversies — not to announce principles of law or to render purely advisory opinions."). We should not deviate here.
¶ 37. Therefore, although I also am intrigued by the Remington Center's suggestions and, in particular, by its arguments favoring the videotaping of all police interrogations, I believe these issues are best left unaddressed in this appeal. Accordingly, while agreeing with much of the Majority's opinion, I do not join in it entirely and, therefore, respectfully concur.