Reasonable Suspicion – Mistake of Law

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Criminal

Supreme Court of Wisconsin

Reasonable Suspicion – Mistake of Law

2013AP1581-CR State of Wisconsin v.  Richard E. Houghton, Jr.

Where police officer’s mistake of law ultimately held as a valid basis for finding reasonable suspicion,

“Because searches and seizures can be based on mistakes of fact, see Illinois v. Rodriguez, 497 U.S. 177, 183-86 (1990); State v. Reierson, No. 2010AP596-CR, unpublished slip op., ¶1 (Wis. Ct. App. Apr. 28, 2011), we confront the question of whether the lack of a front license plate, without more, may give rise to reasonable suspicion to conduct a traffic stop. To answer this question in the affirmative, we would have to hold that it is reasonable for a police officer in Wisconsin to believe that, if a vehicle is operating on a Wisconsin road, it must have been issued two license plates. Such a belief would usually be unreasonable. Wisconsin borders four other states, and residents from those and many other states pass through Wisconsin on a regular basis. That most vehicles on Wisconsin roads might be registered in Wisconsin and most vehicles registered in Wisconsin might be issued two plates is not enough to conclude that a stop of a vehicle solely because it lacks a front license plate passes constitutional muster.”

Reversed

DAVID T. PROSSER, J

Dissenting: ABRAHAMSON, BRADLEY, J.J., dissent. (Opinion Filed.)

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Attorney Derek A. Hawkins is the managing attorney at Hawkins Law Offices LLC, where he heads up the firm’s startup law practice. He specializes in business formation, corporate governance, intellectual property protection, private equity and venture capital funding and mergers & acquisitions. Check out the website at www.hawkins-lawoffices.com or contact them at 262-737-8825.