Probation Revocation

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WI Court of Appeals – District I

Case Name: Wisconsin Department of Corrections, Division of Community Corrections v. Brian Hayes

Case No.: 2023AP001140

Officials: Donald, P.J., Geenen and Colón, JJ.

Focus: Probation Revocation

The Court of Appeals reversed the circuit court’s decision and affirmed the Division of Hearings and Appeals’ (DHA) decision not to revoke Keyo Sellers’s probation. Sellers was placed on probation for a drug conviction and faced revocation after allegations of entering K.A.B.’s residence without consent, sexually assaulting K.A.B., taking $30 from K.A.B., trespassing on her porch, and providing false information to his probation agent. Sellers admitted only to providing false information.

The Department of Corrections (DOC) presented evidence, including testimony and DNA analysis, but K.A.B. did not testify, and her written statement was admitted instead. DHA determined that without K.A.B.’s testimony, the evidence was insufficient to prove the allegations beyond the admitted false information. DHA emphasized the importance of the right to confront one’s accuser and found no good cause to deny Sellers this right. Consequently, DHA decided not to revoke Sellers’s probation based on the remaining allegations.

DOC sought a writ of certiorari, and the circuit court reversed DHA’s decision, reinstating the revocation. On appeal, the Court of Appeals reviewed DHA’s decision, not the circuit court’s, and deferred to DHA’s findings. The court concluded that DHA acted within its jurisdiction and according to law, and that its decision was neither arbitrary nor unreasonable. It held that the DNA and security footage, while relevant, did not conclusively prove the allegations without K.A.B.’s testimony.

Reversed.

Decided 05/14/24

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