Search and Seizure — conditions of extended supervision

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Wisconsin Supreme Court

Criminal

Search and Seizure — conditions of extended supervision

A sentencing court does not violate the Fourth Amendment by setting a condition of extended supervision that allows any law enforcement officer to search the defendant’s person, vehicle, or residence for firearms, at any time and without probable cause or reasonable suspicion.

“We hold that while the condition that the circuit court imposed on Rowan’s extended supervision ‘may impinge on constitutional rights,’ it does not violate them. The supervision condition imposed in this case does not violate Rowan’s constitutional rights because the circuit court made an individualized determination, pursuant to the circuit court’s authority under Wis. Stat. § 973.01(5), that the condition was necessary based on the facts in this case——involving violence, threats, and a firearm. It conforms with the applicable two-part test——that it is ‘not overly broad’ and that it is ‘reasonably related’ to Rowan’s rehabilitation. It is instructive that the United States Supreme Court determined in Samson v. California that a suspicionless search of a prisoner who has been released but remains under supervision by corrections officials, which includes a person released under community supervision, was reasonable under the Fourth Amendment. It based that conclusion on such persons’ severely diminished privacy expectations and the State’s great interest in preventing such persons from reoffending. The State relies on Samson in arguing that the condition here does not violate Rowan’s constitutional rights. Rowan counters that Samson’s holding is distinguishable because it relied heavily on California’s statute authorizing suspicionless searches, while the condition imposed here was made solely on a sentencing court’s authority. We hold that under the facts of this case, the condition imposed satisfies both parts of the applicable test and therefore does not violate Rowan’s rights under the Fourth Amendment to the United States Constitution or Wisconsin Constitution Article I, Section 11.”

Affirmed.

10AP1398-CR State v. Rowan

Crooks, J.

Attorneys: For Appellant: LaZotte, Paul G., Madison; For Respondent: O’Boyle, John M., Ellsworth; Whelan, Maura F.J., Madison