Sentencing Guidelines – Expungement

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WI Court of Appeals – District II

Case Name: Demonta Antonio Hall v. Wisconsin Department of Justice

Case No.: 2018AP2274

Officials: Neubauer, C.J., Reilly, P.J., and Gundrum, J.

Focus: Sentencing Guidelines – Expungement

Demonta Antonio Hall was arrested on September 21, 2015, for possession of an electronic weapon and on January 11, 2017, for second-degree sexual assault. In both instances, the state, within two days of arrest, decided not to charge Hall. Wisconsin law provides that if a person is arrested but then not charged or cleared of the offense that person has the right to have the record of his or her arrest expunged from the state’s crime database. WIS. STAT. § 165.84(1). Hall requested that his arrests from September 21, 2015, and January 11, 2017, be expunged. The Department of Justice (DOJ) refused.

DOJ admits that while standing alone the arrests would be expunged, it could not do so because DOJ had administratively appended (“cycled”) some earlier ordinance violations to those arrests. The circuit court ordered expungement of the September 21, 2015 and January 11, 2017 arrest records, and we affirm as a plain reading of WIS. STAT. § 165.84(1) so requires.

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Derek A Hawkins is trademark corporate counsel for Harley-Davidson. Hawkins oversees the prosecution and maintenance of the Harley-Davidson’s international trademark portfolio in emerging markets.