Custodial Interrogation

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WI Court of Appeals – District I

Case Name: State of Wisconsin v. Michael K. Brooks

Case No.: 2022AP000678-CR

Officials: Brash, C.J., Donald, P.J., and Dugan, J.

Focus: Custodial Interrogation

On August 3, 2017, Detective Steve Wells questioned Brooks while he was in custody following an allegation that on July 23, 2017, he sexually assaulted a nine-year-old girl, R.G., and her six-year-old sister, N.F. The interrogation was audio-recorded and took place in two parts that were separated by a break of four unrecorded minutes. The State subsequently charged Brooks with two counts of sexual assault of a child younger than thirteen years old. Brooks, who represented himself in the circuit court proceedings, moved to suppress the second part of the custodial interview on the ground that it continued after he had invoked his right to counsel. The circuit court conducted a hearing at which Wells was the sole witness.

Brooks appeals a judgment, entered after a bench trial, convicting him of first-degree sexual assault of a child under thirteen years of age. He maintains that the circuit court erred when it denied his motion to suppress a portion of his custodial statement because, he claims, the custodial interrogation continued after he invoked his right to counsel. The appeals court concludes that Brooks did not unequivocally invoke his right to counsel for purposes of a custodial interrogation when he said that he wanted to talk to a lawyer in connection with the execution of a search warrant for his DNA. It further concludes that, even assuming that the circuit court erroneously denied Brooks’s suppression motion, any error was harmless beyond a reasonable doubt.

Affirmed.

Decided 07/05/23

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