Wisconsin Supreme Court upholds reinstated RCS charge

Listen to this article

A circuit court made the right decision to reinstate previously dismissed charges under Wisconsin law, according to a Wisconsin Supreme Court ruling.

The decision, released July 1, affirmed lower court opinions that Carl Lee McAdory’s charge of having a restricted controlled substance (RCS) in his bloodstream was properly reinstated.

McAdory was convicted in Rock County of operating while under a controlled substance as an eighth offense and operating a vehicle with a detectable amount of an RCS. At the state’s request, the court dismissed the RCS charge, sentencing McAdory only on the OWI charge. An appeals court later reversed the OWI ruling and remanded for a new trial. The state then moved to reinstate the RCS charge instead of recharging on the OWI charge, which the circuit court granted.

Writing for the majority — Justices Annette Ziegler and Rebecca Grassl Bradley filed a concurring opinion — Justice Rebecca Dallet said the circuit court had implicit authority under Wisconsin Statute 346.63(1)(c) to reinstate the RCS charge. The decision was based on the statutory framework allowing for multiple charges from the same incident. The statute does not explicitly prohibit reinstating dismissed charges.

McAdory was charged with both OWI and RCS after a traffic stop in January 2016. The jury found him guilty of both charges. The state moved to dismiss the RCS charge and guilty verdict prior to sentencing, calling it a duplication. On appeal, the court of appeals overturned the OWI conviction on grounds unrelated to the RCS charge and guilty verdict.

In his appeal, McAdory argued the circuit court lacks the authority to reinstate the previous RCS charge and guilty verdict, the reinstatement violated the appeals court ruling and reinstating the previously dismissed charge and guilty verdict violated the double jeopardy clauses of the U.S. and Wisconsin constitutions.

The Supreme Court determined the state did not forfeit its right to seek reinstatement of the RCS charge and was not obligated to raise the reinstatement issue in the prior appeal since it was not relevant to the OWI conviction.

“There is no suggestion that the RCS charge and guilty verdict itself was somehow invalid, or legally insufficient in a way that would otherwise make reinstating it improper. In short, the circuit court’s approach did not violate any provision of State Statute 346.63(1) or any other statute,” Dallet wrote.

Reinstating the RCS charge did not violate McAdory’s rights under the double jeopardy clause because it was not considered a second prosecution for the same offense, the court wrote.

“McAdory was not prosecuted or tried twice for the OWI offense after the RCS charge and guilty verdict were reinstated. Rather, the OWI charge was dismissed at the State’s request, and he was never prosecuted or tried for it again,” Dallet wrote.