Sentencing Discretion-No-Contact Order

WI Court of Appeals – District I

Case Name: State of Wisconsin v. Dominic L. Brister

Case No.: 2024AP001516-CR

Officials: Geenen, J.

Focus: Sentencing Discretion-No-Contact Order

Brister had been convicted of child neglect and OWI after driving intoxicated with his two-year-old daughter unsecured in the vehicle while a loaded firearm was present. The sentencing court imposed a no-contact order applied to his daughter, covering both his confinement and extended supervision.

Brister argued before the Court of Appeals that the blanket prohibition violated his constitutional right to maintain a parent-child relationship. The court agreed, finding that a no-contact order preventing all communication between a parent and child is a content-neutral restriction on First Amendment rights and therefore must satisfy intermediate scrutiny by being narrowly tailored to serve a significant governmental interest.

Although protecting Diana was a legitimate and substantial governmental interest, the court concluded that the order was overly broad. It prohibited all forms of communication, even though the offenses involving Diana accounted for only three years of Brister’s entire sentence and she had not been physically injured. The court also found that the sentencing court failed to explain why such an expansive restriction was necessary or why less restrictive alternatives would not adequately protect Diana.

The court emphasized that the order effectively deprived Brister of nearly all of his remaining opportunity to develop a parent-child relationship without the procedural protections required for terminating parental rights.

Reversed and Remanded.

Decided 06/30/26

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