State of Wisconsin v. Curtis H. Brown

Montello, Wisconsin criminal defense lawyer represented the Defendant charged with operating a motor vehicle while intoxicated ((WSI).

The State filed a criminal complaint charging Brown with OWI and operating a motor vehicle with a prohibited alcohol concentration, both as seventh, eighth, or ninth offenses; obstructing an officer; and operating a motor vehicle while revoked. During the course of the circuit court proceedings, Brown filed multiple motions to suppress evidence, a suppression hearing was held at which Deputy Cameron Klump of the Marquette County Sheriffs Office testified, and video from Klump's dashboard camera was submitted to the court.



At approximately 5:00 p.m. on November 22, 2018, Klump was dispatched to a stretch of rural county highway in response to a report of a motor vehicle crash. Klump encountered Brown walking along the road in close proximity to the reported crash. Klump slowed to a stop, thinking that Brown might have been involved with the reported crash, and Brown voluntarily approached Klump's squad car. Klump testified that "[Brown] stated that he was coming from up the road where his vehicle was involved in ~ and he stopped his statement and stated that he was just walking down the road." After stopping and first making contact with Brown, Klump repositioned his squad car so that it was on the shoulder of the road and Klump directed Brown to the front of the squad car so that Brown was not in the way of oncoming traffic. While Klump was repositioning his squad car, he saw Brown throwing cans into the roadside ditch.[1] After Klump had repositioned his squad car on the shoulder and exited the car, and as he was talking with Brown, Brown removed two more cans from his pocket and threw them in the ditch. At that point, Klump ordered Brown to place his hands on the front of the squad car and then began the process of handcuffing him.



While Klump was handcuffing Brown, Klump asked Brown questions, and Brown, for the most part, answered those questions. Relevant here, Brown told Klump that what he had thrown into the ditch were cans of Budweiser that he did not want Klump to find on him. Brown also told Klump that he and his mom had been in Grand Marsh looking at property, that his mom was driving and had swerved to miss a deer, that his mom had then gotten a ride with someone, and that the car was in the ditch "up the road here."



Klump testified that he handcuffed Brown "for my safety as he was wearing large, bulky hunting clothes and I didn't know if he had weapons, and due to his actions." After handcuffing Brown, Klump told him, "You're not under arrest, you're just being detained, because you're throwing stuff in the ditch and you're acting pretty skittish with me."



Klump then searched Brown's person, had Brown get into the back of the squad car, retrieved the unopened cans of beer that Brown had thrown into the ditch, and drove with Brown a short distance down the road to the crash site. While at the crash site, Klump learned through dispatch that Brown had eight prior

OWI convictions and was accordingly subject to a .02 blood-alcohol-concentration (BAC) restriction. See WIS. STAT. § 340.0l(46m)(c) (2021-22) (reducing prohibited BAC to .02 for individuals with three or more prior convictions, suspensions, or revocations).[2] Klump drove Brown to the sheriffs office to conduct field sobriety testing and administer a preliminary breath test. Klump placed Brown under arrest after the results of the preliminary breath test revealed a BAC of .135. Klump subsequently obtained a warrant for a blood draw, which revealed a BAC of. 121.



State v. Brown, 2023AP897-CR (Wis. App. Nov 27, 2024)

Affirmed