State v. Bartelt

• Decision Date: 01 March 2017
• Docket Number: Appeal No. 2015AP2506-CR
• Citation: 2017 WI App 23,375 Wis.2d 148,895 N.W.2d 86
• Parties: STATE of Wisconsin, Plaintiff-Respondent, v. Daniel J.H. BARTELT, Defendant-Appellant.
• Court: Wisconsin Court of Appeals

375 Wis.2d 148
895 N.W.2d 86
2017 WI App 23

STATE of Wisconsin, Plaintiff-Respondent,
v.
Daniel J.H. BARTELT, Defendant-Appellant.^†

Appeal No. 2015AP2506-CR

Court of Appeals of Wisconsin.

Submitted on Briefs: January 25, 2017
Opinion Filed: March 1, 2017

On behalf of the defendant-appellant, the cause was submitted on the briefs of Leon W. Todd, assistant state public defender of Milwaukee.

On behalf of the plaintiff-respondent, the cause was submitted on the brief of Thomas J. Balistreri, assistant attorney general, and Brad D. Schimel, attorney general.

Before Neubauer, C.J., Reilly, P.J., and Gundrum, J.

895 N.W.2d 88

NEUBAUER, C.J.

375 Wis.2d 152

¶1 Daniel J.H. Bartelt was convicted of the first-degree intentional homicide of Jessie Blodgett upon a jury verdict and first-degree recklessly endangering safety of M.R. upon Bartelt's plea of guilty. During the course of the investigations, detectives from the Washington County Sheriff's Office interviewed Bartelt and he implicated himself in the attack of M.R. Following these oral admissions, the detectives asked if Bartelt would make a written statement, at which point he asked if he should or can talk to a lawyer, and, when told that was an option, he indicated that he preferred that. The detectives left the interview room and a few minutes later placed Bartelt under arrest. The following day, detectives from the

375 Wis.2d 153

City of Hartford met with Bartelt to question him about Blodgett's death. After Bartelt was advised of his Miranda¹ rights, he waived them and stated that he was at Woodlawn Union Park on the morning of Blodgett's murder. The detectives then went to Woodlawn Union Park and uncovered evidence connecting Bartelt to Blodgett's murder. The circuit court denied Bartelt's motion to suppress the statements he made and the evidence that resulted from those statements, concluding that Bartelt was not in custody at the time he asked about counsel. Because Bartelt asked about counsel before he was in custody, the detectives from the City of Hartford were not prohibited from interviewing Bartelt. Bartelt now challenges the circuit court's determination of his motion to suppress. We affirm.

FACTUAL AND PROCEDURAL BACKGROUND

The Charges

¶2 Under an amended criminal complaint, Bartelt was charged in the attack on M.R. with attempted first-degree intentional homicide, first-degree recklessly endangering safety, attempted false imprisonment and, in the death of Blodgett, with first-degree intentional homicide.

The Suppression Hearing

¶3 At a suppression hearing, Detective Joel Clausing of the Washington County Sheriff's Office testified that as of July 16, 2013, he had identified Bartelt as a person of interest. M.R. had said that her

375 Wis.2d 154

attacker had been in a blue Dodge Caravan and another deputy had run the license plate to a blue Dodge Caravan earlier that month, which was registered to Bartelt's parents. Clausing discovered that the Bartelts had a son, and a photo of him from the Wisconsin Department of Transportation was similar to a composite sketch that was drawn at M.R.'s direction. The police had also collected evidence from the crime scene including beer cans, a knife and its sheath, tape, and blood, but none of it had been analyzed at that point.

¶4 Clausing spoke with the Bartelts at their home, and they gave him Bartelt's cell phone number. Clausing called Bartelt around 5:00 p.m., told him that the police were investigating an incident, and that they needed to speak with him. Bartelt was not given any other details, and he did not ask for any additional ones. Bartelt was "very compliant" and asked where and when he should meet the police. Clausing told him to come to the Slinger Police Department because Clausing preferred to do all of his interviews at a station house, and it was about the midway point between Clausing and Bartelt. Bartelt agreed. Two friends dropped Bartelt off at the police department, and they waited for him.

895 N.W.2d 89

¶5 The Slinger Police Department is inside a municipal building that it shares with other offices such as parks and planning. There is one main entrance door used to enter the building, and, once inside the building, there is a specific door for the police department, neither of which is secured during regular business hours. After one enters the lobby of the police department, there is another door that leads to the "internal portion of the police department." This door provides a secured entry but one may freely exit.

375 Wis.2d 155

¶6 At 5:12 p.m., Bartelt was escorted into an interview room with Clausing and Detective Aaron Walsh.² Clausing described the interview room as about twenty-five feet from the secured entry door. The front doors to the interview room cannot be locked, and Clausing left them ajar. The room itself is about thirteen-and-one-half feet by ten-and-one-half feet and has windows. Inside were one table and three chairs. Bartelt was asked where he wanted to sit, and then Clausing and Walsh sat on either side of Bartelt. Both Clausing and Walsh were wearing casual clothes, with their badges on their belts and their guns holstered at their sides.

¶7 At the outset of the interview, Clausing advised Bartelt that he was "not in trouble" and that he was "not under arrest." Bartelt responded, "[T]hat's good." Clausing repeated that Bartelt was not under arrest and also advised him that he could "get up and walk out of here any time [he] want[ed]." The detectives did not search or frisk Bartelt. During the course of the interview, Clausing learned that Bartelt was nineteen years old, that he had completed a semester of college, and claimed to be working as a "gopher" for a manufacturing company. Bartelt appeared intelligent according to Clausing. When asked, Bartelt said he thought the police were meeting with him about Blodgett. Clausing told him that he and Walsh were investigating an incident at a park that occurred the prior Friday.

¶8 Initially, Bartelt denied that he was at the park. He was asked about his whereabouts on that Friday, but other than stating that he was "[p]robably" with his girlfriend and that he "assume[d]" they

375 Wis.2d 156

watched television and ate dinner together, he could not "remember any specifics." The detectives explained to him about evidence and asked if there was any evidence, such as blood or "something [he] left there," that might show he was at this park last Friday. Bartelt said there was nothing there and asked, "What is this about?" Clausing replied, "I already told you what this is about. We are investigating an incident that happened at a park," with Walsh adding, "[l]ast Friday." Clausing asked, "What if I were to tell you that there might be something that links you there."

¶9 Clausing then explained "Locard's exchange principle" to Bartelt, that a person leaves some of himself, such as fingerprints, sweat, DNA, or clothing fibers, behind. The detectives added that they had evidence "from the person that was out there," which needed to be analyzed by the state crime laboratory, as well as an eyewitness, although this eyewitness had not seen a photograph of Bartelt. Thus, Clausing said, "I can prove that you were out there." So, if Bartelt was "out there," he should "just talk to [the detectives] about what happened or what [he] saw or ... observed or whatever."

¶10 Walsh added that the police knew that the blue Dodge Caravan he drove was there that Friday and that it had been there other days when Bartelt was supposed

895 N.W.2d 90

to be working. Walsh then confronted Bartelt about his claim that he was working, and he admitted he did not have a job. Bartelt also acknowledged that his claim earlier in the interview that he had injured his thumb when he "[g]ot stabbed with a screw at work" was untrue. Bartelt then said he cut his finger on a knife. When asked to explain, he said he was cooking at home and cut his finger on a knife. Clausing did not believe Bartelt's second explanation,

375 Wis.2d 157

saying "Nobody in their right mind would lie about cutting themselves if it happened at home cooking." Clausing said, "No more lies," and asked that Bartelt "[j]ust be honest." Bartelt admitted he had been to the park and that he had seen "the sketch on TV," but "it wasn't me."

¶11 Walsh then went into a lengthy monologue about how the victim was scared, that she was "looking over [her] shoulder every single second," and that the police wanted to give her "some closure" so that she would not have to look over her shoulder any longer. The easiest way to give the victim closure, Walsh said, was for the person who did this to take responsibility. Walsh added that what happened could "be explained by the person that did it." For example, things...