v.
Michael J. SCOTT, Lori M. Scott, Ally Financial, Inc. a/k/a C T Corporation System, A Black 1966 Oldsmobile Automobile VIN 338676M362750, A Brown 2015 Chevrolet Silverado VIN 1GC1KWE81FF631314, A 2008 Polaris Ranger Serial 4XARB50A482701431, A 2008 Sea Doo \Jet Ski\" Hull YDV13580E808
[*598] ¶1 The State of Wisconsin appeals the circuit court's summary judgment order dismissing the State's civil forfeiture complaint naming Michael Scott, Lori Scott, [*631] one car, one pickup, one all-terrain vehicle, two personal watercraft, cash, and marijuana. The State seeks a judgment awarding the non-drug property to the State. Police seized the property from in or around the Scotts' residence during the execution of a search warrant as part of a criminal investigation. The State pursued criminal cases against the Scotts and, separately, this forfeiture action based on WIS. STAT. §§ 961.55 and 961.555 (2015-16).[1] These statutes create a process for civil forfeiture of property that has allegedly been used in [*599] violation of, or derived from violations of, Chapter 961 of the Wisconsin Statutes, the Controlled Substances Act.
¶2 In the criminal cases, the circuit court excluded all of the evidence seized by the State based on a determination that the State violated the Fourth Amendment in obtaining the search warrant, based on a lack of probable cause in the warrant affidavit. In this forfeiture action, the Scotts moved for summary judgment based on the Fourth Amendment violation in the criminal cases. The court granted the summary judgment motion, based on a determination that all of the seized evidence must be excluded at trial under One 1958 Plymouth Sedan v. Pennsylvania ,
¶3 The State argues that we should "decline to extend" Plymouth Sedan to civil forfeiture actions, such as this one, that are brought under WIS. STAT. §§ 961.55 and 961.555. We disagree. As we explain below, the exclusionary rule applies to civil forfeiture actions of this type because, under Plymouth Sedan , they are "quasi-criminal" actions intended to penalize criminal conduct.
¶4 The State makes an alternative argument in the event that the exclusionary rule applies. Specifically, the State argues that it is entitled to raise a new argument that would defeat suppression, namely, that the good-faith exception to the exclusionary rule applies. The Scotts fail to address this argument, which the State did not make in the criminal cases. In the absence of adversarial briefing, we do not resolve as a general matter whether the State may, in a civil forfeiture action, make arguments against the application [*600] of the exclusionary rule that were not made in a related, prior criminal action. Rather, we treat the lack of a response by the Scotts as a concession and, on that basis, remand to the circuit court for further proceedings in which the State may attempt to pursue an argument based on the good-faith exception.
¶5 Accordingly, we reverse the order granting summary judgment and remand for the court to consider whether the State may proceed with a good-faith exception argument.[2]
[*632] BACKGROUND
¶6 The following allegations are made in the forfeiture complaint in this civil action. The complaint was filed by a district attorney and supported by an accompanying affidavit of a sheriff's office deputy. There is no dispute about any of these facts for purposes of summary judgment. Police executed a search warrant issued by a circuit court judge authorizing [*601] a search of the Scotts' residence "for evidence of the manufacture and possession of tetrahydrocannabinols with intent to deliver." The property listed in the caption of this case was seized during the search. Michael and Lori Scott are alleged to have used the property to facilitate drug crimes. The Scotts are represented by the same attorneys and have filed a single appellate brief that draws no distinction between the two of them that matters to issues we resolve.
¶7 The complaint alleges that the car, pickup, and all-terrain vehicle are subject to seizure and forfeiture under WIS. STAT. § 961.55(1)(d), (2), and should "be condemned as forfeited to the Green County Sheriff's Department, for the official use of the Green County Sheriff's Department," pursuant to § 961.55(5)(a), (b), because they were used to commit violations of Chapter 961. The complaint further alleges that all of the seized motorized vehicles are subject to seizure and forfeiture under § 961.55(1)(f), (2), because they are proceeds derived directly or indirectly from the commission of a violation of Chapter 961, and that the currency and personal watercraft must be forfeited pursuant to § 961.55(5)(e), "as property and monies, directly or indirectly derived from or realized through the commission of any crime specified in Chapter 961 Wisconsin Statutes, in accordance with provisions of [ WIS. STAT. §] 961.555."[3]
[*602] ¶8 Separate from this civil forfeiture action, the Scotts were individually charged in criminal cases alleging marijuana-related offenses. The proceedings in the criminal cases were conducted separately from those in the forfeiture action. However, it is undisputed that the criminal complaints and the forfeiture complaint relied on the same police investigation, and that the alleged factual bases for the forfeiture involved the same conduct that was alleged in the criminal cases.
¶9 The criminal cases proceeded ahead of the forfeiture case. See WIS. STAT. § 961.555(2)(a) (court "shall" grant request by defendant in forfeiture proceeding "that the forfeiture proceedings be adjourned until after adjudication of any charge concerning a crime which was the basis for the seizure of the property"). In the criminal cases, the court determined that the deputy submitted an inadequate statement of probable cause in the affidavit for a search warrant. As a result, the court concluded that police had seized the evidence in violation of the Fourth Amendment, and granted defense motions to suppress all of the seized evidence. The State did not appeal the court's suppression ruling and voluntarily moved for dismissal of the [*633] criminal charges, which the court granted. The State does not, in this civil action, purport to challenge the court's determination that the affidavit lacked probable cause.
¶10 The suppression ruling in the criminal cases provided the Scotts with the basis for the summary judgment motion in the forfeiture case that is the focus of this appeal. The Scotts contended that, under Plymouth Sedan , the exclusionary rule applies in the [*603] forfeiture action, and therefore no evidence obtained as a result of the unlawful search and seizures can be admitted in this action to prove that drug crimes were committed. It follows, according to the Scotts, that suppression of this evidence necessarily prevents proof that the seized items were used in, or derived from, drug crimes and therefore dismissal of this action is required.
¶11 The State opposed this motion on various grounds. This included an argument that the State did not make in the criminal case: even if the exclusionary rule would otherwise bar admission of the seized property as evidence, the good-faith exception applies to permit admission in this civil action.
¶12 Relying on Plymouth Sedan , the circuit court granted the Scotts' motion for summary judgment based on exclusion of the evidence and dismissed the forfeiture complaint. Separately, with little discussion and without permitting an evidentiary hearing, the court rejected the State's argument that it was entitled to try to prove that the good-faith exception to the exclusionary rule applies to save the action. The State appeals.
DISCUSSION
¶13 We review a circuit court's summary judgment decision using the same methodology as the circuit court. Lambrecht v. Estate of Kaczmarczyk ,
¶14 Determinations of the United States Supreme Court on issues of federal law bind state courts. State v. Mechtel ,
¶15 The State does not argue that summary judgment is inappropriate if the seized evidence is excluded. This leaves two potential issues. The first is whether, as the Scotts argue, the exclusionary rule applies to this type of civil forfeiture action. If so, the second issue is whether, as the State contends, it is entitled to attempt to show that the good-faith exception to the exclusionary rule applies.
¶16 On the first issue, we conclude that Plymouth Sedan is good law that applies here, because it establishes that statutes that require the forfeiture of property as effective penalties for criminal law violations create quasi-criminal proceedings and therefore Fourth Amendment protections apply to such proceedings. On the second issue, "good faith," we do not decide the merits and instead remand based on the absence of developed arguments. On remand, we discern no reason why the State could not at least attempt to establish that it is entitled to an evidentiary hearing on whether the good-faith exception to the exclusionary rule applies. However, we take no position as to any argument that either party may make on this topic.
[*634] I. Exclusionary Rule
¶17 We begin by quoting a summary of the exclusionary rule, then turn to the Plymouth Sedan [*605] opinion and subsequent United States Supreme Court precedent. We explain our conclusions that Plymouth Sedan controls here and that the State's arguments to the contrary are unavailing. The State appears to question the wisdom or the practicality of Plymouth Sedan , but we are not free to disregard federal law pronounced by the Supreme Court based on policy preferences. See Mechtel ,
¶18 The supreme court of our state has provided the following succinct summary of the exclusionary rule:
The [U.S.] Supreme Court first applied the exclusionary rule to protect against violations of Fourth Amendment rights in Weeks v. United States ,232 U.S. 383 ,34 S.Ct. 341 ,58 L.Ed. 652 (1914). Under the exclusionary rule, evidence obtained in violation of the Fourth Amendment is generally inadmissible in court proceedings. Mapp v. Ohio ,367 U.S. 643 , 655,81 S.Ct. 1684 ,6 L.Ed.2d 1081 (1961). The [C]ourt has explained that "[t]he exclusionary rule operates as a judicially created remedy designed to safeguard against future violations of Fourth Amendment rights through the rule's general deterrent effect." Arizona v. Evans ,514 U.S. 1 , 10,115 S.Ct. 1185 ,131 L.Ed.2d 34 (1995).
State v. Scull ,
¶19 In Plymouth Sedan , law enforcement officers of a state liquor control board stopped and searched a sedan after noticing that the rear of the sedan was riding low. Plymouth Sedan ,
¶20 The state sought to obtain the sedan through a forfeiture action filed under a state statute.
¶21 The sedan owner moved to dismiss the forfeiture action, arguing that police had seized evidence (the cases of liquor) necessary for the state to prove that the vehicle had been used to illegally transport liquor in violation of the Fourth Amendment and therefore this evidence must be suppressed in the forfeiture action under the exclusionary rule.
¶22 In reaching this decision, the Supreme Court relied heavily on Boyd v. United States ,
¶23 As highlighted in Plymouth Sedan , the Court in Boyd addressed the civil nature of the proceeding in Boyd using the following terms:
"The [forfeiture] information, though technically a civil proceeding, is in substance and effect a criminal one.... As, therefore, suits for penalties and forfeitures, incurred by the commission of offenses against the law, are of this quasi criminal nature, we think [*608] that they are within the reason of criminal proceedings for all the purposes of the fourth amendment of the constitution ...."
Plymouth Sedan ,
¶24 Any other rule, the Court explained, would create the anomaly that the remedy of the exclusionary rule would apply in only some proceedings seeking to penalize criminal activity and not in others. See Plymouth Sedan ,
¶25 The United States Supreme Court has not overruled Plymouth Sedan . To the [*636] contrary, the Court cited Plymouth Sedan in two 1993 decisions for the proposition that the Fourth Amendment places restrictions on civil forfeitures. See United States v. James Daniel Good Real Property ,
¶27 There is no reasonable dispute that an action of the type at issue here is, in the words of Plymouth Sedan , intended "to penalize for the commission of an offense against the law."
[*610] ¶28 As the Court in Plymouth Sedan notes, the state civil forfeiture provision at issue in that case "requir[ed] the determination that the criminal law has been violated." Plymouth Sedan ,
¶30 In any case, however, putting Texas law to the side, the State's assertion that WIS. STAT. § 961.55 does not require proof that a person committed a crime is meritless. The State simply cannot prove that property was used in violation of the Controlled Substances Act or derived from a violation without proving that some person or persons violated the Act. Such proof is required, regardless how strong or weak the evidence might be linking violations of the Act to any particular individual.
¶31 The State contends that WIS. STAT. §§ 961.55 and 961.555"create only civil forfeiture proceedings" that are tied to violations of the Act, in contrast to the "general sentencing provisions," WIS. STAT. §§ 973.075 and 973.076, which "create both civil and criminal forfeiture proceedings applicable to property used in a variety of crimes." We have difficulty [*612] tracking the State's argument contrasting §§ 961.55 and 961.555 with §§ 973.075 and 973.076. But the gist appears to be that the exclusionary rule cannot apply here because this forfeiture action is civil in nature. We fail to see what such an argument could add to arguments by the State that we reject elsewhere. Plymouth Sedan , the Boyd case on which it relies, and this case are all civil proceedings. See Plymouth Sedan ,
¶32 The State properly concedes that most federal and state courts that have addressed the issue in published opinions have concluded, following Plymouth Sedan , that the exclusionary rule applies to civil forfeiture proceedings of the type at issue here. See, e.g. , One 1995 Corvette v. Mayor and City Council of Baltimore ,
¶33 Nonetheless, the State effectively asks us to examine what it contends is a trend in United States Supreme Court jurisprudence that has modified Plymouth Sedan . More specifically, the State's argument proceeds as follows: (1) since Plymouth Sedan , the Supreme Court has declined to extend the exclusionary rule to a variety of non-criminal proceedings, and (2) the cumulative effect of these subsequent opinions [*613] is to limit the scope of Plymouth Sedan in a way that renders that case inapplicable to the sort of forfeiture action at issue here. This reasoning is flawed.
¶34 As we detail below, none of the law that the State points to undercuts Plymouth Sedan 's application of the exclusionary rule to the type of forfeiture action at issue here. At best, the State's discussion suggests that the Court might in the future overrule or modify Plymouth Sedan . As it stands, we are bound by Plymouth Sedan . See Hohn v. United States ,
¶35 We turn to the specific topics and cases that the State relies on and explain why none of those cases narrow Plymouth Sedan or render it inapplicable for current purposes.
¶36 Grand jury proceedings . A grand jury witness may not refuse to answer questions on the ground that the questions are based on evidence obtained from an unlawful search and seizure. United States v. Calandra ,
Allowing a grand jury witness to invoke the exclusionary rule would unduly interfere with the effective and expeditious discharge of the grand jury's duties, [*614] and extending the rule to grand jury proceedings would achieve only a speculative and minimal advance in deterring police misconduct at the expense of substantially impeding the grand jury's role.
¶37 Two sovereigns . Evidence seized by a local criminal law enforcement officer in good faith, but nonetheless unconstitutionally, may be admissible in a civil tax proceeding by or against the federal government. United States v. Janis ,
The Court has applied the exclusionary rule in a proceeding for forfeiture of an article used in violation of the criminal law. [ Plymouth Sedan ,380 U.S. at 693 ,85 S.Ct. 1246 ]. There it expressly relied on the fact that "forfeiture is clearly a penalty for the criminal offense" and "(i)t would be anomalous indeed, under these circumstances, to hold that in the criminal proceeding the illegally [*639] seized evidence is excludable, while in the forfeiture proceeding, requiring the determination that the criminal law has been violated, the same evidence would be admissible." [Id. at 701 ,85 S.Ct. 1246 ]. See also [ Boyd ,116 U.S. at 634 ,6 S.Ct. 524 ], where a forfeiture proceeding was characterized as "quasi-criminal."
Janis ,
¶38 Further, as the Scotts point out, the Court in Janis based its decision in part on the concept that the evidence at issue in the federal civil tax proceeding fell outside the "zone of primary interest" of local police [*615] officers when they seized the evidence in the course of investigating alleged gambling violations. See
¶39 Civil deportation . In Immigration and Naturalization Service v. Lopez-Mendoza ,
¶40 State parole revocation . Applying the exclusionary rule as a matter of federal constitutional law in a state parole board revocation recommitment proceeding is not required because that "would severely disrupt the traditionally informal, administrative process of parole revocation" and would provide only "marginal deterrence of unreasonable searches and seizures." Pennsylvania Bd. of Probation and Parole v. Scott ,
[*640] [*617] ¶41 In sum, instead of supporting the broad proposition that the State here attributes to these cases-that the exclusionary rule is reserved for the context of criminal trials-the cases simply decline to provide the protections afforded by the exclusionary rule in specific contexts, all different from the context shared by Plymouth Sedan and this case.
II. Good-Faith Exception
¶42 The State asked the circuit court to hold an evidentiary hearing at which it could attempt to prove that the good-faith exception to the exclusionary rule should apply. See State v. Eason ,
¶43 The State contends on appeal that it is entitled to an evidentiary hearing on the good-faith exception. See State v. Marquardt,
[*641] ¶44 In response, the Scotts are silent on all good-faith exception issues. They merely note the fact that the State failed to raise the good-faith exception in the criminal actions. We take this non-response as a concession that the State is entitled to at least an opportunity to address the potential for application of the good-faith exception. On that basis only, we conclude that it is appropriate to remand to the circuit [*619] court for further proceedings with respect to the State's good-faith exception argument. We lack sufficient adversarial briefing to express a view on any aspect of the potential applicability of the good-faith exception. It might be, for example, that on remand the Scotts will present a persuasive argument that the circuit court should not allow further litigation with respect to whether the evidence obtained in the search is admissible.
CONCLUSION
¶45 For all of these reasons, we reverse the order granting summary judgment and remand for further proceedings consistent with this opinion, in which the State may attempt to establish that the good-faith exception applies.
By the Court. -Order reversed and cause remanded with directions.
Following consideration of the State's motion, this appeal was converted from a one-judge appeal to a three-judge appeal under Wis. Stat. Rule 809.41(3) (2017-18). All references to the Wisconsin Statutes are to the 2015-16 version unless otherwise noted, for reasons explained in note 2 of this opinion.
Although neither party addresses the topic, we observe that, due to a recent statutory change that does not affect this case, the effect of our conclusion regarding the applicability of the exclusionary rule to civil forfeiture actions under Wis. Stat. ch. 961 is likely to be limited in future cases. With the change, a criminal conviction is a prerequisite to a drug-violation-based forfeiture action. See 2017 Wisconsin Act 211, § 61 (effective date April 5, 2018; providing that Act "first applies to property that is seized on the effective date"). This change adds to
The parties do not dispute the State's right to dispose of the seized marijuana. The complaint alleged that the marijuana "is subject to [ ]forfeiture pursuant to"
As the Supreme Court has noted, " 'several of Boyd' s express or implicit declarations have not stood the test of time.' " United States v. Ward ,
The Scotts suggest that we should rely on an opinion of our state supreme court issued shortly after One 1958 Plymouth Sedan v. Pennsylvania ,
We observe that this appeal does not involve "contraband per se." As our state supreme court recognized, in an opinion issued a few years after Plymouth Sedan , the Court in Plymouth Sedan distinguished between illegally seized "contraband per se," such as narcotics, and illegally seized "derivative contraband," such as the sedan. See State v. Voshart ,
Double Jeopardy Clause . While the State does not refer to it, authorities discussing this topic typically include discussion of United States v. Ursery ,
The concurring justice states:
Although there is language in our cases to the contrary, see [Plymouth Sedan ,380 U.S. at 700 ,85 S.Ct. 1246 ]; [Boyd ,116 U.S. at 634 ,6 S.Ct. 524 ], civil in rem forfeiture is not punishment of the wrongdoer for his criminal offense. We made this clear in Various Items of Personal Property v. United States ,282 U.S. 577 ,51 S.Ct. 282 ,75 L.Ed. 558 (1931)....
Ursery ,