COURT OF APPEALS DECISION DATED AND FILED December 15, 2010 A.
John Voelker Acting Clerk of Court of Appeals |
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NOTICE |
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This opinion is subject to further editing. If published, the official version will appear in the bound volume of the Official Reports. A party may file with the Supreme Court a petition to review an adverse decision by the Court of Appeals. See Wis. Stat. § 808.10 and Rule 809.62. |
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Appeal No. |
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STATE OF |
IN COURT OF APPEALS |
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DISTRICT II |
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State of
Plaintiff-Respondent, v. Ralph A. Hoak,
Defendant-Appellant. |
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APPEAL
from a judgment and order of the circuit court for
Before
Brown, C.J., Neubauer, P.J.,
and
¶1 PER CURIAM. Ralph Hoak appeals from a judgment imposing sentence after the revocation of probation and from the order denying his postconviction motion for resentencing. He argues that the sentence was based on inaccurate information and on information used in violation of his right against self-incrimination, that imposition of the maximum consecutive terms is unduly harsh, that the charges were multiplicitous making consecutive terms inappropriate, and that the sentence was not fully explained. He also claims he was denied the effective assistance of trial counsel to the extent that any of his appellate issues were waived by the failure to object at sentencing.
¶2 We conclude that Hoak is entitled to a Machner[1] hearing on his claim that his trial counsel was ineffective for not objecting to the information used in violation of his right against self-incrimination. We do not address Hoak’s claim that counsel was ineffective for not objecting to inaccurate information at sentencing but leave it to the trial court to determine whether the Machner hearing needs to address that claim. We summarily reject Hoak’s other appellate issues as a basis for relief. We affirm the judgment because it is not known whether Hoak is entitled to resentencing. We reverse the order denying his postconviction motion and remand for the purpose of conducting the required hearing.
¶3 In 2004 Hoak was charged with eleven counts of possession of child pornography. He pled guilty to three counts and was placed on probation for five years. Probation was revoked in 2008. Hoak describes the revocation summary as including “grossly inflammatory accusations regarding his past sexual history.” The summary was based in part on information elicited from Hoak while on probation and participating in sex offender programming, notably a questionnaire in which he was asked to list past sexually assaultive behavior.[2]
¶4 At the sentencing after revocation hearing no objection was made to the statements in revocation summary. The sentencing court referenced the summary’s description of Hoak’s self-reported sexual history. The court considered Hoak to represent an “extreme danger” to the community. It sentenced Hoak to the maximum term on each count, eighteen months’ initial confinement and twenty-four months’ extended supervision to run consecutively.
¶5 Hoak moved for resentencing raising the same claims he presents on appeal, including that trial counsel was ineffective to the extent any of the issues were waived. His motion for resentencing was denied without a hearing. The trial court found that it had relied on the information Hoak claimed was inaccurate and had relied on it in classifying Hoak as an “extreme danger.” It found reliance on that information was harmless because the fifteen other violations of probation would have justified the sentence. It determined that the probation revocation and subsequent sentencing were not criminal proceedings so use of the information disclosed to the probation agent was not a violation of the Fifth Amendment right against self-incrimination. It found that the charges were not shown to be multiplicitous. It rejected the claim of ineffective counsel for lack of prejudice. It determined it had demonstrated a proper exercise of sentencing discretion and no grounds for modification existed.
¶6 We start with the claim that information Hoak was compelled
to give during probation was allegedly used at sentencing in violation of his
Fifth Amendment right against self-incrimination. “A defendant is entitled to resentencing when
a sentence is affected by a circuit court’s reliance on an improper
factor.” State v. Leitner, 2002 WI
77, ¶42, 253
¶7 State v. Peebles, 2010 WI App 156, ¶20-21, ___ Wis. 2d ___, ___
N.W.2d ___, holds that statements made in sex offender counseling and under
supervision rules requiring the probationer to cooperate with treatment and be
truthful are compelled for purposes of the Fifth Amendment and the statements
should be excluded at a subsequent sentencing proceeding. Peebles was sentenced after the revocation of
probation and the agent’s revocation summary repeated various admissions
Peebles made in sex offender counseling, including an admission that he had in
excess of twenty child victims throughout his adult life.
¶8 Peebles establishes that here the sentencing court had
information before it that it should not have had. Although forfeiture is a rule of judicial
administration and appellate courts have the authority to ignore a forfeiture, Leitner,
247
¶9 In Peebles the claim was also in the
posture of an ineffective assistance of counsel claim because no objection had
been made at sentencing. Peebles,
2010 WI App 156, ¶27. The Peebles
court held that counsel’s performance was deficient because the
statements were inadmissible.
¶10 Hoak’s case presents strikingly similar facts. However, here no Machner hearing was
held. A hearing is essential to every
case where a claim of ineffective assistance of counsel is raised.
¶11 We turn to consider whether Hoak’s postconviction motion established his right to a Machner hearing.
Whether a defendant’s postconviction motion alleges sufficient facts to entitle the defendant to a hearing for the relief requested is a mixed standard of review. First, we determine whether the motion on its face alleges sufficient material facts that, if true, would entitle the defendant to relief. This is a question of law that we review de novo. If the motion raises such facts, the circuit court must hold an evidentiary hearing.
State v. Allen, 2004 WI
106, ¶9, 274
¶12 The State argues that Hoak’s motion is insufficient because it does not identify particular statements he made, when he made them, who he made them to, or what he was told when he made them and thus has failed to establish that the statements were compelled. We do not agree.
¶13 The revocation summary itself establishes that Hoak’s sexually deviant behaviors were discussed at appointments with the probation agent and in his sex offender groups. The summary states that the history information repeated in the summary was disclosed by Hoak and utilized as part of his probation case planning and sex offender programming. The statements made are identified in the summary. Additionally, Hoak attached to his motion one page of a “Disclosure Questionnaire” on which he indicated how many children he had some form of sexual contact with and children groomed prior to the date of conviction. It lists certain information about the contacts. The revocation summary also indicates that Hoak was court ordered to follow through with any and all treatment deemed appropriate, including sex offender treatment. It indicates that Hoak was subject to a sex history polygraph in July 2007 and then, after he was found deceptive, he was given every opportunity to gain compliance by updating his sex history disclosure questionnaire. The summary details how Hoak was repeatedly asked to make disclosure of past deviant behaviors. It reported that Hoak had been involved in intensive sex offender programming throughout his supervision. Hoak’s motion indicates the date he received supervision rules. It quotes rule three as requiring “every effort to accept the opportunities and counseling offered by supervision.” Rule 4 of the Standard Sex Offender Rules provided to Hoak requires full cooperation in treatment and states that information revealed in treatment concerning conviction offenses cannot be used against him in criminal proceedings. The motion also sets forth that as part of sex offender treatment and counseling Hoak was required to give detailed information beyond the conviction offenses and was told that the failure to disclose past acts would constitute a failure to cooperate with his program.
¶14 Hoak’s motion states sufficient facts, if true, to establish
that Hoak was compelled to make the disclosures repeated in the revocation
summary. Hoak is entitled to an
evidentiary hearing on his claim that trial counsel was ineffective for not
challenging the compelled disclosures. See
State
v. Liukonen, 2004 WI App 157, ¶19, 276
¶15 We recognize that the trial court found that its reliance on
the compelled statements, to the extent they were inaccurate, was harmless
error. We recognize that the harmless
error test is “essentially consistent with the test for prejudice in an ineffective
assistance” claim. State v.
¶16 The inquiry in determining ineffective assistance of counsel is
“whether counsel’s conduct so undermined the proper functioning of the
adversarial process that the trial cannot be relied on as having produced a
just result.” Strickland v.
¶17 In State v.
[W]e reject the State’s contention that the
unchallenged portions of the PSI demonstrate that any error was harmless. From the trial court’s sentencing remarks, it
is clear that some of the PSI’s allegations which
We do not make light of the
offenses of which
¶18 Here the trial court specifically recited the inadmissible
information. It found that it had relied
on the information concerning the prior sexual assaults. It further found that it had relied on that
information to classify Hoak as an “extreme danger.” It proceeded to impose the maximum
sentence. Although the trial court found
that the probation violations justified the sentence, the court’s view of
Hoak’s noncompliance with the terms of probation could have been skewed by the
substantial background information revealed by the compelled disclosures of
prior sexual contact with children. See
Anderson,
222
¶19 Hoak’s claim that inaccurate information was presented at sentencing was also forfeited by the failure of trial counsel to object. That claim is subsumed in Hoak’s claim that counsel was ineffective for not objecting to and excluding the compelled information in the revocation summary. If compelled, that information was inadmissible. Peebles, 2010 WI App 156, ¶27. On remand, if Hoak is denied resentencing on his claim that counsel was ineffective for not objecting to compelled information, the trial court shall consider whether the Machner hearing should address trial counsel’s failure to object to inaccuracies in admissible information.
¶20 We need only give summary treatment to the remaining issues
since none of them provide an additional basis for reversal of the order
denying postconviction relief. Hoak
argues that his conviction of three counts could possibly be based on the same
picture downloaded inadvertently three times by a single act on his part. He claims consecutive sentences violate the principles
of multiplicity and double jeopardy. A
claim of multiplicity at sentencing comes too late. It was waived by Hoak’s guilty plea. See
¶21 Whether the sentence is unduly harsh and a proper exercise of
discretion requires consideration of the sentencing court’s expressed
rationale. See State v. Gallion, 2004 WI 42, ¶17, 270
By the Court.—Judgment affirmed, order reversed and cause remanded with directions.
This opinion will not be published. See Wis. Stat. Rule 809.23(1)(b)5.
[1] A Machner
hearing addresses a defendant’s ineffective assistance of counsel claim.
[2] Hoak characterizes his disclosures to include various instances of childhood sexual experimentation and innocent adult contacts with children. He posits that his cognitive deficits and paranoia, his religious beliefs, and advisements on how to comply with probation requirements caused him to distort his answers in the direction of reporting innocent conduct as if it were offensive. This forms the basis for Hoak’s claim that the sentence was based on inaccurate information.
[3] In
State
v. Ndina, 2009 WI 21, ¶¶29-30, 315