MANITOWOC, WI (WTAQ-WLUK) – The Wisconsin Supreme Court upheld a 12-year-old Manitowoc County boy’s conviction for inappropriately touching a classmate, even though officers violated the boy’s Miranda rights.
The boy was in seventh grade at the time of the June 2022 incident. He touched a classmate in the groin as the boy walked by.
When questioned by officers, the suspect admitted that “he accidently, possibly, hit” the other student’s groin. He was eventually charged in juvenile court with fourth-degree sexual assault and was found delinquent – the juvenile version of guilty.
On appeal, the suspect challenged the lack of being informed his Miranda rights.
But the high court upheld the conviction, in a decision issued Thursday.
Writing for the four-justice majority, Justice Janet Protoziewicz wrote:
Because he was under custodial interrogation and was never Mirandized, his statements should have been excluded at trial. However, we hold that admitting his custodial statements was harmless error. Accordingly, we need not address whether his statements were involuntary. We affirm the court of appeals We conclude that, beyond a reasonable doubt, a rational factfinder would have found Kevin delinquent even without his statements while under Miranda custody.
In a three-justice concurring opinion, Justice Brian Hagedorn wrote the conviction should be upheld, but for different reasons:
I conclude that the implicit coercive pressures that motivated the Miranda decision are not present in this case. Kevin was not in custody. Therefore, he was not subject to a custodial interrogation, which means the prophylactic Miranda warnings were not necessary. Consequently, there is no Miranda violation and no confession to suppress.
