| Venue: | WI SC |
| Facts: | A guy is beaten to death with baseball bats, and a warrant is issued for Dagnall. He gets arrested in FL. The Dane County sherrigg is on notice that Dagnall is represented. Two officers go to bring him back, and they try to get him to talk. And talk he does. |
| Posture: | Motion to suppress the statements is denied. He changes his plea from not guilty to no contest. Sentenced to life. Reversed on appeal. |
| Issue: | Were Dagnall's 6A rights violated? |
| Holding: | Yes. Ct. App. is affirmed. |
| Rule: | Once a defendant invokes 6A right to counsel, any subsequent waiver of that right (including knowing, voluntary, and intelligent ones) is presumed invalid if it is secured pursuant to police-initiated interrogation. |
| Reasoning: | If you've invoked your right to counsel, the state can't try to undermine that by persistantly trying to get you to waive it-- that would undermine the attorney-client relationship. The authorities must assume that a defendant does not wish to waive the right, and the accused therefore may not be questioned about the crimes charged without the presence of an attorney. |
| Dicta: | Crooks, dissenting: a defendant must personally invoke the right-- an attorney can't do it for them. Here all the cops had was a letter from an attorney purporting to represent Dagnall. cf: State v. Ward at 38. |