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County of Jefferson v. Renz12/22/1999
e could reasonably be understood in different senses. Renz, 222 Wis. 2d at 439.
. First, upon reading the first sentence of Wis. Stat. § 343.303, a reasonable person could conclude that "probable cause to believe" means "probable cause for arrest," because case law commonly defines probable cause for an arrest as proof that would lead a reasonable police officer to believe that a person probably committed a crime. See id.
. At the same time, the petitioner's interpretation, that "probable cause to believe" means something less than probable cause for arrest, is also reasonable, especially when the first sentence is read together with the next two sentences. Ambiguity may arise from the words of the statutory provision itself, or from their interaction with and relation to other provisions of the statute and other statutes. State v. Sweat, 208 Wis. 2d 409, 416, 561 N.W.2d 695 (1997). The first sentence of Wis. Stat. § 343.303 provides that an officer may request a PBT when the officer has "probable cause to believe" that the driver has violated the laws against OWI. The second sentence provides that an officer may use the PBT result to help determine whether to arrest a driver. The third sentence then provides that the PBT result is only admissible in proceedings to establish probable cause for an arrest or proper grounds for requiring a subsequent chemical test.
. Thus, the overall scheme of these provisions is to allow officers to use the PBT as a tool to determine whether to arrest a suspect and to establish that probable cause for an arrest existed, if the arrest is challenged. This scheme makes the most sense if the officer may request a PBT before establishing probable cause for an arrest, to help determine whether there are grounds for arrest. A reader therefore could easily conclude that "probable cause to believe" must mean something less than probable cause for arrest.
. This interpretation is also reasonable because it is well established in our case law that "probable cause" does not refer to a uniform degree of proof, but instead varies in degree at different stages of the proceedings. For example, the probable cause required for issuance of a warrant is less than the probable cause needed to bind a defendant over for trial after a preliminary hearing. State v. Knoblock, 44 Wis. 2d 130, 134, 170 N.W.2d 781 (1969); State v. Berby, 81 Wis. 2d 677, 683, 260 N.W.2d 798 (1977); State v. Dunn, 121 Wis. 2d 389, 396, 359 N.W.2d 151 (1984). See also Taylor v. State, 55 Wis. 2d 168, 173, 197 N.W.2d 805 (1972)(noting that a preliminary hearing requires more evidence than other preliminary probable cause determinations) and State v. Wille, 185 Wis. 2d 673, 682, 518 N.W.2d 325 (Ct. App. 1994)(holding that the level of proof needed to establish probable cause at a hearing on the revocation of a driver's license is less than that needed to establish probable cause at a suppression hearing). It is therefore reasonable to interpret "probable cause to believe" in the first sentence of Wis. Stat. § 343.303 to mean a lesser degree of probable cause than that required to justify an arrest.
. Because the statute is subject to these conflicting, reasonable interpretations, it is ambiguous. We therefore must examine the context, history, and purpose of the statute in order to determine the legislative intent.
III.
. We first make a closer examination of the statutory language in its context. In construing the statute, we must avoid interpretations that yield absurd or unreasonable results. Lake City, 207 Wis. 2d at 162. Courts must also attempt to give effect to every word of a statute, so as not to render any portion of the statute
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