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State v. Hoppe5/22/2003
ness analysis. See Clappes, 136 Wis. 2d at 237.
. We agree with the circuit court that the question of voluntariness in this case is a very difficult one. We are not dealing here with egregious or outrageous police conduct. There were no threats or promises. A relatively friendly tone was used in portions of the interviews.
. However, the totality of the circumstances standard does not require that egregious or outrageous police conduct be present. As noted above, evaluating whether police conduct is coercive is dependent on the personal characteristics of the defendant. The purpose of the balancing test is to determine whether the pressures created by the police conduct exceeded the defendant's ability to resist. The court of appeals correctly explained that police coercion and a defendant's personal characteristics are interdependent concepts. The greater the vulnerability of the defendant, the more easily the defendant may be coerced by subtle means.
. Though the court of appeals and the circuit court did not identify a single act by the police that was egregious, put together, the actions of the police and the personal characteristics of Hoppe indicate that Hoppe's statements were involuntary. The tactics used and the pressures exerted by the police were subtle and certainly not improper if used in the questioning of a person whose personal characteristics did not make him or her uncommonly susceptible to police pressures.
. In sum, we conclude that the circuit court's findings of fact regarding Hoppe's mental condition were not clearly erroneous. The State did not satisfy its burden in proving that Hoppe's statements were voluntary. Rather, we determine that, under the totality of the circumstances, given Hoppe's severely debilitated mental and physical condition, the coercive pressures exerted by police during these interviews exceeded Hoppe's ability to resist. Accordingly, we determine that the statements were involuntary and we affirm the court of appeals.
By the Court. -- The decision of the court of appeals is affirmed.
. DIANE S. SYKES, J. (dissenting). It is well-established that "coercive police activity is a necessary predicate to the finding that a confession is not 'voluntary' within the meaning of the Due Process Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment." Colorado v. Connelly, 479 U.S. 157, 167 (1986). A confession will not be suppressed as involuntary unless there is an "essential link between coercive activity of the State, on the one hand, and a resulting confession by a defendant, on the other." Id., 497 U.S. at 165.
. To determine whether a confession is voluntary within the meaning of the due process clause, the "essential inquiry is whether the confession was procured via coercive means or whether it was the product of improper pressures exercised by the police." State v. Clappes, 136 Wis. 2d 222, 235-36, 401 N.W.2d 759 (1987). "The presence or absence of actual coercion or improper police practices is the focus of the inquiry because it is determinative on the issue of whether the inculpatory statement was the product of a 'free and unconstrained will, reflecting deliberateness of choice.'" Id. (quoting Norwood v. State, 74 Wis. 2d 343, 364, 246 N.W.2d 801 (1976)).
. Voluntariness is determined by an examination of the "totality of the circumstances," which in turn "requires the court to balance the personal characteristics of the defendant against the pressures imposed upon him by police in order to induce him to respond to the questioning." Clappes, 136 Wis. 2d at 236. Nevertheless, in the absence of coercive or otherwise improper police conduct, and a link between that conduct and th
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