State Ex Rel. Johnson, Petitioner v. Cady

Summary

Deciding three consolidated original petitions, the Wisconsin Supreme Court held that the basic requirements of due process and fairness require the Department of Health & Social Services to provide a limited hearing before revoking probation, mandatory parole, or discretionary parole, though the hearing need not be trial-type, technical rules of evidence need not apply, and counsel is not required. Review of a revocation lies by certiorari to the court of conviction and is confined to whether the department acted arbitrarily and capriciously. The statute giving only Milwaukee County probationers a judicial hearing does not violate equal protection because territorial procedural differences are not per se unconstitutional and the population-based classification is not irrational, and the hearing requirement is prospective only except for petitions on file as of the mandate date, whose revocations are nullities to be expunged. Chief Justice Hallows, concurring in part, would require a more formal judicial hearing with broader administrative review, and Justice Hansen, concurring, would treat the hearing as an on-request opportunity to challenge arbitrariness rather than a prerequisite to valid revocation.