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2011 WI 84
SUPREME COURT OF WISCONSIN
CASE NO.:                                                                       2010AP1142
COMPLETE TITLE:                                                                 In  re  the  commitment  of  Glen  D.  Nordberg:
State  of  Wisconsin,
Petitioner-Respondent,
v.
Glen  D.  Nordberg,
Respondent-Appellant.
ON  BYPASS  FROM  THE  COURT  OF  APPEALS
OPINION FILED:                                                                  July  26,  2011
SUBMITTED ON BRIEFS:
ORAL ARGUMENT:                                                                  May  3,  2011
SOURCE OF APPEAL:
COURT:                                                                          Circuit
COUNTY:                                                                         Jefferson
JUDGE:                                                                          Jacqueline  R.  Erwin
JUSTICES:
CONCURRED:
DISSENTED:                                                                      BRADLEY,  J.  dissents  (Opinion  filed).
ABRAHAMSON,  C.  J.  joins  dissent.
NOT PARTICIPATING:
ATTORNEYS:
For  the  respondent-appellant  there  was  a  brief  and                       oral
argument  by  Donald  T.  Lang,  assistant  state  public  defender.
For   the   petitioner-respondent   the   cause   was   argued   by
Warren  D.  Weinstein,  assistant  attorney  general,  with  whom  on
the     briefs     was     J.B.     Van     Hollen,     attorney     general.




2011  WI  84
NOTICE
This  opinion  is  subject  to  further
editing  and  modification.    The  final
version   will   appear   in   the   bound
volume of the official reports.
No.                                                                            2010AP1142
(L.C.  No.                                                                     2010CI000001)
STATE  OF  WISCONSIN                                                           :               IN  SUPREME  COURT
In  re  the  commitment  of  Glen  D.  Nordberg:
State  of  Wisconsin,
FILED
Petitioner-Respondent,
JUL  26,  2011
v.
A. John Voelker
Acting Clerk of Supreme
Glen  D.  Nordberg,                                                            Court
Respondent-Appellant.
APPEAL  from  an  order  of  the  Circuit  Court  for  Jefferson
County,  Jacqueline  R.  Erwin,  Judge.    Affirmed.
¶1    DAVID  T.  PROSSER,  J.      This  is  a  review  of  an  order  of
the  circuit  court  denying  Glen  D.  Nordberg's  (Nordberg)  petition
for  supervised  release.     The  issues  in  this  case  are  identical
to  the  issues  we  decide  today  in  State  v.  West,  2011  WI  83,  __
Wis.  2d  __,  __  N.W.2d  __.    The  issues  presented  are  whether  Wis.




No.                                                                           2010AP1142
Stat.                                                                         §  980.08(4)(cg)1  places  the  burden  of  proof  in  a  petition
for   supervised   release   with   an   individual   committed   as   a
sexually  violent  person  under  Wis.  Stat.  ch.                            980,  and  if  so,
whether   that   allocation   of   the   burden   is   constitutionally
permissible.    Nordberg's  case  is  before  this  court  on  bypass  of
the  court  of  appeals  pursuant  to  Wis.  Stat.  §  (Rule)  809.60.
¶2    The   facts   relevant   to   Nordberg's   petition   are   as
follows.
¶3    Nordberg  was  committed  as  a  sexually  violent  person  in
January                                                                       2001.     In  the  initial  evaluation  report  compiled  prior
to    his    commitment    hearing,    Nordberg    was    diagnosed    with
"paraphilia   not   otherwise   specified,"   cannabis   abuse,   and
antisocial  personality  disorder.      In  that  report,  Nordberg's
history  of  sexual  offenses  included:
(a)   In                                                                      1990,  at  age                                                       15,  while  sleeping  in  the  basement
with  the  10-year-old  victim  and  her  brothers,  Nordberg  unzipped
the  victim's  sleeping  bag,  took  off  her  clothes,  and  had  sex
with  her,  covering  her  mouth  and  telling  her  to  "shut  up."
Nordberg  was  adjudicated  delinquent  for  sexual  assault;
(b)   In   April                                                              1991,   at   age                                                     16,   Nordberg   was   again
adjudicated  delinquent  for  false  imprisonment  and  physical  abuse
of   a   child   when   he   entered   the                                    11-year-old   victim's   house
without  consent,  carried  the  kicking  victim  upstairs,  held  her
down,  and  placed  his  hands  down  her  pants;
1  All  subsequent  references  to  the  Wisconsin  Statutes  are  to
the  2007-08  version  unless  otherwise  indicated.
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                                                                                                                                                                                                         No.   2010AP1142
                                                                             (c)   In  the  summer  of  1991,  Nordberg  was  accused  of  having
                                                                             sexual  contact  with  a  13-year-old  girl  by  putting  his  hands  down
her  pants  despite  her  insistence  that  he  stop;
(d)   In  April                                                              1992,  at  age                                                               17,  Nordberg  was  convicted  of
                                                                             second-degree  sexual  assault  and  received  four  years  probation
for  having  sex  with  a                                                                                                                                 15-year-old  girl  without  consent  and  by
force;
(e)   Also  in  April                                                        1992,  Nordberg  was  accused  of  having
nonconsensual  sex  with  a  20-year-old  woman  whom  police  described
as  "mentally  and  intellectually  immature  for  her  age";
(f)   In  March                                                              1994,  at  age                                                               19,  Nordberg  was  convicted  of
sex  with  a  child                                                          16  or  older,  with  testimony  that  the  victim
also  made  repeated  requests  for  Nordberg  to  stop.     For  this
offense,  he  was  sentenced  to  nine  months  in  jail.
¶4    Nordberg's  non-sexual  criminal  history  included,  from
August                                                                       1986    through    September                                                 1991:    disorderly    conduct,
vandalism,   criminal   damage   to   property,   and   "harassment,
disorderly  conduct,  threats"  violations.    One  of  the  harassment
violations  involved  contact  with  a  victim  of  sexual  assault.
Nordberg  was  also  convicted  of  manufacture  and  delivery  of  a
controlled   substance.                                                      Overall,   the   report   indicated   that
probable  cause  existed  for  Nordberg's  civil  commitment.
¶5    On  January                                                            24,                                                                          2001,  a  jury  found  Nordberg  to  be  a
sexually  violent  person  pursuant  to  Wis.  Stat.  ch.                    980,  and  he
was  committed  to  Sand  Ridge  Secure  Treatment  Center.    Since  that
time,  Nordberg  has  submitted  several  petitions  for  supervised
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No.                                                                           2010AP1142
release  or  discharge,  including  the  July  2009  supervised  release
petition  from  which  this  appeal  stemmed.
¶6    At  Nordberg's  July                                                    2009  supervised  release  hearing,
Dr.  Luis  Rosell  testified  that  he  believed  Nordberg  satisfied
the  criteria  for  release  under  ch.                                       980.                                  He  indicated  that
Nordberg  had  shown  "very  positive"  treatment  progress  and  that
Nordberg  was  one  of  the  patients  who  had  progressed  the  most
among  all  the  individuals  he  had  ever  seen.    However,  Dr.  Rosell
also    diagnosed    Nordberg    with    pedophilia    and    antisocial
personality   disorder,   disorders   that   he   opined   were   not   as
problematic    as    when    Nordberg    was    first    committed,    but
nonetheless  still  existed.
¶7    Dr.  Rosell  indicated  that  based  on  risk  factors  for
recidivism,  Nordberg  had  a  30  to  48  percent  risk  of  committing  a
sexually  violent  crime  in  the  next  ten  years.    Still,  Dr.  Rosell
believed  Nordberg  was  "ready  for  the  next  step"  as  he  had  done
everything   asked   of   him   in   treatment.                               Further   evidence
indicated  Nordberg  had  been  working  on  a  relapse  prevention  plan
for   four   years,   that   Nordberg   recognized   his   own   drug   and
alcohol  abuse,  and  that  he  was  open  to  further  treatment.    Lloyd
Sinclair,  an  associate  treatment  director  at  Sand  Ridge,  also
testified  that  Nordberg  was  meaningfully  engaged  in  treatment.
However,   Sinclair   expressed   uncertainty   regarding   Nordberg's
continued   sexual   deviancy,   and   pointed   to   Nordberg's   prior
failures  on  supervision  as  cause  for  concern  that  he  would  be
more  likely  to  reoffend.
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No.                                                                           2010AP1142
¶8    Taking  this  evidence  into  consideration,  the  circuit
court  denied  Nordberg's  petition  for  supervised  release.     The
court  read  Wis.  Stat.                                                      §  980.08(4)(cg)  as  placing  the  burden  on
the   committed   individual   to   prove   by   clear   and   convincing
evidence  that  supervised  release  is  warranted,  and  found  that
Nordberg  had  not  met  that  burden.
¶9    In    February                                                          2010    Nordberg    filed    a    motion    for
reconsideration   of   his   supervised   release   hearing   or   a   new
trial,  arguing  that  Wis.  Stat.  §  908.08(4)(cg)  does  not  allocate
the  burden  of  proof  to  any  party,  but  rather  requires  the  court
to  make  a  determination  based  on  all  the  evidence.     In  the
alternative,  Nordberg  argued  that  if  the  burden  were  on  the
individual,  a  standard  of  "clear  and  convincing"  evidence  would
be   too   onerous,   and   the   standard   of   "preponderance   of   the
evidence"  should  apply  instead.     The  circuit  court  denied  the
motion,  and  the  instant  appeal  resulted.
¶10   For   the   reasons   set   forth   in   West,   we   affirm   the
circuit    court's    decision.                                               We    hold    that    Wis.    Stat.
§  980.08(4)(cg)  unambiguously  places  the  burden  of  proof  on  the
committed   individual,   and   that   policy   considerations   dictate
that  the  individual  bear  his  burden  of  persuasion  by  clear  and
convincing   evidence.                                                        We   further   hold   that   requiring   an
individual   lawfully   committed   under   ch.                               980   as   a   sexually
violent  person  to  carry  the  burden  of  proof  in  a  petition  for
supervised  release  does  not  violate  the  due  process  or  equal
protection    clauses    of    the    Wisconsin    and    United    States
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                                                                     No.                                                      2010AP1142
Constitutions.                                                       Accordingly,   we   affirm   the   decision   of   the
circuit  court.
By  the  Court.—The  order  of  the  circuit  court  is  affirmed.
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No.                                                                     2010AP1142.awb
¶11   ANN  WALSH  BRADLEY,  J.                                          (dissenting).    For  the  reasons
set   forth   in   my   dissent   in   State   v.   West,                                                    2011   WI   83,   __
Wis.  2d  __,  __  N.W.2d  __,  I  likewise  dissent  in  this  case.
¶12   I  am  authorized  to  state  that  Chief  Justice  SHIRLEY  S.
ABRAHAMSON  joins  this  dissent.
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No.   2010AP1142.awb
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