State v. Popenhagen

¶ 1. The defendant, Michelle R. Popenhagen, seeks review of a published court of appeals decision reversing an order of the Circuit Court for Oneida County, Mark Mangerson, Judge.1 The circuit court granted the defendant's motion to suppress bank documents that police obtained pursuant to a subpoena issued without a showing of probable cause in violation of Wis. Stat. § 968.135 (2005-06),2 as well as incriminating statements that the defendant made after police confronted her with the unlawfully obtained bank documents.

¶ 2. In reversing the circuit court's order, the court of appeals concluded that the defendant cannot rely on the federal or state constitution for suppression and that Wis. Stat. § 968.135 does not expressly provide that a violation of the statute permits suppression as a remedy.

¶ 3. The issue on review is whether the circuit court erred in granting the defendant's motion to *609suppress both the bank documents and the defendant's incriminating statements. The defendant raises four arguments in support of the circuit court's order. The defendant contends (1) that police obtained her bank documents and incriminating statements in violation of her Fourth Amendment3 right to privacy; (2) that police obtained her bank documents and incriminating statements in violation of her right to privacy under Article I, Section 11 of the Wisconsin Constitution;4 (3) that the bank documents were obtained in violation of Wis. Stat. § 968.135 and that suppression of both the bank documents and the defendant's incriminating statements is an appropriate remedy; and (4) that the circuit court possessed inherent authority to order suppression of the contested evidence obtained by the State's "misuse of process."

¶ 4. We conclude that suppression of both the bank documents and the defendant's incriminating statements in the present case is an appropriate remedy when the bank documents were obtained in violation of Wis. Stat. § 968.135 and when the incriminating state*610ments were obtained by law enforcement officers confronting the defendant with the unlawfully obtained bank documents. Accordingly, we conclude that the circuit court did not err as a matter of statutory interpretation in granting the defendant's motion to suppress the bank documents and the defendant's incriminating statements. We reverse the decision of the court of appeals and affirm the circuit court's order to suppress evidence of the bank documents and incriminating statements at issue.

¶ 5. The court of appeals addressed the constitutional issues. Because we affirm the circuit court's order on statutory grounds, we leave the interpretation of the federal and state constitutional provisions and federal statutes relating to the obligations of banks that the court of appeals addressed for another case in which these issues are determinative.

I — I

¶ 6. The relevant facts are not in dispute for purposes of this appeal. The defendant was an employee at Save More Foods, a grocery store in Minocqua. In August 2004, the owner of Save More Foods contacted the Minocqua Police Department and alleged that the defendant had improperly obtained money from the store. The owner specifically alleged that the defendant had cashed checks at the store drawn from accounts containing insufficient funds and further that the defendant had stolen money from the store's automated teller machine. According to the complaint and attached police report, the defendant allegedly stole approximately $29,000.

¶ 7. As part of the State's investigation, the district attorney's office sought three subpoenas before filing a complaint. Circuit Court Judges Kinney and *611Mangerson signed the subpoenas, ordering the banks to appear before the circuit court on a date and time certain and to bring Popenhagen's specified bank records or to mail the bank records to the Minocqua Police Department. Although an officer of the Minoc-qua Police Department apparently had filled out an affidavit, neither the police nor the Oneida County District Attorney's Office included any affidavit showing probable cause in the application to the circuit court for the subpoenas. The circuit court issued the subpoenas without recording a finding of probable cause.

¶ 8. A copy of each subpoena is attached hereto. Each subpoena states that it is issued pursuant to Wis. Stat. § 805.07. Section 805.07(1) states that "subpoenas shall be issued and served in accordance with ch. 885."5 Wisconsin Stat. § 885.01 provides that any judge may sign and issue a subpoena to require the "attendance of witnesses and their production of lawful instruments of evidence in any action, matter or proceeding or to be examined into before any court, magistrate, officer . . . or other person authorized to take testimony in the state." Section 972.11(1) provides that the rules of practice in civil actions shall be applicable in all criminal proceedings unless the context of the section manifestly requires a different construction. Section 972.11 further provides that Chapter 885 "shall apply in all criminal proceedings."

¶ 9. Although the subpoenas on their face are in a form substantially similar to the forms set forth in both *612§§ 805.07(4) and 885.02, the subpoenas do not satisfy either Wis. Stat. § 885.01 or § 805.07. The subpoenas did not require the banks, in the words of either statute, to attend an "action, matter or proceeding pending or to be examined into before" the circuit court.6 For an explanation of why these subpoenas do not satisfy Wis. Stat. §§ 885.01 or 805.07, namely because no proceeding is pending, see State v. Schaefer, 2008 WI 25, ¶ 44, 308 Wis. 2d 279, 746 N.W.2d 457, and Part A of the concurring opinion, ¶¶ 102-125 (Abraha-mson, C.J., concurring).

¶ 10. The District Attorney apparently conceded in the circuit court that it used the wrong form of subpoena.7 Both the District Attorney and the defendant agreed in the circuit court that the State should have followed, but did not follow, Wis. Stat. § 968.135. The District Attorney and the defendant disagreed in the circuit court whether suppression is the appropriate remedy for the error. The circuit court suppressed the bank records and incriminating statements under § 968.135.

¶ 11. In the court of appeals the only statute the parties briefed relating to the subpoenas was Wis. Stat. § 968.135. The court of appeals ruled on § 968.135, declaring that suppression was not available in the present case as a remedy for the violation of § 968.135.

¶ 12. The defendant's petition for review in this court raised the following issue: "Is suppression of *613evidence a remedy for violation of Sec. 968.135 which requires probable cause for the issuance of a subpoena for documents?"8 The only statute the defendant and the State addressed in this court relating to the subpoenas was Wis. Stat. § 968.135.9

¶ 13. Having taken this case to address the issue whether the remedy of suppression is available when bank records were obtained by the district attorney with a subpoena that did not comply with the probable cause affidavit requirement of Wis. Stat. § 968.135, we address that issue.10

*614¶ 14. Wisconsin Stat. § 968.135 requires "a showing of probable cause" before a court may issue a subpoena under that section. The State does not dispute that the subpoenas requiring production of the defendant's bank documents were issued in violation of Wis. Stat. § 968.135. The statute provides in full as follows:

Subpoena for documents. Upon the request of the attorney general or a district attorney and upon a showing of probable cause under s. 968.12, a court shall issue a subpoena requiring the production of documents, as specified in s. 968.13(2). The documents shall be returnable to the court which issued the subpoena. Motions to the court, including, but not limited to, motions to quash or limit the subpoena, shall be addressed to the court which issued the subpoena. Any person who unlawfully refuses to produce the documents may be compelled to do so as provided in ch. 785. This section does not limit or affect any other subpoena authority provided by law.

¶ 15. The banks complied with their respective subpoenas, delivering bank statements, deposit slips, and cancelled checks to the Minocqua Police Department. Having obtained her bank documents, police officers interviewed the defendant, confronting her with her bank documents. The officers explained to the defendant that her bank deposits corresponded in time and amount to money reported missing from Save More Foods. At that point, the defendant made several incriminating statements. No transcript of the defendant's remarks is *615in the record; the remarks are recounted in summary fashion in a police report that is in the record.

¶ 16. The defendant was charged with theft of more than $10,000 contrary to Wis. Stat. § 943.20(l)(b) and (3)(c). In a pretrial motion, the defendant moved to suppress both her bank documents and the statements she made after being confronted with those documents.

¶ 17. The circuit court granted the defendant's motion. The circuit court reasoned that the defendant had a right to privacy in her bank documents under the Fourth Amendment of the United States Constitution and Article I, Section 11 of the Wisconsin Constitution. The circuit court further reasoned that suppression is an appropriate remedy not only for the State's constitutional violations but also for the State's violation of Wis. Stat. § 968.135.

¶ 18. The State appealed the circuit court's order, and a divided court of appeals reversed the order. The majority of the court of appeals held that the defendant had no right to privacy in her bank documents under either the United States or the Wisconsin Constitution and that suppression is not a proper remedy when evidence is obtained in violation of Wis. Stat. § 968.135.

¶ 19. The dissenting opinion concluded that Wis. Stat. § 968.135 establishes a person's reasonable expectation of privacy in bank documents in the context of criminal proceedings; that the State never explained its failure to comply with the statute and therefore committed a flagrant violation of the statute; and that the only appropriate remedy is the suppression of the bank documents and the tainted incriminating statements.

¶ 20. The State contends that the circuit court erred in suppressing as evidence the bank documents *616and the incriminating statements for the following reasons: (A) The defendant lacked standing to challenge the subpoenas issued to her banks; (B) Suppression of the bank documents is not an appropriate remedy for violation of Wis. Stat. § 968.135; and (C) Suppression of the defendant's incriminating statements as evidence is not an appropriate remedy for violation of § 968.135 in obtaining the subpoena for the bank statements. We reject each of these arguments, concluding that the defendant had standing to challenge the subpoenas issued to her banks and that suppression of the bank documents and incriminating statements as evidence is an appropriate remedy for violation of Wis. Stat. § 968.135.

A

¶ 21. We first consider whether the defendant had the requisite standing to challenge the subpoenas issued to her banks under Wis. Stat. § 968.135.

¶ 22. The State asserts that only the banks, as targets of the subpoenas, could move to quash or limit the subpoenas for lack of probable cause, even though the statute does not expressly limit the motions to those made by the target of the subpoenas. The State further argues that the legislative history of Wis. Stat. § 968.135 reflects a legislative intent to expand the prosecutor's investigative authority to obtain information by subpoena from third parties not suspected of criminal activity and that giving standing to the person whose documents are being sought contravenes the legislative purpose.

¶ 23. A determination of standing presents a question of law that we décide independently of the *617circuit court and court of appeals but benefiting from their analyses.11

¶ 24. A person has standing to seek judicial intervention when that person has "a personal stake in the outcome"12 and is "directly affected by the issues in controversy."13 Under Wisconsin law, standing "should not be construed narrowly or restrictively," but rather should be construed broadly in favor of those seeking access to the courts.14

¶ 25. The defendant meets the test for standing. In requiring a showing of probable cause and a court order, Wis. Stat. § 968.135 protects the interests of persons whose documents are sought in addition to protecting the interests of the person on whom a subpoena is served. The statute prevents unwarranted fishing expeditions.

¶ 26. The State sought the defendant's bank documents in contemplation of charging the defendant with a crime and using the bank documents against her. Clearly the defendant had a "personal stake" in the question whether the State's subpoenas were valid; she would be "directly affected" by the resolution of this question.

*618¶ 27. Furthermore, although the State argues that only the person or institution who has been subpoenaed to produce documents has standing to oppose a subpoena issued under Wis. Stat. § 968.135, this position is belied by the language of the statute itself. Section 968.135 provides simply that subpoenas issued according to its provisions are subject to "[m]o-tions to the court, including, but not limited to, motions to quash or limit the subpoena." The statute does not limit the persons who may bring such motions.

¶ 28. The State's reliance on the legislative history to support its argument that the defendant does not have' standing is unpersuasive. We agree with the State that a note to an early draft of Wis. Stat. § 968.135 acknowledges that the legislature intended § 968.135 to give prosecutors new authority to conduct investigations. Nevertheless, the legislative history does not limit the persons who may make a motion under § 968.135.15

¶ 29. For the reasons set forth, we conclude that the defendant has standing to challenge subpoenas issued to the banks under Wis. Stat. § 968.135.

B

¶ 30. The State concedes, and properly so, that contrary to the requirements of Wis. Stat. § 968.135 no showing of probable cause was made to the circuit court before the circuit court issued the subpoenas. We must therefore consider whether suppression of the bank documents is an appropriate remedy for the violation of § 968.135. The term "suppression" appears to be em*619ployed ordinarily when evidence is inadmissible for having been unlawfully obtained; the term "exclusion" ordinarily covers a violation of the rules of evidence.16 The terms, however, are often used interchangeably inasmuch as suppression and exclusion have the same effect: The evidence cannot be presented in court.

¶ 31. In the present case, the circuit court ordered suppression of the bank documents on undisputed facts on the basis of Wis. Stat. § 968.135. The decision whether to suppress evidence, when based on application of a constitutional provision to undisputed facts on the record, is a question of law that we determine independently of the circuit court and court of appeals but benefiting from their analyses.17 The present case does not involve constitutional interpretation.

¶ 32. Statutory interpretation and application of a statute to undisputed facts are ordinarily questions of *620law that this court decides independently of the circuit court and court of appeals but benefiting from their analyses.18 Accordingly, we review the circuit court's decision to suppress evidence under Wis. Stat. § 968.135 independently of the circuit court and court of appeals but benefiting from their analyses.

¶ 33. In deciding to suppress the defendant's bank documents as evidence, the circuit court reasoned that failure to suppress the bank documents would undermine the statute:

If we would allow those documents to be subpoenaed, and tell the defendant she may have a personal right to sue the police department because they violated her rights, and then allowed the information that was illegally obtained in at the criminal trial, then we would emasculate the clear directives of 968.135 ....

¶ 34. The State contends that the circuit court erred as a matter of law in interpreting and applying Wis. Stat. § 968.135. The State asserts that § 968.135 does not permit a motion to suppress documents as a remedy for a violation of the statute. The State is correct that the statute is silent about the suppression of any evidence. The statute refers specifically only to quashing or limiting the subpoena; it makes no reference to suppressing or excluding evidence.

*621¶ 35. Statutory interpretation begins with the text of the statute. We also interpret statutory language in the context in which it is used and in light of the surrounding or closely related statutes. Statutes are interpreted to give effect to each word, to avoid surplus-age, to fulfill the objectives of the statute, and to avoid absurd or unreasonable results.

¶ 36. Wisconsin Stat. § 968.135 provides in full:

Subpoena for documents. Upon the request of the attorney general or a district attorney and upon a showing of probable cause under s. 968.12, a court shall issue a subpoena requiring the production of documents, as specified in s. 968.13(2). The documents shall be returnable to the court which issued the subpoena. Motions to the court, including, but not limited to, motions to quash or limit the subpoena, shall be addressed to the court which issued the subpoena. Any person who unlawfully refuses to produce the documents may be compelled to do so as provided in ch. 785. This section does not limit or affect any other subpoena authority provided by law.

¶ 37. By its plain terms, Wis. Stat. § 968.135 provides that subpoenas issued under its terms may be reviewed by the circuit court upon "[mjotions to the court, including, but not limited to, motions to quash or limit the subpoena."

¶ 38. The question presented is the meaning of the statutory language "[mjotions to the court, including, but not limited to, motions to quash or limit the subpoena." More specifically, the question presented is: Does the class of motions that, may be brought in response to a subpoena issued under Wis. Stat. § 968.135 include a motion to suppress documents obtained pursu*622ant to a subpoena issued in violation of Wis. Stat. § 968.135? Although the answer to this question is not explicitly set forth in the statute, the answer is evident upon close examination of the text of the statute.

¶ 39. The word "motions" is used in Wis. Stat. § 968.135 along with the phrase "including but not limited to" and along with the specific enumeration of motions "to quash" and "to limit" the subpoena. These three aspects of the text must be examined.

¶ 40. The word "motion" is broadly defined in the statutes as an application for an order.19 The motion to suppress evidence in the present case falls within the definition of the word "motion."

¶ 41. We next examine the words "motions to the court including but not limited to." In common parlance these words plainly provide that the two enumerated motions are not the only motions that may be brought in response to a subpoena issued under § 968.135. So too in legislative parlance, the phrase "including but not limited to" in a statute is generally given an expansive meaning, indicating that the words that follow the general phrase are but a part of the whole.20 In contrast, had the statute provided that a motion under § 968.135 means a motion to quash or a motion to limit, the word "means" would ordinarily limit any motion to the two enumerated motions.21

*623¶ 42. We are thus led to the statutorily enumerated motions to quash or to limit. The question then becomes whether the enumeration of the two motions limits in some way other motions that may be brought under Wis. Stat. § 968.135. Three rules of statutory interpretation (sometimes called maxims or canons) assist us in answering this question. The canons are rules of statutory interpretation, not rules of law. Canons of statutory interpretation are aids to ascertaining the meaning of a statute. A canon is not a final or exclusive method of interpretation.22

¶ 43. One rule to be used in interpreting the word "includes" is that the word may be interpreted contrary to its ordinary, non-exclusive meaning. The word "includes" may therefore be read as a term of limitation or enumeration, so that a statute encompasses only those provisions or exceptions specifically listed. This court has, however, adopted this limited reading of "includes" only when there is some textual evidence that the legislature intended the word "includes" to be interpreted as a term of limitation or enumeration.23

*624¶ 44. This limited reading of the word "includes" is not applicable to the present case. The text of Wis. Stat. § 968.135 contains no indication that the legislature intended the word "includes" as a term of limitation or enumeration or that the word "motions" be limited in Wis. Stat. § 968.135 to the two enumerated motions. Nor is there any other evidence of such a legislative intent.

¶ 45. A second rule to be used in interpreting the word "includes" is to give the word its common, broad, non-exclusive meaning.24 Applying this rule of interpre*625tation we would conclude that the motion to suppress in the present case falls within Wis. Stat. § 968,135.

¶ 46. A third rule to be used in interpreting the word "includes" is ejusdem generis, which literally means "of the same kind." This rule helps determine whether the statutorily enumerated motions limit in some way the other motions that may be brought under Wis. Stat. § 968.135. Ejusdem generis applies when a general word ("motions" in the present case) is used in a statute and is either preceded or followed by specific words in a statutory enumeration ("motions to quash or limit" a subpoena in the present case).25

*626¶ 47. According to the rule of ejusdem generis, the general word is construed to embrace only items similar in nature to the enumerated items. Furthermore, for the rule to apply, the items to which the general word is restricted must be germane to the objectives of the enactment.26

¶ 48. Applying the ejusdem generis rule of statutory interpretation, we must determine whether a motion to suppress documents obtained through a subpoena issued in violation of Wis. Stat. § 968.135 is similar in nature to the enumerated motions to quash or to limit the subpoena and is germane to the objectives of § 968.135. We must therefore compare motions to quash or limit a subpoena under Wis. Stat. § 968.135 with a motion to suppress documents obtained in violation of § 968.135.

¶ 49. A motion to quash or a motion to limit a subpoena is ordinarily made before the subpoena is complied with. The motion is aimed at preventing the State from obtaining all or some documents that the State may want to use as evidence. If the motion to *627quash the Wis. Stat. § 968.135 subpoena is granted, the State gets no documents. If a motion to limit a subpoena under § 968.135 is granted, the State may get only some documents. Each statutorily enumerated motion, if granted, prevents the State from obtaining and using as evidence all or some of the documents it seeks in a § 968.135 subpoena.

¶ 50. A motion to suppress documents obtained by a subpoena issued in violation of Wis. Stat. § 968.135, unlike a motion to quash or limit the subpoena, is ordinarily made after the subpoena is complied with. In the instant case, the defendant used the first, opportunity available to her to challenge the validity of the subpoena and the State's right to use as evidence the documents received as a result of the unlawful subpoena. The defendant did not have the opportunity to bring a motion to quash or to limit the subpoena before the banks complied with the subpoenas; the defendant did not know that the subpoenas had been issued.

¶ 51. A motion to suppress documents obtained by’ a subpoena issued in violation of Wis. Stat. § 968.135, like a motion to quash or limit the subpoena, is aimed at preventing the State from using as evidence all or some of the documents the State has sought through the subpoena. If the motion to suppress is granted, the State would be prevented from using as evidence the documents obtained through the subpoena. A motion to suppress documents obtained by a subpoena issued in violation of Wis. Stat. § 968.135 is thus similar in nature to the motions to quash or to limit the subpoena enumerated in § 968.135.

¶ 52. Furthermore, a motion to suppress documents obtained by a subpoena issued in violation of Wis. Stat. § 968.135 is germane to the objectives of Wis. *628Stat. § 968.135, as are the motions to quash and to limit. The textually evident objectives of § 968.135 are to allow the State to acquire and use documents while also ensuring that the State meets statutory requirements that protect persons affected.

¶ 53. Wisconsin Stat. § 968.135 strictly limits a court's issuance of a subpoena for the production of documents. Only the attorney general or a district attorney may request a subpoena for the production of documents. The request must be ruled upon by the circuit court before the subpoena is issued. The circuit court may issue a subpoena for documents only upon a showing of probable cause. Motions to the circuit court to challenge the subpoena are expressly permitted by statute, including but not limited to motions to quash or to limit. The enumerated motions make clear that when the State fails to comply with § 968.135, the State's subpoena may be quashed or limited, removing the State's ability to obtain the documents and then use them in evidence.

¶ 54. A motion to suppress documents obtained by a subpoena issued in violation of Wis. Stat. § 968.135 is germane to these objectives of § 968.135. If the defendant is not given an opportunity to move to suppress the bank documents obtained by a subpoena issued in violation of the probable cause requirements set forth in Wis. Stat. § 968.135, a court would, as the circuit court explained, "emasculate the clear directives of § 968.135." If this court allowed documents obtained by a subpoena not complying with the probable cause requirement set forth in § 968.135 to be admitted in evidence, the safeguards of § 968.135 would be meaningless. If Wis. Stat. § 968.135 is to effect compliance with its requirements, we must interpret the statute as *629encompassing a motion to suppress documents obtained in violation of the statute within the word "motions" in the statute.

¶ 55. Applying the doctrine of ejusdem generis, we conclude that a motion to suppress documents obtained in violation of Wis. Stat. § 968.135 is a motion of like kind to motions to quash or limit a subpoena and is germane to the objectives of § 968.135.

¶ 56. In applying each of the three rules for interpreting the word "includes" we have concluded that under each rule the defendant's motion to suppress the documents at issue in the present case was properly granted.

¶ 57. The State argues that our interpretation of Wis. Stat. § 968.135 is foreclosed by Wisconsin precedent. The State argues that Wisconsin cases hold that suppression of evidence is not available as a remedy except when evidence has been obtained in violation of a defendant's constitutional rights or when a statute "expressly" provides for suppression of evidence as a remedy. The State argues that in the present case no constitutional violation exists and Wis. Stat. § 968.135 does not expressly provide for suppression of evidence as a remedy for its violation.

¶ 58. The State relies on State ex rel. Arnold v. County Court of Rock County, 51 Wis. 2d 434, 439-40, 187 N.W.2d 354 (1971); State ex rel. Peckham v. Krenke, 229 Wis. 2d 778, 787, 601 N.W.2d 287 (Ct. App. 1999); and State v. Verkuylen, 120 Wis. 2d 59, 61, 352 N.W.2d 668 (Ct. App. 1984). These cases do not support the State's proposition of law, and therefore these cases are not precedent controlling the outcome of the instant case.

¶ 59. In Arnold, the Wisconsin Electronic Surveillance Control Law characterized the interceptions at *630issue in that case as "unauthorized" but "not unlawful."27 The Law explicitly stated that the information obtained from "unlawfully intercepted" communications was inadmissible as evidence at trial.28 The Electronic Surveillance Control Law was silent, however, about whether the information obtained through unauthorized but "not unlawful" interceptions (as at issue in Arnold) was admissible in evidence.

¶ 60. In the face of this statutory silence, the Arnold court inferred that the results from the unauthorized but "not unlawful" interceptions at issue in that case were inadmissible. The Arnold court drew this inference from the Electronic Surveillance Control Law's procedure for court authorization of interceptions, as well as the Law's provisions governing authorization for the use and disclosure of intercepted communications.29 The Arnold court declared that the information from the "not unlawful" interceptions was inadmissible because the interception was not in compliance with the statutory procedures for court authorization. The Arnold court explained its decision as follows: If the results of interceptions that were "not unlawful" but nevertheless did not comply with the Surveillance Law were admitted in evidence, "it was entirely useless to include in the act the careful delin*631eated provisions under which admissible evidence might be obtained by electronic surveillance with court approval. All the safeguards [of the Law] would be for naught... ."30

¶ 61. This same reasoning applies in the present case. In the present case, as in Arnold, the government did not comply with the statutory requirements to obtain the evidence in question. In addition, like in Arnold, we could not allow the admission of the evidence in the present case, as we explained previously, without rendering meaningless the safeguards established by Wis. Stat. § 968.135 for the issuance of subpoenas.

¶ 62. Thus Arnold, correctly read, stands for the proposition that evidence obtained in violation of a statute (or not in accordance with the statute) may be suppressed under the statute to achieve the objectives of the statute, even though the statute does not expressly provide for the suppression or exclusion of the evidence. This correct reading of Arnold has been lost in succeeding cases.

¶ 63. As recently as State v. Raflik, 2001 WI 129, ¶ 15, 248 Wis. 2d 593, 636 N.W.2d 690, Arnold was cited for the broad proposition that "[suppression is only required when evidence has been obtained in violation of a defendant's constitutional rights... or if a statute specifically provides for the suppression remedy." See also State v. Popenhagen, 2007 WI App 16, ¶ 25, 298 Wis. 2d 388, 728 N.W.2d 45 (quoting Raflik). Raflik involved a failure to record a telephonic application for a search warrant as required by statute. Raflik's statement of suppression law may be interpreted in at least *632two ways: Suppression of evidence obtained in violation of the requirements of a statute is permissible at the discretion of the circuit court when a statute does not specifically require suppression. Or, a circuit court is prohibited from suppressing evidence obtained in violation of the requirements of a statute when the statute does not expressly require suppression. As the Arnold decision demonstrates, the first interpretation is the correct interpretation.

¶ 64. In Peckham, another case upon which the State relies, the court's statement of suppression law is somewhat different from the court's statement of suppression law in Raflik. Peckham involved the Department of Corrections opening the mail of an inmate in violation of administrative rules. In Peckham, the court of appeals asserted that "wrongfully or illegally obtained evidence is to be suppressed only where the evidence was obtained in violation of an individual's constitutional rights or in violation of a statute that expressly requires suppression as a sanction."31 Peckham's statement of suppression law explicitly prohibits a circuit court from suppressing evidence obtained in violation of a statute when the statute does not expressly require suppression.32

*633¶ 65. The Peckham court's statement of the law about violations of a statute and suppression is too broad. The cases the Peckham court cites to support this broad proposition of law merely cite to each other. No case states a rationale for the proposition of law.

¶ 66. Although in Peckham the court of appeals announced a broad rule of law, in examining the regulation at issue in the Peckham case, the court of appeals properly applied a narrower rule of law consistent with Arnold and the correct interpretation oí Raflik, namely that the evidence obtained in that case was admissible if it did not "violate any statute or administrative rule that expressly or impliedly provided for the exclusion of such evidence."33 The word "impliedly" is the operative word, and this sentence in Peckham comports with Arnold and the correct interpretation of Raflik permitting suppression at the discretion of the circuit court in applying a statute that does not specifically require suppression.

¶ 67. In Verkuylen, a search warrant case upon which the State relies, the court of appeals cited Arnold (without a citation to a page number) for the proposition that suppression is required only when a statute specifically requires suppression of unlawfully obtained evidence.34 This statement of the law of suppression (like that stated in Raflik, but not like that stated in Peckham) implies that suppression may not be required but is permissible when a statute does not specifically require suppression. In keeping with this correct interpretation of the law of suppression, the Verkuylen court refused to suppress the evidence, not because the *634statute at issue did not specifically require suppression, but because the error in the search warrant was a result of judicial oversight that was corrected.35

¶ 68. Arnold, Raflik, Peckham, and Verkuylen, properly read, do not require the legislature expressly to require or allow suppression of unlawfully obtained evidence in order for a circuit court to grant a motion to suppress. In other words, the legislature need not express its intent to provide a remedy of exclusion or suppression of evidence with greater clarity than ordinarily required of any legislative enactment. The cases demonstrate that the circuit court has discretion to suppress or allow evidence obtained in violation of a statute that does not specifically require suppression of evidence obtained contrary to the statute, depending on the facts and circumstances of the case and the objectives of the statute.

¶ 69. The State cites a number of additional court of appeals cases for the proposition of law that suppression is not a proper remedy for a statutory violation. None of these cases is apposite. The court in each case cited by the State referred either to Verkuylen or to another case (1) for the ambiguous proposition that suppression is required only when a statute expressly requires suppression of the unlawfully obtained evidence;36 (2) for the erroneous proposition that suppression is barred except when a statute expressly requires *635suppression;37 or (3) for the proposition that in a particular case suppression was not an appropriate remedy.38 Not one case in this interlocking web of cases provides any reasoning in support of the proposition that a statute provides for the remedy of suppression only when the statute "expressly" provides for that remedy. The proposition appears to originate solely in, and to rest solely upon, a mistaken interpretation of Arnold.

¶ 70. The proposition of law that wrongfully or illegally obtained evidence may not be suppressed except when the evidence was obtained in violation of an individual's constitutional rights or in violation of a statute that expressly requires suppression of evidence as a sanction has been carried expressly or impliedly from case to case without any support or reasoning. This proposition is an unsupported mistaken statement of the law. Mistaken statements of the law should not constitute precedent that binds this court.39 We do *636more damage to the rule of law by refusing to admit error than by correcting an erroneous proposition of law.40 The instant case presents an opportunity to correct an error of law that has been repeated in numerous cases, and we do so.

¶ 71. For the reasons set forth, we conclude that Wis. Stat. § 968.135 encompasses a motion to suppress documents in violation of Wis. Stat. § 968.135 and that the statute thus provides a remedy of suppression. As we have explained, unless the documents were suppressed as evidence in the present case, the safeguards established by Wis. Stat. § 968.135 for the issuance of subpoenas would be rendered meaningless. Accordingly, we conclude that the circuit court did not err in ordering that the bank documents obtained in violation of Wis. Stat. § 968.135 be suppressed.

C

¶ 72. We turn lastly to the question whether the circuit court erred as a matter of law in granting the defendant's motion to suppress the incriminating statements the defendant made after police confronted her with the bank documents obtained in violation of Wis. Stat. § 968.135.

¶ 73. The circuit court explained its decision to suppress the defendant's statements in addition to the bank documents as follows:

In regard to the statement of Ms. Popenhagen, I'm finding that the fruit of the poisonous tree doctrine does apply here just as it would in a had search, standard search case without a warrant.

*637¶ 74. The circuit court need not have reached beyond Wis. Stat. § 968.135 to justify suppressing the incriminating statements the defendant made after the police confronted the defendant with the unlawfully obtained bank documents.

¶ 75. The question whether Wis. Stat. § 968.135 permitted the defendant's motion to suppress the incriminating statements law enforcement officers obtained by confronting the defendant with the unlawfully obtained bank documents is, like the question of suppressing the bank documents considered above, a question of statutory interpretation that we decide independently of the circuit court and court of appeals but benefiting from their analyses.

¶ 76. We again apply the three rules to interpret the word "includes" in Wis. Stat. § 968.135 as it applies to the incriminating statements. We conclude that under each rule the defendant's motion to suppress incriminating statements that law enforcement officers obtained by confronting the defendant with the unlawfully obtained bank documents is encompassed within the class of motions contemplated by Wis. Stat. § 968.135. We reach this conclusion for essentially the same reasons that persuaded us that Wis. Stat. § 968.135 encompasses the defendant's motion to suppress the unlawfully obtained bank documents.

¶ 77. Under the first two rules of statutory interpretation of the word "includes," the motion to suppress the incriminating statements falls within Wis. Stat. § 968.135 for the reasons previously set forth.

¶ 78. Under the first rule of statutory interpretation applicable to the word "includes," the word "includes" is viewed narrowly and contrary to its ordinary, *638non-exclusive meaning only when there is some textual evidence that the legislature intended the word "includes" to be interpreted as a term of limitation or enumeration. We have already decided that no evidence of such a legislative intent exists and this reading of the word "includes" is not applicable to the present case. See ¶ 38 above.

¶ 79. Under the second rule of statutory interpretation applicable to the word "includes," the word "includes" is given its common, broad, non-exclusive meaning. Applying this rule of interpretation we would conclude that the motion to suppress the incriminating statements in the present case is encompassed within the class of motions contemplated by Wis. Stat. § 968.135.

¶ 80. Applying the rule of ejusdem generis to the defendant's motion to suppress the incriminating statements that law enforcement officers obtained by confronting the defendant with the unlawfully obtained bank records, we examine whether the motion at issue is similar in nature to the statutorily enumerated motions to quash or to limit the subpoena and is germane to the objectives of Wis. Stat. § 968.135. See ¶ 42, above.

¶ 81. The defendant's motion to suppress the incriminating statements in the present case is substantially similar in nature to a motion to quash the subpoena. Both motions prevent the State's using evidence derived from the subpoena. The documents are derived from the unlawful subpoena and the incriminating statements are derived from the documents derived from the unlawful subpoena.

¶ 82. Had the defendant been able to bring and prevail upon a motion to quash the subpoena obtained in violation of Wis. Stat. § 968.135 before the banks turned over the documents demanded by the subpoena, *639the State would not have been in a position to present the bank documents to the defendant during questioning or to use them to induce incriminating statements.

¶ 83. We do not know whether the defendant would have made incriminating statements had she not been confronted with the unlawfully obtained bank documents.41 We do know, however, from the record that the defendant made the incriminating statements when she was confronted with the unlawfully obtained bank documents and that the incriminating statements are therefore directly related to the unlawfully obtained bank documents.

¶ 84. We next examine whether the motion to suppress the incriminating statements that law enforcement officers obtained by use of a subpoena issued in violation of Wis. Stat. § 968.135 is germane to the objectives of Wis. Stat. § 968.135. As we have explained, the objective of § 968.135 is to allow the State to acquire and use documents while also ensuring that the State meets statutory requirements that protect the privacy interests of persons affected by the subpoena. The objectives of § 968.135 are to limit strictly the conditions under which a subpoena may be obtained in order to protect persons whose records are being sought. The enumerated motions in § 968.135 make clear that when the State fails to comply with the statute's strict requirements, the State's subpoena may be quashed or limited, removing the State's ability to obtain the documents *640demanded in the subpoena and their use in evidence. See ¶¶ 46-47, above.

¶ 85. The defendant's motion to suppress the incriminating statements in the instant case serves these objectives. Suppressing incriminating statements derived directly from documents obtained in violation of Wis. Stat. § 968.135 is necessary to protect a person fully from the State's acquiring documents without complying with the statute. Unless the defendant's motion to suppress incriminating statements that law enforcement officers obtained by use of documents obtained by the unlawful subpoena were granted, the safeguards of § 968.135 would not be given full force and effect and would be significantly compromised.

¶ 86. If a person were permitted to bring a motion to quash the subpoena for bank documents unlawfully obtained but not permitted to bring a motion to suppress incriminating statements derived directly from the unlawfully obtained bank documents, the person would not get the full benefit of the protections of the statute, and the underlying objectives of the statute would be defeated.

¶ 87. When the legislature allows a motion to quash or limit a subpoena to prevent the State from enforcing a subpoena issued in violation of Wis. Stat. § 968.135, it is absurd and unreasonable to allow the State to use incriminating statements derived directly from such a subpoena and to gain an advantage by violating the statute. The legislature could not have intended that the statute would be interpreted in such a way to allow circumvention of the carefully drafted legislative requirements and safeguards for the issuance of a subpoena under Wis. Stat. § 968.135.42

*641¶ 88. Applying the doctrine of ejusdem generis, we conclude that the motion to suppress these incriminating statements is a motion of like kind to motions to quash or limit a subpoena and is germane to the objectives of Wis. Stat. § 968.135.

¶ 89. In applying each of the three rules for interpreting the word "includes," we have concluded that under each rule of statutory interpretation, the defendant's motion to suppress the statements at issue in the present case was properly granted.

¶ 90. As we explained previously, this interpretation of Wis. Stat. § 968.135 is not foreclosed by Wisconsin precedent. Wisconsin cases do not hold, as the State urges, that unless a statute "expressly" provides for suppression of evidence as a remedy, a circuit court may not suppress the evidence.

¶ 91. Óur conclusion in the present case for suppression of both the documents and the incriminating statements is similar to the conclusions reached by the United States Supreme Court in two cases involving wiretaps that were performed in contravention of the. applicable federal statute governing legal wiretaps.

¶ 92. In the first case, Nardone v. United States, 302 U.S. 379 (1937), the United States Supreme Court interpreted the Communications Act of 1934, which was silent about the Act's application to federal agents and which did not explicitly provide for suppression as evidence of any communications obtained in violation of the Act. The Court interpreted the Act as covering agents of the federal government and as embracing suppression of evidence in court of the words obtained through the unlawful wiretaps.

*642¶ 93. In a subsequent case, Nardone v. United States, 308 U.S. 338, 340 (1939), the Court was faced with the question whether under the Communications Act of 1934 only the "exact words heard through forbidden interceptions" were to be suppressed as evidence (as decided in the first Nardone case), or whether evidence procured through the use of knowledge gained from the forbidden conversations should also be suppressed. The Court concluded that in accommodating the concerns of crime detection and effective law enforcement and protection of individual privacy, "meaning must be given to what Congress has written, even if not in explicit language, so as to effectuate the policy which Congress has formulated."43 The Court concluded that reading the Act to suppress only the exact words heard through the forbidden interceptions but at the same time to allow the use of evidence derived from the exact words intercepted would largely stultify the policy of suppressing the exact words intercepted. The Court relied on the words of Silverthorne Lumber Co. v. United States, 251 U.S. 385, 392: "The essence of a provision forbidding the acquisition of evidence in a certain way is that not merely evidence so acquired shall not be used before the court, but that it shall not be used at all."44 The Court went on to say: "A decent respect for the policy of Congress must save us from imputing to it a self-defeating, if not disingenuous purpose."45

¶ 94. In the Nardone cases, as well as in the present case, the law being interpreted is silent about suppression of evidence obtained as a result of a statutory violation. In the first Nardone case, the Court *643suppressed the words obtained by wiretaps that violated of the Act. In the present case we suppress the documents obtained by subpoenas that violated the statute. In the second Nardone case, the Court suppressed information obtained by use of the words obtained by the improper wiretaps. In the present case we suppress incriminating statements obtained by use of the documents obtained by improper subpoenas.

¶ 95. The Nardone cases support our approach to statutory interpretation in the present case. The instant case, however, presents an easier task of statutory interpretation than did the Nardone cases. In the instant case the motions to suppress the documents and the incriminating statements are in the very text of the statute, that is, the text explicitly provides for "motions to the court, including, but not limited to, motions to quash or limit the subpoena." The Act interpreted in the Nardone cases had no such similar broadly worded language allowing a motion to suppress evidence.

¶ 96. For the reasons set forth, we conclude that the circuit court did not err in suppressing the incriminating statements that the defendant made after police confronted her with the bank documents obtained in violation of Wis. Stat. § 968.135. Unless the incriminating statements were suppressed as evidence in the present case, the safeguards established by Wis. Stat. § 968.135 for the issuance of subpoenas would be rendered meaningless.

‡ ‡ ‡ H*

¶ 97. We conclude that suppression of both the bank documents and the defendant's incriminating statements in the present case is an appropriate remedy *644when the bank documents were obtained in violation of Wis. Stat. § 968.135 and the incriminating statements were obtained by law enforcement officers confronting the defendant with the unlawfully obtained bank documents. Accordingly, we conclude that the circuit court did not err in granting the defendant's motion to suppress evidence of the bank documents and the defendant's incriminating statements. We reverse the decision of the court of appeals and affirm the circuit court's order to suppress the bank documents and incriminating statements at issue. Because we affirm the circuit court's order on statutory grounds, we need not and do not reach the additional issues presented by the defendant. We leave the interpretation of the federal and state constitutional provisions and federal statutes relating to obligations of banks that the court of appeals addressed for another case in which these issues are determinative.

By the Court. — The decision of the court of appeals is reversed. The cause is remanded to the circuit court for further proceedings not inconsistent with this opinion.

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