Bills · 2013-2014 Regular Session
Relating to: intimidating a witness.
Crime and criminals Crime victim Witness
- Introduced, stopped here
- Passes Assembly, not reached
- Passes Senate, not reached
- Governor signs, not reached
- Law, not reached
Unfamiliar terms? Glossary
What this bill does
Plain-language analysis by the nonpartisan Legislative Reference Bureau
Under current law, it is a crime to intimidate a witness. Current law sets forth
three statutory categories of intimidation: one, preventing or dissuading a victim or
a person acting on the victim's behalf from making a report of the crime; two,
preventing or dissuading the victim or a person acting on the victim's behalf from
causing a complaint, indictment, or information to be sought and prosecuted and
assisting in the prosecution, and three, preventing or dissuading the victim or a
person acting on the victim's behalf from arresting, or causing or seeking the arrest
of, a person in connection with the criminal act.
In
State of Wisconsin v. Freer
, 2010 WI App 9, the court of appeals held that the
statutory language for the second category, causing a complaint, indictment, or
information to be sought and prosecution and assisting in the prosecution thereof,
should be read so that a person who prevents or dissuades a victim from doing any
one or more of the following is guilty of intimidating a witness: causing a complaint,
indictment, or information to be sought, causing a complaint to be prosecuted, or
assisting in the prosecution.
This bill amends the statutory language to comply with the interpretation set
forth in the
Freer
case.