Bills · 2013-2014 Regular Session
Relating to: lesser included homicide crimes.
Court — Procedure Crime and criminals — Homicide or murder
- 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, a person may be charged with, and prosecuted for, a number
of crimes related to the same conduct. However, a person may only be convicted of
the crime charged or an included crime, but not for both. An included crime is
generally a crime that has the same or similar elements as the crime charged but is
equally or less serious, carries the same or a lower penalty, or requires a showing of
negligence or recklessness rather than intent. Current law states that, with regard
to a homicide conviction, an included crime may be "a crime which is a less serious
type of criminal homicide than the one charged."
In
State of Wisconsin v. Patterson,
2010 WI 130, the Wisconsin Supreme Court
held that a less serious type of criminal homicide than the one charged must be
limited to homicide charges that are brought under the statutes proscribing
homicidal acts, and do not include charges that are brought under the statutes
proscribing other acts that may or may not result in the death of another person.
This bill amends the included homicide statute to reflect the holding in the
Patterson
case.