F. Instructions

State v. Keith J. Brooks, 2017AP1723-CR, 9/25/18, District 1 (not recommended for publication); case activity (including briefs) Brooks was tried for first-degree intentional homicide. The jury acquitted him of that but convicted of the lesser-included first-degree reckless. He argues his trial lawyers were ineffective because they pursued a strategy that would have let the jury… Read more

Looking for a creative objection? Consider this excerpt from the abstract on Michael Cicchini’s new article,  Spin Doctors: Prosecutor Sophistry and the Burden of Proof, forthcoming in the University of Cincinnati Law Review. In two recently published studies, mock jurors who received truth-based instructions convicted at significantly higher rates than those who were simply instructed on… Read more

State v. Joseph T. Langlois, 2018 WI 73, 6/20/18, affirming a published court of appeals decision, 2017 WI App 44; case activity (including briefs) A majority of the supreme court concludes that the jury instructions given in this case, when viewed in their entirety, accurately stated the law the jury needed to decide the case. Two dissenting justices… Read more

State v. Devin T. White, 2016AP119-CR, 4/10/18, District 1, (not recommended for publication); case activity (including briefs) White was convicted of 1st-degree reckless homicide. He argued that the trial court misapplied the law governing self-defense and improperly instructed the jury. The court of appeals repeatedly struggled to determine the thrust of his argument, but it… Read more

State v. Roman D. Lovelace, 2017AP943-CR, District 1, 3/6/18 (not recommended for publication); case activity (including briefs) During deliberations at Lovelace’s trial on a charge of burglary as party to a crime, the jury sent a note to the judge asking how burglary and party to a crime “relate” and whether they were “two separate… Read more

State v. James C. Faustmann, 2017AP1932-CR, District 2, 3/7/18 (one-judge decision; ineligible for publication); case activity (including briefs) Under the test for lesser included offenses under § 939.66(1), disorderly conduct in violation of § 947.01(1) isn’t a lesser-included offense of unlawful use of a computerized communication system in violation of § 947.0125(2)(a). ¶4     The elements of… Read more

State v. Joseph T. Langlois, 2016AP1409-CR, petition for review of a published court of appeals decision granted 12/13/17; case activity (including briefs) Issues (composed by On Point): 1. Was trial counsel ineffective for failing to object to the jury instructions for self defense and accident on the lesser included charge of homicide by negligent handling… Read more