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Madison WI Homicide Lawyer Attorney
Homicide is arguably the most serious
criminal charge that there is. First Degree Intentional Homicide
carries a mandatory life sentence. Attempted First Degree
Intentional Homicide carries a maximum penalty of up to 60 years
prison. The other homicide charges in Wisconsin do not carry
mandatory life sentences, but they do carry hefty prison sentences
as well.
Homicide cases are complex and require an
experienced defense attorney. If you or someone you know faces a
Wisconsin homicide charge, contact a qualified WI homicide defense
attorney immediately. Do not make any statements to any law
enforcement officer, or anyone else for that matter. Remember,
anything you say to police can be used against you in court.
940.01. First-degree intentional homicide
(1) Offenses. (a)
Except as provided in sub. (2), whoever causes the death of another
human being with intent to kill that person or another is guilty of
a Class A felony.
(b) Except as provided in sub. (2),
whoever causes the death of an unborn child with intent to kill that
unborn child, kill the woman who is pregnant with that unborn child
or kill another is guilty of a Class A felony.
(2) Mitigating circumstances.
The following are affirmative defenses to prosecution under this
section which mitigate the offense to 2nd-degree intentional
homicide under s. 940.05:
(a) Adequate provocation. Death
was caused under the influence of adequate provocation as defined in
s. 939.44.
(b) Unnecessary defensive force.
Death was caused because the actor believed he or she or another was
in imminent danger of death or great bodily harm and that the force
used was necessary to defend the endangered person, if either belief
was unreasonable.
(c) Prevention of felony. Death
was caused because the actor believed that the force used was
necessary in the exercise of the privilege to prevent or terminate
the commission of a felony, if that belief was unreasonable.
(d) Coercion; necessity. Death
was caused in the exercise of a privilege under s. 939.45(1).
(3) Burden of proof.
When the existence of an affirmative defense under sub. (2) has been
placed in issue by the trial evidence, the state must prove beyond a
reasonable doubt that the facts constituting the defense did not
exist in order to sustain a finding of guilt under sub. (1).
940.05.
Second-degree intentional homicide
(1) Whoever causes the death of another
human being with intent to kill that person or another is guilty of
a Class B felony if:
(a) In prosecutions under s. 940.01, the
state fails to prove beyond a reasonable doubt that the mitigating
circumstances specified in s. 940.01(2) did not exist as required by
s. 940.01(3); or
(b) The state concedes that it is unable
to prove beyond a reasonable doubt that the mitigating circumstances
specified in s. 940.01(2) did not exist. By charging under this
section, the state so concedes.
(2) In prosecutions under sub. (1), it is
sufficient to allege and prove that the defendant caused the death
of another human being with intent to kill that person or another.
(2g) Whoever causes the death of an
unborn child with intent to kill that unborn child, kill the woman
who is pregnant with that unborn child or kill another is guilty of
a Class B felony if:
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