| Court: |
Wisconsin Supreme Court |
|
| Facts: |
Moes killed a guy in a murder-for-hire scheme that turned into
a case of coercion-to-commit-murder. |
|
| Posture: |
Convicted at trial. Postconviction motion for a new trial was
denied. Appeal on the conviction. |
|
| Issue: |
There were four issues, but we see only two:
- Must the prosecution disprove coersion adequately (and if so,
were the jury instructions adequate)?
- Do we need a new trial?
|
|
| Holding: |
The Federal due process clause doesn't require the state to
disprove coercion, but Wisconsin law does. However, no
new trial is needed. |
|
| Rule: |
You'd only need a new trial if the error was prejudicial. |
|
| Reasoning: |
This was not prejudicial because the jury intructions made it
clear that he could only be convicted of first-degree
intentional homicide, if he were not coerced. |
|
| Dicta: |
|