| Court: | Wisconsin Court of Appeals |
| Facts: | Cornelier was boss of a fireworks plant ("Pyro Science Development Corporation!") that went kablooey when an employee plugged in an electrical fan. There were all sorts of safety code violations, and Cornelier knew about them. |
| Posture: | No trial yet. Defendant petitions for relief because the criminal complaint fails to state a cause of action: there's no reckless "conduct" in which he engaged-- he just failed to act. |
| Issue: | Can a failure to do something be a kind of reckless conduct? |
| Holding: | Yes. Writ denied. |
| Rule: | The crime of reckless homicide can be committed by omission as well as commission. |
| Reasoning: | A criminal complaint has to state a probable cause. Probable cause isn't certitute: it's just more than a mere possibility, established by the facts or reasonable inferences therefrom. It's reasonable to assume that Cornelier knew of the risks. Failing to act can establish reckless conduct. |
| Dicta: | Don't assume that just because case law says that X is an ingredient in Z that it's safe to infer that Y is not also an ingredient. |