| Court: | WI Supreme Court |
| Facts: | A guy on a bender is disorderly; he confronts police with a penknife when they try to arrest him, and an officer is mildly cut. Attempted murder charges ensue. |
| Posture: | Convicted at trial; appeal on the sufficiency of the evidence |
| Issue: | Was it abuse of discretion to charge attempted first degree murder on the basis of these facts? |
| Holding: | No abuse of discretion. |
| Rule: | Decision to charge is a discretionary one, and will only be set aside in extraordinary cases. |
| Reasoning: | In general, the DA is not answerable to any other officer with respect to the exercise of powers. It an abuse of discretion to charge when the evidence does not support it. |
| Dicta: | We're not saying that diversion of the case would have been a bad idea. |