Wisconsin State Law Library

Wisconsin Criminal Jury Instructions 2021 Update - Carol Hassler

The Wisconsin Criminal Jury Instructions have recently been updated, with a 2021 release approved by the Wisconsin Judicial Conference's Criminal Jury Instructions Committee. The fifty-ninth supplement to the Criminal Jury Instructions updates the publication on legislative actions and judicial decisions through August 2021.

The update includes revisions of twenty-nine existing jury instructions, as well as five new instructions. New to the set are:

• 1243 Battery to a Nurse
• 1784 Inmate Possessing an Article With Intent to Retain
• 1787 Receiving an Article From an Inmate to Convey Out of Jail or Prison
• 1808A Bribery of Witness: Transferring Property
• 1808B Bribery of Witness: Accepting a Bribe

The following instructions have been updated:

• Introduction
• 141 Where Identification of Defendant is in Issue
• 180 Statements of Defendant
• 235 Refusal of Defendant to Furnish Sample for Alcohol Test
• 268 Law Note: Jurisdiction
• 1014 First Degree Intentional Homicide: Self-defense: Second Degree Intentional Homicide
• 1187 Homicide by Operation of a Vehicle with a Detectable Amount of a Restricted Controlled Substance - § 940.09(1)(am)
• 1266 Injury (Great Bodily Harm) by Operation of a Vehicle with a Detectable Amount of a Restricted Controlled Substance - § 940.25(1)(am)
• 1272 Neglect of Patients and Residents
• 1284 Stalking
• 1284B Stalking
• 1321 Endangering Safety by Use of a Dangerous Weapon: Operating or Going Armed with a Firearm While Under the Influence of an Intoxicant
• 1343 Possession of a Firearm
• 1537 Sexual Gratification in Public
• 1785 Delivering an Article to an Inmate
• 1786 Possessing an Article with Intent to Deliver it to an Inmate
• 2198 Failure to Comply with Sex Offender Registration Requirements
• 2502 Commitment as a Sexually Violent Person Under Chapter 980, Wis. Stats.
• 2506 Discharge of a Sexually Violent Person Under Chapter 980, Wis. Stats.
• 2664B Operating a Motor Vehicle with a Detectable Amount of a Restricted Controlled Substance
• 2682B Failing to Install an Ignition Interlock Device
• 6030 Possession of a Controlled Substance
• 6031 Attempted Possession of a Controlled Substance
• 6050 Possession of Drug Paraphernalia
• 6070 Use or Possession of a Masking Agent
• SM-32 Accepting a Plea of Guilty
• SM-32A No Contest and Alford Pleas
• SM-34A Determining Sentence Credit Under Section 973.155
• SM-50 Competency to Proceed

Earlier this year the Library partnered with the Office of Judicial Education to debut free access to the Wisconsin Jury Instructions on our website. While updated instructions can be downloaded at any time from our website, many readers may wish to keep their print sets up-to-date. Updating an existing set of print instructions works just as it has in prior years.

Download and print the fifty-ninth release. Blank pages have been inserted to make double sided printing easier. File new and updated instructions, along with the updated statutory comparative table and index in your print set. A complete, printable file of all the current Criminal Jury Instructions and finding aids is also available for those who need to print a complete set.

For information on the status of the Committee's work, please contact Bryce Pierson at bryce.pierson@wicourts.gov.

Would you like to be notified when new jury instructions are released? Join our mailing list to receive an email. Send an email to wsll.web@wicourts.gov, and ask to be added to our Jury Instructions mailing list.

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September is Library Card Sign-up Month - Amy Crowder

A State Law Library card is a great way to streamline your legal research. If you are a Wisconsin licensed attorney, judge, court or government employee, member of the state legislature, or a Wisconsin librarian you are eligible for a library card.

From the comfort of your home or office, with a State Law Library card you can:

• Access books on Lexis Digital. Find answers to your questions about real estate, Wisconsin employment law, contracts, bankruptcy and other topics
• Research state and federal tax issues in CCH AnswerConnect
• Examine historical state and federal government documents in LLMC Digital
• Locate a wealth of legal resources on HeinOnline including Restatements in the American Law Institute Library, law reviews, state reports, session laws, statutes, attorney general opinions, case law, and more

You can also use your library card to check out books from our library collection. Search our library catalog to see what is available. Our library stacks are open 10:00 a.m. – 3:00 p.m., Monday through Friday.

Do you want a tip for effective and efficient legal research? Explore the digital and print resources that are accessible to you with a State Law Library card. If you don 't have a card, visit our Get a Library Card page and apply now. Once you have a State Law Library card, visit our eBooks page and library catalog and start exploring.

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New Books - Kari Zelinka

New Title! Litigating Parental Alienation: Evaluating and Presenting an Effective Case in Court, edited by Ashish Joshi, 2021
Call Number: KF 540 .L58 2021

Do you have a difficult family law case coming up? Consider adding Litigating parental alienation: evaluating and presenting an effective case in court to your reading list. Parental alienation is certainly not a new concept, but there is a lot of misinformation surrounding it. Author Ashish Joshi has experience litigating parental alienation cases all over America and internationally. He discusses the criteria for the admissibility of expert testimony on parental alienation and includes a state map of admissibility standards. You 'll find case examples throughout the book and a lengthy section containing hands on practice pointers.

Chapters include:

• Court interventions
• Expert testimony and presenting a case
• The role of guardian ad litem and child representative
• Misinformation about parental alienation and how to respond to it
• Domestic violence and parental alienation
• Defending against false allegations of parental alienation
• Tips and guidance for practitioners

New Edition! Paralegal Ethics Handbook, edited by Ellen Lockwood, 2021
Call Number: KF 320 .L4 P39 2021

If you have a new paralegal at your firm, you may want to point them towards the new edition of the Paralegal Ethics Handbook. It contains some timely topics such as ethical considerations for working from home and the ethics of social media. Seventeen areas of practice are covered and state information and paralegal association ethics cannons and related information can be found in the appendices.

Selected chapters include:

• Ethical considerations for administrative, governmental, and regulatory law paralegals
• Ethics of paralegal billing
• Ethical considerations in E-filing
• Ethical considerations for immigration law paralegals
• Ethical considerations for freelance paralegals
• Ethical considerations for in-house paralegals
• Ethical considerations of digital discovery and electronically stored information
• Ethics of social media
• Ethical considerations for working from home

See our latest New Titles list for a list of new books and other resources.

For assistance in accessing these or other resources, please contact our Reference Desk.

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Tech Tip - Heidi Yelk

If you visit a website almost daily, it's easy to overlook the simple things. One of those things is the fast, top page search for introduced proposals on the Wisconsin State Legislature's Website.

Scroll "below the fold" to the Law and Legislation section on the left, where you can enter a proposal number and immediately search the database for the proposal.

For best results (and to avoid false hits) eliminate spaces in your query. Instead of SB 20, enter SB20. Or place your query in quotes: "SB 20"

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Library News - Carol Hassler

Labor Day holiday

All three libraries will be closed on Monday, September 6th in observance of the Labor Day state holiday. You can call us at 608-267-9696 or email us while we're closed and we will respond the next day.

Advanced legislative history

Registration is now open for the State Law Library's October webinar. Registration is limited to 100 and registrations will be approved daily by the moderator. Once your registration is approved, you will get an email confirmation with connection information. Please reach out to carol.hassler@wicourts.gov with questions.

Advanced Wisconsin Legislative History
Wednesday, October 20, 12:00 - 1:00 p.m.
Location: Live webinar - Register for Advanced Wisconsin Legislative History
1 CLE credit applied for

I need the legislative history of a Wisconsin statute. Where do I start? What do I do? Participants will look at the primary resources used to research Wisconsin legislative history, learn about the online Wisconsin legislative drafting files, and learn some helpful tips and tricks along the way. This advanced class covers additional search strategies, budget bills, advanced use of drafting records, and Supreme Court rule order research.

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September Snapshot

Lightbulb Lift
Photo by Amy Crowder

The David T. Prosser Jr. Library features a beautiful vaulted atrium leading to the second floor. Do you ever wonder how the lightbulbs in our atrium are replaced? This lift helps building staff reach those distant lights.

We are accepting snapshots! Do you have a photo highlighting libraries, attractions or points of historical interest? Send your photo to the editor at carol.hassler@wicourts.gov to be included in a future issue.

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