Jury Instruction

By: Derek Hawkins//May 2, 2016//

Listen to this article

7th Circuit Court of Appeals

Case Name: Donovan M. Burris v. Judy P. Smith

Case No.: 15-2891

Officials: FLAUM, RIPPLE, and HAMILTON, Circuit Judges.

Focus: Jury Instruction

WI Supreme court did not unreasonably apply the law in assessing an ambiguous jury instruction.

“There are still other ways in which a misleading jury instruction may violate due process but we need not discuss them here. The bottom line is that this instruction, to the extent that it may have misled the jury, only contained errors of tate law. And “the fact that the instruction was allegedly incorrect under state law is not a basis for habeas relief.” Estelle, 502 U.S. at 71–72. Moreover, Burris has not demonstrated that the instruction was reasonably likely to mislead the jury. Assuming, as the parties do, that the instruction was ambiguous, the Wisconsin Supreme Court properly stated the correct standard for reviewing allegedly misleading jury instructions and reasonably applied that standard to this case.”

Affirmed

Full Text

Attorney Derek A. Hawkins is the managing partner at Hawkins Law Offices LLC, where he heads up the firm’s startup law practice. He specializes in business formation, corporate governance, intellectual property protection, private equity and venture capital funding and mergers & acquisitions. Check out the website at www.hawkins-lawoffices.com or contact them at 262-737-8825.

Select Region or Brand

Upcoming Event