Fleeing an officer — jury instructions

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Wisconsin Supreme Court

Criminal

Fleeing an officer — jury instructions

Even though the jury instructions were erroneous, the error was harmless.

“Wisconsin Stat. § 346.04(3) sets out the two requirements necessary for commission of the offense charged. The second requirement may be proven in three different ways. That is, § 346.04(3) does not require that the defendant’s flight or attempt to elude have been accomplished by the defendant increasing the speed of his vehicle to flee, as the instructions given in this case provided. Beamon’s argument, therefore, rests on his contention that the sufficiency of the evidence must be evaluated by comparison with the jury instructions actually given, even though those instructions added a requirement to the statutory definition of the crime.”

“We conclude that jury instructions that add requirements to what the statute sets out as necessary to prove the commission of a crime are erroneous; and therefore, we examine the sufficiency of the evidence in this case by comparison to what the statute requires and not by comparison to an additional requirement in the jury instructions. Furthermore, jury instruction errors are subject to harmless error analysis, which we apply here. A harmless error analysis asks whether, based on the totality of the circumstances, it is clear beyond a reasonable doubt that a rational jury, properly instructed, would have found the defendant guilty.”

“We conclude that under the totality of circumstances, it is clear beyond a reasonable doubt the jury would have found Beamon guilty of fleeing or attempting to elude an officer absent the erroneous jury instruction. The evidence at trial unquestionably supported the jury’s verdict that Beamon violated the fleeing or eluding statute. Accordingly, we conclude that there was sufficient evidence to convict Beamon, and we affirm the decision of the court of appeals.”

Affirmed.

2010AP2003-CR State v. Beamon

Roggensack, J.

Attorneys: For Appellant: Hintze, Donna L., Madison; For Respondent: Wellman, Sally L., Madison; Chiapete, W. Richard, Racine