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Jury Instructions

By: Derek Hawkins//August 29, 2018//

Jury Instructions

By: Derek Hawkins//August 29, 2018//

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WI Court of Appeals – District I

Case Name: State of Wisconsin Devon L. Loggins

Case No.: 2017AP2045-CR

Officials: Kessler, P.J., Brennan and Brash, JJ.

Focus: Jury Instructions

Devon L. Loggins appeals a judgment of conviction, entered on a jury verdict, for one count of being a felon in possession of a firearm and multiple counts of first-degree reckless homicide and first-degree reckless endangerment. The charges were in connection with an incident in which Loggins killed two men and injured others when he armed himself and repeatedly fired into a group of people who had been in a fistfight.

Loggins seeks a new trial on the grounds that the trial court erred when it denied his request for a jury instruction on self-defense. He argues that the trial court wrongly denied his request because there was “some evidence”— and that is all that is required—that the three elements for the instruction were satisfied: (1) that he believed that there was an actual or imminent unlawful interference with his person; (2) that he believed that the amount of force he used was necessary to prevent or terminate the interference; and (3) that his beliefs were reasonable. See State v. Stietz, 2017 WI 58, ¶¶11, 16, 375 Wis. 2d 572, 895 N.W.2d 796 (to be entitled to a jury instruction on the privilege, “[t]he accused need produce only ‘some evidence’ in support of the privilege of self-defense”).

At the moment when Loggins armed himself and “just started pulling the trigger”—firing fifteen times—he had been involved in a street brawl between two groups of people. The question in this case is whether it was reasonable for Loggins to believe, at the moment he started shooting, that using deadly force was “necessary to prevent imminent death or great bodily harm to himself[.]” WIS. STAT. § 939.48(1) (2015-16).  As we explain below, Loggins did not satisfy his burden to produce “some evidence” that this was a reasonable belief. The evidence was not sufficient because no reasonable fact-finder could have determined that Loggins reasonably believed that the deadly force he used was necessary. See Stietz, 375 Wis. 2d 572, ¶6. The trial court properly denied his request for the self-defense jury instruction. We therefore affirm.

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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.

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