Wisconsin Statutes & Annotations
Chapter 939 - Crimes — general provisions.
939.66 - Conviction of included crime permitted.

939.66 Conviction of included crime permitted. Upon prosecution for a crime, the actor may be convicted of either the crime charged or an included crime, but not both. An included crime may be any of the following:
(1) A crime which does not require proof of any fact in addition to those which must be proved for the crime charged.
(2) A crime which is a less serious type of criminal homicide under subch. I of ch. 940 than the one charged.
(2m) A crime which is a less serious or equally serious type of battery than the one charged.
(2p) A crime which is a less serious or equally serious type of violation under s. 948.02 than the one charged.
(2r) A crime which is a less serious type of violation under s. 943.23 than the one charged.
(3) A crime which is the same as the crime charged except that it requires recklessness or negligence while the crime charged requires a criminal intent.
(4) An attempt in violation of s. 939.32 to commit the crime charged.
(4m) A crime of failure to timely pay child support under s. 948.22 (3) when the crime charged is failure to pay child support for more than 120 days under s. 948.22 (2).
(5) The crime of attempted battery when the crime charged is sexual assault, sexual assault of a child, robbery, mayhem or aggravated battery or an attempt to commit any of them.
(6) A crime specified in s. 940.285 (2) (b) 4. or 5. when the crime charged is specified in s. 940.19 (2) to (6), 940.225 (1), (2) or (3) or 940.30.
(6c) A crime that is a less serious type of violation under s. 940.285 than the one charged.
(6e) A crime that is a less serious type of violation under s. 940.295 than the one charged.
(7) The crime specified in s. 940.11 (2) when the crime charged is specified in s. 940.11 (1).
History: 1985 a. 29, 144, 306, 332; 1987 a. 332 s. 64; 1987 a. 349, 403; 1989 a. 31 s. 2909b; 1989 a. 250; 1991 a. 205; 1993 a. 441, 445, 491; 2005 a. 430; 2015 a. 81.
To submit a lesser included offense, there must be some reasonable ground in the evidence for conviction on the lesser and acquittal on the greater. A lesser offense is permissible when the evidence requires the jury to find a disputed factual element in the charged offense that is not required for the lesser and the jury might find the disputed fact either way. State v. Melvin, 49 Wis. 2d 246, 181 N.W.2d 490 (1970).
Attempted battery can only be an included crime as to the specific offenses listed. State v. Melvin, 49 Wis. 2d 246, 181 N.W.2d 490 (1970).
A charge of possession of a pistol by a minor is not an included crime in a charge of attempted first-degree murder because it includes the element of minority that the greater crime does not. State v. Melvin, 49 Wis. 2d 246, 181 N.W.2d 490 (1970).
Disorderly conduct is not a lesser included offense of criminal damage to property. State v. Chacon, 50 Wis. 2d 73, 183 N.W.2d 84 (1971).
While attempted aggravated battery is not an included crime of aggravated battery under sub. (1), it is under sub. (4). The reduced charge does not put the defendant in double jeopardy. Dunn v. State, 55 Wis. 2d 192, 197 N.W.2d 749 (1972).
Under sub. (1), the emphasis is on the proof, not the pleading, and the “stricken word test" stated in Eastway, 189 Wis. 56 (1926), is not incorporated in the statute. Martin v. State, 57 Wis. 2d 499, 204 N.W.2d 499 (1973).
Section 947.015, bomb scares, is not an included crime in s. 941.30, recklessly endangering safety. State v. Van Ark, 62 Wis. 2d 155, 215 N.W.2d 41 (1974).
When the evidence overwhelmingly showed that a shooting was intentional, failure to include negligent homicide under ss. 940.06 and 940.08 as a lesser included offenses was not error. Hayzes v. State, 64 Wis. 2d 189, 218 N.W.2d 717 (1974).
In order to justify the submission of an instruction on a lesser degree of homicide than that with which the defendant is charged, there must be a reasonable basis in the evidence for acquittal on the greater charge and for conviction on the lesser charge. Harris v. State, 68 Wis. 2d 436, 228 N.W.2d 645 (1975).
For one crime to be included in another, it must be utterly impossible to commit the greater crime without committing the lesser. Randolph v. State, 83 Wis. 2d 630, 266 N.W.2d 334 (1978).
The test under sub. (1) concerns legal, statutorily defined elements of the crime, not peculiar facts of the case. State v. Verhasselt, 83 Wis. 2d 647, 266 N.W.2d 342 (1978).
The trial court erred in denying the defendant's request for the submission of a verdict of endangering safety by conduct regardless of life as a lesser included offense of attempted murder. Hawthorne v. State, 99 Wis. 2d 673, 299 N.W.2d 866 (1981).
Without clear legislative intent to the contrary, multiple punishment may not be imposed for felony-murder and the underlying felony. State v. Gordon, 111 Wis. 2d 133, 330 N.W.2d 564 (1983).
When a defendant charged with second-degree murder denied firing the fatal shot, a manslaughter instruction was properly denied. State v. Sarabia, 118 Wis. 2d 655, 348 N.W.2d 527 (1984).
Under the “elements only" test, offenses that require proof of nonconsent are not lesser included offenses of offenses for which proof of nonconsent is not required. State v. Richards, 123 Wis. 2d 1, 365 N.W.2d 7 (1985).
When police confiscated a large quantity of drugs from an empty home and the next day searched the defendant upon the defendant's return home, confiscating a small quantity of the same drugs, the defendant's conviction for a lesser-included offense of possession and a greater offense of possession with intent to deliver did not violate double jeopardy. State v. Stevens, 123 Wis. 2d 303, 367 N.W.2d 788 (1985).
Reckless use of weapons under former s. 941.20 (1) (a), 1983 stats., was not a lesser included offense of crime of endangering safety by conduct regardless of life while armed under former ss. 939.63 (1) (a) 3. and 941.30, 1983 stats. State v. Carrington, 134 Wis. 2d 260, 397 N.W.2d 484 (1986).
The court must instruct the jury on a properly requested lesser offense even though the statute of limitations bars the court from entering a conviction on the lesser offense. State v. Muentner, 138 Wis. 2d 374, 406 N.W.2d 415 (1987).
The court of appeals may not direct the circuit court to enter a judgment of conviction for a lesser included offense when a jury verdict of guilty on a greater offense is reversed for insufficiency of evidence and the jury was not instructed on the lesser included offense. State v. Myers, 158 Wis. 2d 356, 461 N.W.2d 777 (1990).
Convictions for both first-degree murder and burglary/battery are permissible. State v. Kuntz, 160 Wis. 2d 722, 467 N.W.2d 531 (1991).
Evidence at trial may suggest to the state that an instruction on a lesser included offense is appropriate; it is unreasonable for a defendant to assume at the outset of trial that evidence may not affect the state's prosecuting position. State v. Fleming, 181 Wis. 2d 546, 510 N.W.2d 837 (Ct. App. 1993).
This section does not bar multiple convictions when homicides are “equally serious." Two Class C felonies with the same maximum penalty were equally serious although one carried additional sanctions of driver license revocation and an additional penalty assessment that the other did not. State v. Lechner, 217 Wis. 2d 392, 576 N.W.2d 912 (1998), 96-2830.
Misdemeanor battery is an included crime of felony battery, but they are not the same offense. Acquittal on felony battery charges does not prevent subsequent prosecution for misdemeanor battery. State v. Vassos, 218 Wis. 2d 330, 579 N.W.2d 35 (1998), 97-0938.
There is no rule that when a more specific crime could have been charged, the defendant loses the right to a lesser-included instruction on a more general offense. That retail theft, which was not a lesser-included offense of armed robbery, could have been charged did not prevent the giving of an instruction on theft as a lesser included offense of armed robbery. State v. Jones, 228 Wis. 2d 593, 598 N.W.2d 259 (Ct. App. 1999), 98-1681.
A lesser included offense must be both lesser and included. An offense with a heavier penalty cannot be regarded as a lesser offense than one with a lighter penalty. State v. Smits, 2001 WI App 45, 241 Wis. 2d 374, 626 N.W.2d 42, 00-1158.
When a jury returned a verdict finding the defendant guilty of both a greater and a lesser included offense, although it had been instructed that it could only find one or the other, it was not error for the court to enter judgment on the greater offense after polling the jury to confirm the result. State v. Hughes, 2001 WI App 239, 248 Wis. 2d 133, 635 N.W.2d 661, 00-3176. See also State v. Cox, 2007 WI App 38, 300 Wis. 2d 236, 730 N.W.2d 452, 06-0419.
Separate prosecutions for a carjacking that occurred on one day and operating the same car without the owner's consent on the next did not violate sub. (2r) or the constitutional protection against double jeopardy. State v. McKinnie, 2002 WI App 82, 252 Wis. 2d 172, 642 N.W.2d 617, 01-2764.
Sub. (2m) only applies to battery under s. 940.19 and not to battery by a prisoner under s. 940.20. Charging both was not multiplicitous and not a double jeopardy violation. State v. Davison, 2003 WI 89, 263 Wis. 2d 145, 666 N.W.2d 1, 01-0826.
Section 948.40 (1) and (4) (a), contributing to the delinquency of a child with death as a consequence, is not a “type of criminal homicide" included under sub. (2). It provides a more serious punishment when “death is a consequence" of its violation. In contrast, the homicide statutes in ch. 940 target those who “cause the death" of another. State v. Patterson, 2010 WI 130, 329 Wis. 2d 599, 790 N.W.2d 909, 08-1968.
The defendant's guilty plea to second-degree sexual assault of a child was not knowing, intelligent, and voluntary because the defendant was incorrectly informed that the defendant faced a potential sentence of 100 years if convicted of both first-degree and second-degree sexual assault. Because second-degree sexual assault is a lesser-included offense to first-degree sexual assault, the defendant could not have lawfully been convicted of both offenses. Thus, the defendant was not truly aware of the direct consequences of his plea and was entitled to withdraw it. State v. Douglas, 2018 WI App 12, 380 Wis. 2d 139, 908 N.W.2d 466, 16-1865.
The only difference between first-degree and second-degree reckless homicide is that “utter disregard for human life" is a required element for first-degree, but not second-degree, reckless homicide. In this case, there was evidence that the defendant acted in fear for his own life, not necessarily with utter disregard for the victim's life. Based on that evidence, the circuit court should have instructed the jury on the lesser-included offense of second-degree reckless homicide as well as first-degree reckless homicide. State v. Johnson, 2021 WI 61, 397 Wis. 2d 633, 961 N.W.2d 18, 18-2318.
Multiple Punishment in Wisconsin and the Wolske Decision: Is It Desirable to Permit Two Homicide Convictions for Causing a Single Death? Albee. 1990 WLR 553.
NOTE: See also notes to Art. I, sec. 8, Double Jeopardy.

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