It's curious. You don't want to overcharge someone if you actually want them to face justice, because that raises the bar for conviction. Charge him with something lesser you can definitely nail him on, and he goes away for sure. But charge him with something over the top, jury might not go for it and he gets off scott free.
So why did they go all out on him? Two possibilities I can think of: One, trying to scare him into something stupid. Two, pure virtue signalling / ideological possession. He's bad so they can't just put him in jail, he must be a murderer and white supremacist. Anything short of that would just prove the prosecutors didn't believe in the cause strongly enough.
In the former case, it looks like that didn't work, which is good. In the latter case, they're just dumb, which is also good.
the way WI homicide laws are written the top charges incorporate the lower charges, so if the burden is met for the lower charge, the lower charge applies.
It's curious. You don't want to overcharge someone if you actually want them to face justice, because that raises the bar for conviction. Charge him with something lesser you can definitely nail him on, and he goes away for sure. But charge him with something over the top, jury might not go for it and he gets off scott free.
So why did they go all out on him? Two possibilities I can think of: One, trying to scare him into something stupid. Two, pure virtue signalling / ideological possession. He's bad so they can't just put him in jail, he must be a murderer and white supremacist. Anything short of that would just prove the prosecutors didn't believe in the cause strongly enough.
In the former case, it looks like that didn't work, which is good. In the latter case, they're just dumb, which is also good.
the way WI homicide laws are written the top charges incorporate the lower charges, so if the burden is met for the lower charge, the lower charge applies.
That's some un-American bullshit.
that is some insane B.S. You could just charge everyone with 1st degree and just see what sticks. That cant be constitutional
You can often charge for lesser includeds as well. Juries don’t have to convict on the highest charge