New motion to modify Wisconsin’s J.I. 140 on the burden of proof

I’m using a new pretrial motion, usually as part of a motion in limine, to modify J.I. 140, Wisconsin’s burden of proof jury instruction.  This new motion is shorter, it acknowledges SCOW’s Trammel decision, and it incorporates the recent revelation that Wisconsin’s pattern instructions are not authored by judges, but rather by unidentified employees of UW.  This should put to rest the prosecutorial argument that the pattern instruction should not be modified because it was painstakingly written by an imminent judicial committee of great legal minds.

If Wisconsin lawyers want the motion to modify J.I. 140, go to the very bottom of my J.I. 140 page, here.  It’s the last document on the page.  And for more on the jury-instruction committee fiasco, including a sample motion to modify any pattern instruction, see the draft of my forthcoming article in the Albany L. Rev., here.