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Homicide in Racine & Kenosha falls under 8 specifications under Wisconsin state statute, with maximum penalties ranging from a $25,000 fine and/or 10 years in prison to a life sentence.
Glenn Gaskill
OWI & Criminal Defense Attorney
Homicide Attorneys Racine office (near the Village Center Strip Mall)
Any time you are charged with homicide in Racine or Kenosha you are facing a significant amount of prison time. Not all homicide charges are created equal and different levels of felonies have different amounts of prison exposure. There are some murder charges that require a mandatory life sentence in prison, while others that have lesser penalties.
There are several different categories of homicide with which you can be charged in Racine or Kenosha; intentional, reckless or negligent.
Intentional Homicide
Intentional homicide requires the prosecutor to prove that the death of the victim was intended.
First Degree Intentional Homicide:
- class A felony
- mandatory sentence of life in prison
Second Degree Intentional Homicide:
- class B felony
- maximum prison sentence of 60 years
Reckless Homicide
If you are charged with reckless homicide, the prosecutor must prove that you caused the death of someone else and that your conduct that caused the death was reckless.
First Degree Reckless Homicide:
First degree reckless homicide requires the prosecutor to prove there was an utter disregard for human life.
- class B felony
- maximum 60 years in prison
Second Degree Reckless Homicide:
- class D felony
- maximum 25 years in prison
- $100,000 in fines
Negligent Homicide
Being charged with a negligent homicide requires the prosecutor to prove that the death of another person was because of your negligent conduct. Examples of these types of homicides include:
- Homicide by Negligent Handling of a Dangerous Weapon
- Homicide by Intoxicated Use of a Firearm or Vehicle
- Homicide by Negligent Operation of a Motor Vehicle
While the amount of prison differs from charge to charge, all of these include the potential for decades of time in prison.
Homicide in Racine & Kenosha
To be charged with murder in Racine or Kenosha does not require a person to act with the purpose of killing someone else. You can be charged with a First Degree Reckless Homicide if you delivered drugs to an individual and those drugs cause the person to die. Commonly referred to as Len Bias laws, you can face a murder charge for simply giving someone drugs if they overdose from using the drugs you gave them.
Beyond the extremely lengthy prison sentence, if you are convicted of a murder charge in Racine or Kenosha you will lose your right to vote in any election until your entire sentence is completed and you will permanently lose the right to possess a gun.
Grieve Law Racine represents clients from Caledonia, Sturtevant, Mount Pleasant, Somers, Brighton, Wilmot and surrounding communities. Contact us now for a free case consultation.
How long do homicide charges stay on my record?
If you are convicted of any murder charge in Racine or Kenosha, that conviction will stay on your record for the rest of your life. Beyond a pardon from the governor, which is exceedingly rare on a murder conviction, there is no way to remove your murder case from your record.
How to beat a homicide charge
For you to be convicted of a murder charge, the prosecutor must be able to prove all elements of the charge against you and prove it beyond a reasonable doubt. With an intentional homicide, the prosecutor would have to prove that your intention was to kill another person. It would not be enough that your actions resulted in another person’s death, the prosecutor would have to prove that was the result you intended. If you are not charged with intentional homicide and are instead facing a reckless homicide charge, the prosecutor would need to prove that what you did was likely to result in someone’s death and that you know your actions were likely to cause someone to die. When a prosecutor must prove what you were thinking it can become very difficult to prove their case beyond a reasonable doubt because no one can say what was going on in your head, sometimes, in the heat of the moment, not even you. Our Racine and Kenosha lawyers will dissect your case from all angles and put together the best plan for fighting against your charges and challenging proof of your intentions.
Beyond challenging your intentions, another common defense to a homicide charge is to demonstrate that it was not your actions that lead to the person’s death. On a drug overdose homicide, the prosecutor would have to prove that the drugs you delivered were the specific drugs that contributed to the death of the person. This most frequently becomes a defense when there is a multitude of drugs in the victim’s system and you provided a limited number of them. This is typically referred to as a Len Bias case after the famous basketball player from the 1980s who overdosed.
