Opinion ID: 487448
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 3

Heading: Kirby on Mayhem: Dicta or Binding Precedent?

Text: 30 The Attorney General argues that the Kirby court's discussion of the elements of mayhem was dicta. If the Attorney General is correct, then we are not bound by this aspect of the Kirby decision, for Wisconsin follows the common law rule that dicta--statements of law going beyond the particular facts of the case--do not constitute binding precedent. See Beloit Corp. v. Department of Industry, Labor and Human Relations, 63 Wis.2d 23, 216 N.W.2d 233, 238 (1974); 1 Callaghan's Wisconsin Pleading & Practice Sec. 2.95 (1978). In the Attorney General's view, the Kirby court's finding that mayhem required proof of great bodily harm was unnecessary because Kirby was acquitted of injury, which was the only charge submitted to the jury that contained an element of great bodily harm. 31 Apparently, the Attorney General believes that the result of Kirby would not have changed even if Kirby had prevailed in his argument that the injury charge was erroneously submitted. However, every indication in the opinion and the law of Wisconsin at the time of the opinion is to the contrary. Had Kirby prevailed, his conviction for endangering safety would have had to be reversed. 32 Wisconsin law recognizes that the erroneous submission of a criminal charge can create an unacceptable risk of a compromise verdict. Even if one is acquitted of the erroneous charge, the error may result in a wrongful conviction on another charge. See, e.g., State v. Williford, 103 Wis.2d 98, 307 N.W.2d 277 (1981); Ross v. State, 61 Wis.2d 160, 211 N.W.2d 827 (1973). In Kirby, it was essential that the submission of the injury charge be found proper, for if it was not the endangering safety conviction could have represented a compromise. Faced with a choice between acquittal and conviction on the endangering safety charge alone, the jury might have chosen an acquittal. 4 To determine whether injury was properly submitted, the court therefore had to decide whether a mayhem conviction required proof of great bodily harm. 33 Wisconsin law also seeks to minimize the risk of erroneous convictions through its rule that a lesser included offense can only be submitted if a reasonable view of the evidence supports both an acquittal on the charged offense and a conviction on the lesser offense. 5 In the somewhat unusual posture of the Kirby case, this meant that the court, in order to uphold the conviction, had to find that each of four potential outcomes were supported by a reasonable view of the evidence: (1) an acquittal for mayhem, (2) a conviction for endangering safety, (3) an acquittal for injury, and (4) a conviction for injury. (Because injury was both a lesser included offense of mayhem and a greater offense of endangering safety, the court had to find that either outcome, as to injury, would have been reasonable). For our purposes, the essential point is that the court, in reviewing Kirby's endangering safety conviction, had to decide whether Kirby's acquittal for mayhem was supported by a reasonable view of the evidence. This decision, in turn, required the court to consider the evidence in relation to the elements of mayhem, including great bodily harm. The court concluded, somewhat reluctantly but without equivocation, that the evidence could be reasonably viewed as failing to establish the elements of mayhem. 272 N.W.2d at 117. 34 To summarize, the Kirby court's determination that great bodily harm is an essential element of mayhem was necessary to its analysis at two points. First, it was necessary to the finding that injury was a lesser included offense of mayhem and that it was, therefore, properly submitted to the jury. Second, it was necessary to the finding that Kirby's acquittal for mayhem was supported by a reasonable view of the evidence. Each of these findings, in turn, formed an essential part of the court's ultimate holding affirming Kirby's conviction for endangering safety. 35 In short, Kirby 's holding that a mayhem conviction requires proof of great bodily harm was necessary to its decision and has full precedential effect under Wisconsin law. Accordingly, it is binding on us as well, for the Wisconsin courts, not we, are the ultimate expositors of Wisconsin law. 36