Opinion

State v. Shoffner

  • 31 Wis. 2d 412
  • 143 N.W.2d 458
  • 1966 Wisc. LEXIS 994
Court
Wisconsin Supreme Court
Filed
Jul 1, 1966
Status
Published
Author
Hallows
On the bench
Fairchild, Hallows, Wilkie, Gordon, Beilfuss, Heffernan
Cited by
72 cases
Authority
More cited than 7.8%

“prefer” that instruction be given

How later courts described this case

  • “prefer” that instruction be given

Written by the judges who cited it.

The opinion

Hallows, J.

(concurring). A half a loaf is better than no loaf. I concur in the concurring opinion of Mr. Justice Wilkie and reiterate the reasons in my concurring opinion in Kwosek v. State (1960), 8 Wis. (2d) 640, 100 N. W. (2d) 339 , and dissenting opinion in State v. Esser (1962), 16 Wis. (2d) 567, 115 N. W. (2d) 505 . While I accept the option technique as a half step *435 in the right direction, I hope the dawn of a new day is not far off when M’Naghten will be recognized by this court in its historical context and understood as an outmoded and outdated expression of a test of criminal responsibility and when the court will join the ever-growing band of jurisdictions which accept the American Law Institute’s formulation of the only test for criminal responsibility in insanity cases as a realistic expression of what contemporaneous law ought to be.

This is a copy of a public record, reproduced as it was published. It is not legal advice, and it may not be the version a court would rely on. Check the official source before you cite it.

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