Legal Question in Criminal Law in Wisconsin

Penalty for Providing a Felon with Gun if No Other Crime Committed

The laws violated by knowingly providing a gun to a convicted felon are too numerous to list here. In the federal system, the maximum penalty is life in prison. However, for all of these different crimes, the maximum liability exposure faced by the felon is identical to that faced by a coconspirator or party to the crime who provides a gun to him. This type of liability, often called "vicarious liability" does not require any participation in any crime by the person accused of aiding the felon. It does not even require the commission of any crime by the felon, since furnishing the gun is a crime all by itself. Rather, it only requires some overt act toward the completion of a conspiracy to commit a crime. In WI state court, �party to a crime� vicarious liability does not even require any act by the person accused of being the party. Rather, it only requires that the person �stood ready to assist� in some way. Again, the maximum prison exposure is the same for the felon and the person providing the gun.