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Guilty Pleas – Factual Basis — Battery

State v. Charles Dante Higgs, 230 Wis.2d 1, 601 N.W.2d 653 (Ct. App. 1999)
For Higgs: Joseph E. Redding

Issue: Whether a sufficient factual basis was established on the element of bodily harm (where the defendant splashed the victim’s face with urine) to support a guilty plea to battery.

Holding: The mere fact that urine struck the victim’s face isn’t enough to establish bodily harm, but the victim’s preliminary hearing testimony that he felt stinging and burning satisfied the element. (Appellate court reviews factual basis issue deferentially; complaint itself was insufficient to establish bodily harm element — mere allegation that struck victim’s face isn’t enough — but review of entire record, including preliminary hearing testimony that urine caused burning and stinging shows that element satisfied.)

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