Altering a lottery ticket defense attorneys - Wis. Stat. 565.50(2)

Altering a lottery ticket is a felony in Wisconsin. Contact Van Severen Law Office, S.C. at (414) 270-0202 regarding representation.

Altering a lottery ticket, along with forging, counterfeiting, or illegally obtaining a lottery ticket is a felony in Wisconsin.  Similarly, transferring a lottery ticket in any of the above-referenced conditions is also a crime.  This crime is a Class I felony in Wisconsin.  That means that the maximum penalty an individual faces for this charge is 3.5 years prison.  That 3.5 year prison sentence breaks down into 1.5 years initial confinement followed by 2 years extended supervision.  Initial confinement is time actually spent inside of a prison.  Extended supervision comes afterwards, and is similar to probation.  No mandatory minimum penalty applies to this charge, and a prison sentence is not automatic.

Van Severen Law Office, S.C. is a Wisconsin criminal defense law firm based in Milwaukee, WI.  We operate additional offices throughout the state in Ozaukee County and Waukesha County.  Our criminal defense attorneys regularly represent individuals facing fraud charges, including this one.  Whether you’re facing a fraud charge, an altering a lottery ticket charge, or any other criminal charge, we can help.

Contact us at (414) 270-0202 to discuss your case with any of our criminal defense lawyers.  We offer free consultations to potential clients.  During an initial consultation, we’ll review your criminal complaint, any basic paperwork you have in your possession, and begin discussing issues that we see in your case.  You’ll have the chance to ask questions, and then we’ll determine what the proper way to move forward is.

Section 565.50(2) of the Wisconsin Statutes – Altering, forging, counterfeiting, or illegally obtaining a lottery ticket.

Section 565.50(2) of the Wisconsin Statutes provides us the statutory definition of  altering a lottery ticket.  The statute indicates:

(2) Any person who alters, forges, counterfeits, or illegally obtains a lottery ticket or share or intentionally utters or transfers an altered, forged, counterfeit, or illegally obtained lottery ticket or share is guilty of a Class I felony.

Although we will refer to this charge as simply “altering a lottery ticket” throughout this page, we’re referring to this entire statute.  In short, this law seeks to prohibit many fraudulent activities associated with lottery tickets.  The intent could be to protect individuals from being tricked into purchasing or accepting lottery tickets.  Obviously the law also helps to solidify the legitimacy of lotteries and stop fraud committed by individuals claiming a win.

It’s important to recognize that lottery systems in the modern age are incredibly complex.  Typically, lottery officials know whether a winning ticket has been solid.  They know where it was sold – we hear about the state where it was purchased and frequently even the gas station or convenience store involved.  A random winning ticket that suddenly appears is going to throw red flags up for lottery officials.  It’s a safe bet the police will get involved quickly thereafter.  Altering a lottery ticket is a surefire way to attract a lot of legal attention your way.

Wisconsin Criminal Jury Instruction 1650

Wisconsin Criminal Jury Instruction 1650 provides the elements of altering a lottery ticket.  Elements are incredibly important in the criminal justice system.  Elements are simply parts of a crime.  In order to sustain a conviction against the defendant, the government must prove each of the elements beyond a reasonable doubt.  If you watch a trial, the court won’t simply ask the jury whether a specific crime occurred.  Instead, the court will send with the jurors the elements of the offense as a way to help them determine a verdict.

The elements of altering a lottery ticket are:

• Firstly, the defendant altered, forged, counterfeited, or illegally obtained a lottery ticket.
• Secondly, the defendant altered, forged, counterfeited, or illegally obtained a lottery ticket with intent to defraud.  Intent to defraud required that the defendant acted with the purpose to use the lottery ticket to obtain money that he was not entitled to receive.

Jury instruction notes indicate that a lottery ticket is altered when it has been changed from the form in which it was originally issued by the State of Wisconsin.  Unfortunately the term lottery ticket is not defined in the statutes.  That being said, the lack of definition isn’t a defense, and the crime likely applies to anything ranging from scratch-off tickets to things like Powerball numbers.  It’s a bad idea to alter or forge anything involving the lottery or financial institutions.

The police contacted me regarding altering a lottery ticket, what do I do?

Keep your mouth shut.  Do not make a statement.  Do not explain your conduct.  And if police make promises to take it easy on you, or let you out of custody (or alternatively, threaten to lock you up), stand strong.  Making a statement usually provides the police more evidence that they will use against you.  This is especially the case for weak investigations or cases that have holes in them.  Individuals are convicted of criminal offenses every single year in Wisconsin due to their statements alone.  In even more situations, statements made by defendants make cases even easier for prosecutors to prove.  Do not “tell on yourself.”

Once you’re released from custody, or if you’re never taken into custody, we suggest hiring a top Wisconsin criminal defense lawyer to help defend your case.  This certainly isn’t a necessity, and you’re free to defend the case on your own.  But this is the kind of work that we do every single day at Van Severen Law Office, S.C.  We’re committed to representing individuals accused of committing crimes, and we’re good at it.  Consider this analogy: When you go on vacation, do you insist on flying the airplane?  Neither do we.  Because we recognize that all the Youtube videos and free online guides won’t make us remotely qualified to fly an airplane.  We might be able to avoid crashing it, but we’d prefer to leave the flying in the hands of a professional. We see criminal defense in a similar manner.

Looking for a criminal defense attorney to defend your altering a lottery ticket case?

Contact Van Severen Law Office, S.C. at (414) 270-0202.  As we’ve already explained, defending Wisconsinites accused of committing crimes is all we do.  All of our criminal defense attorneys offer free initial consultations to potential clients.  Alternatively, if you’d like to simply talk about your case on the telephone, we’re also open to that.