Free Consultations | Available 24 / 7
262-232-6699
711 W. Moreland Blvd. Suite 100,
Waukesha, WI 53188
Recent Blog Posts
Find alternatives to drunk driving in Waukesha
With the Waukesha Metro Transit and availability of taxis and ride shares, people in our area have plenty of options for getting home safely after a night of drinking. There really isn't any reason why a person should have to drive drunk but things might happen that lead to this. If you are facing drunk driving charges, make sure that you start working on a defense plan right away.
There are immediate impacts to this charge that aren't present in other charges. For one, you are facing the loss of your driver's license. This can greatly impact your life since you will have to rely on others for rides. If you have to drive for your job, there is a chance that you will have to find other employment. This might be difficult with an open criminal case against you. It may be even harder if you have a conviction on your record.
We realize that most adults don't leave home with the intention of driving drunk. When one thing leads to another and you do face a drunk driving charge, you should go into damage control mode right away. When you are pulled over, remember that you do have constitutional rights. You can remain silent and have your attorney with you when you are questioned. This might be beneficial to you since anything you say to the officers can be used in court.
First-offense penalties for operating while intoxicated
An operating while intoxicated (OWI) offense in Wisconsin could mean serious consequences in the event of a conviction. If it's a first offense, the punishments will be less severe than subsequent offenses.
Here is what you can expect if you're convicted:
- You will be required to pay substantial court costs in addition to a $150 to $300 fine.
- In the vast majority of cases, you do not have to fear a jail sentence. However, if you were carrying a passenger under the age of 16, you could be sentenced to as many as six months in jail. Jail or prison time could also result if you hurt someone.
- The revocation of your driving license for six to nine months.
- In cases where your blood alcohol content (BAC) was at least .15 percent or more, you'll need to install an ignition interlock device in your car.
- You'll have to submit to an alcohol assessment.
- You could receive as many as six points on your license.
- There will be other noncriminal consequences, such as the potential loss of your job (depending on what you do for work) and a sharp increase in your auto insurance premiums.
Flawed drug tests lead to incrimination of innocent people
In 2007, drummer Don Bolles was driving in his van in Newport Beach, California when he was pulled over by police officers. The police officers arrested Bolles for his alleged possession of GHB, which is a date rape drug. The police officers had pulled over Bolles for a broken taillight, searched his van, and allegedly found the banned drug. However, a lab test ultimately revealed that the "GHB" found in the drummer's van was simply an all-natural cleanser. As a result, all charges against Bolles were dropped.
Without warning, police officers can approach you and accuse you of possessing drugs. As the incident described above reveals, you can be arrested if police officers claim you were in possession of an illegal drug. Even worse, if you find yourself in a similar scenario, the lab test results will often be the determining factor in whether you are convicted. Unfortunately, in a significant number of cases, flawed drug tests often lead to the conviction of innocent individuals.
Good news for drunk driving, bad news for distracted driving
The state of Wisconsin has seen a dramatic decline in drunk driving deaths. Due to law enforcement efforts, education programs and criminal penalties during the last decade, deaths caused by drunk driving have decreased by 50 percent, believe it or not. However, there is a new kind of behavior that is increasing the total number of roadway fatalities: distracted driving.
Everyone knows that if you're drunk and you cause an injurious car accident, you could go to jail, but did you know that if you're texting-while-driving and you cause a deadly or injurious accident you could also go to jail? These days, law enforcement officers commonly check for evidence of cellphone usage following a catastrophic accident.
No social stigma attached to texting-while-driving
Have you considered these drunk driving defenses?
Defendants in Wisconsin who have been accused of drunk driving will have various criminal defense strategies available to them. However, only certain methodologies will apply to any given case depending on the facts and evidence being presented by the prosecution, and depending on the potential punishments involved.
That said, here are three common defense strategies used by lawyers in Wisconsin:
Improper stop
Police must have a valid reason -- virtually any valid reason -- to pull over a driver, such as the driver not having his or her headlights on or crossing the double-yellow line. If police stop a driver for no good reason and it ends in an arrest, then the resulting charges could get thrown out of court.
Bad handling of chemical test samples
Whether police use a Breathalyzer test, or hold a test without a Breathalyzer through a blood or urine sample, these tests are hard to prove as accurate in some cases. If the defendant can show that lab technicians or police mishandled the samples related to the test, he or she might be able to get the lab results thrown out as evidence.
How can a criminal defense lawyer help me?
Having a criminal defense lawyer by your side during your drug crime proceedings is essential. However, for those who have never been through a criminal litigation process, they may not understand how much a lawyer can help. They might even make the mistake of trying to defend themselves pro se, i.e., navigate their legal proceedings without legal representation. When it comes to a drug-related trial, a pro se defendant might find him or herself unintentionally digging into a deeper and deeper hole.
If you're on the fence about hiring a lawyer in your case, you might want to consider some of the potential benefits of contacting a criminal defense attorney:
Reduction of criminal charges
The severity of your punishment depends on the severity of your criminal charges. For example, if you're convicted of speeding instead of drunk driving, your criminal consequences and potential punishments will be significantly less. Sometimes, a criminal attorney can succeed in getting his or her client's criminal charges reduced, which ultimately serves to make the punishments less in the event of a conviction.
How do attorneys deal with drug possession charges?
Drug possession charges are difficult to deal with and might lead to severe punishment if you are found guilty. It is important to have the right defense strategy to help you overcome the charges. Attorneys use different defense mechanisms when defending their clients against possession charges.
The basic strategy used by most attorneys is to put the onus on the prosecution to bring forward proof. The prosecution must establish beyond all reasonable doubt that the defendant was in possession of an illegal substance. The defense may argue that the law enforcement agencies did not follow the due process of law. In case the search and seizure warrant was not carried out in a lawful manner, the defense might ask for the case to be dismissed. To recover drugs from concealed locations, law enforcement officers must ask for the owner's permission, or have a search warrant. Drugs placed in plain sight can be seized without permission of the owner. The defense may also argue that the defendant had no prior knowledge of the presence of the drugs that were discovered.
How do lawyers defend against drunk driving?
It might have happened while you were driving home from a party late at night. It might have happened while you were driving your children to school in the morning. In fact, a drunk driving arrest can happen at any time you're operating your vehicle. However, just because you get arrested and accused of this crime does not mean that a criminal court will find you guilty. Until the prosecution can prove you were drunk behind the wheel beyond a reasonable doubt, you will have every opportunity to defend yourself.
Although every drunk driving defense strategy will be different depending on the circumstances of how the arrest occurred, here are a two ways that DUI defendants might try to fight their charges:
Defenses related to police procedure: There are many things that can go wrong in the moments preceding a driver's arrest. Police have rules and procedures they need to follow, and failure to follow these rules could invalidate an arrest. Important questions to ask in this regard include: Did the police have a viable reason to pull over the driver? Did police administer the field sobriety or breathalyzer test in a lawful way? If the answer to these questions is "no," then it could reveal a strategy to defend against the charges.
How do police determine if a driver is drunk?
Police use a variety of methodologies to spot potentially drunk drivers. Learning what police look for might help you avoid an inappropriate DUI. In fact, many drivers in Wisconsin have been arrested and charged with DUI because they made some simple and relatively harmless mistake on the road. If you're sober, and you know what to avoid, it should be fairly easy to prevent making the following errors by mistake:
- Driving in an unpredictable and or erratic way: Drivers who are intoxicated tend to operate their vehicles erratically. They might cross the centerline suddenly without warning. They might speed up and slow down for no reason at all. They could be piloting their vehicles in other strange ways that call attention to the vehicle and driver. As long as you're driving close to the speed limit, and you're maintaining your speed and your lane in a steady way, you should be able to avoid the risk of getting falsely accused of a DUI.
- Being overly nervous during a field sobriety test: Stay calm and respectful during your field sobriety test, and remember to breathe. It's easy to get nervous when police are administering a field sobriety test. However, that nervousness -- if it's extreme enough -- could cause police to think you're intoxicated, so be sure to stay as calm as you can.
How do police officers determine drugged driving?
There are tests that police use in the field to determine if a driver is operating his or her vehicle while intoxicated by alcohol. The king of these tests is the Breathalyzer testm which provides a way to measure the amount of alcohol in a driver's blood. Police can also use gaze tests, smell your breath and have you perform other field sobriety tests to gauge how intoxicated you are.
When it comes to drugged driving, however, police don't have such a clear way to determine if you have drugs in your system. For example, marijuana can be found in your bloodstream and urine for as many as four or five weeks following the use of the drug, but police can't use such tests to determine if you're high on marijuana right now. As for cocaine, it will stay in your system for one or two days. Again, you might have evidence of these drugs in your system but not be intoxicated at all.
Sometimes, police can use "Drug Recognition Experts," also known as DREs, to evaluate what kind of drugs are impairing you. A DRE can look closely at your eye movements, your behavior and other indicators to determine if you're under the influence of drugs and what kind of drug could be influencing you. These specially trained experts might perform tests on you after police bring you back to the police station following an arrest.
Contact Our Firm
The use of the Internet or this form for communication with the firm or any individual member of the firm does not establish an attorney-client relationship. Confidential or time-sensitive information should not be sent through this form.
I have read and understand the Disclaimer and Privacy Policy.
