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Fighting OWI Charges in Wisconsin
Getting charged and convicted with operating while intoxicated (OWI) can have devastating consequences on your life. If you are found guilty, your driver’s license could be revoked, your insurance will increase and you might be looking at significant fines and jail time.
Wisconsin, like many states, passed laws to combat drunk driving. According to the law, no person is permitted to operate a motor vehicle under the influence of drug or alcohol.
Therefore, in order for you to be found guilty, the prosecution must prove that you were 1) operating an automobile 2) while under the influence of drug or alcohol.
Implied Consent
Wisconsin has adopted a law known as implied consent. This ultimately means that if you are lawfully arrested by a police officer who believes that you were operating an automobile under the influence, you are required to take a blood, urine or breathalyzer exam. This law applies even if you are not operating the automobile. For example, if you pulled the car over to sleep, turned the engine off and took a nap, and the police find you, you will be required to take an exam to determine if there are drugs or alcohol in your system and you may be charged with an OWI.
Not Guilty: Defending against Bank Robbery Charges
Traditionally, robbery was defined as using force or intimidation to take property from another. Today, when individuals steal from a bank by force or intimidation, they are guilty of bank robbery. The simple conduct of passing a note to a bank teller demanding money falls under the category of bank robbery even if you did not use a weapon, it is intimidation.
Under Wisconsin law, bank robbery is a serious offense. According to the law, a person who commits bank robbery is one who: “by use of force or threat to use imminent force takes from an individual or in the presence of an individual money or property that is owned by or under the custody or control of a financial institution.” Bank robbery is a Class C felony and carries a possible $100,000 fine, up to 40 years imprisonment, or in some cases both.
Objective Reasonableness: Mistakes of Law and the Fourth Amendment
When you are about to be pulled over by law enforcement officers, you presume the officers pulling you over know the law, since they are charged with enforcing it. Usually, law enforcement officers are aware of the laws they are enforcing. Sometimes, however, law enforcement officers stop you based on their mistaken belief of the law — specifically, on an incorrect understanding of the law.
- Judged through the perspective of a reasonable officer;
Attempted Homicide and the Prosecution’s Case
Homicide charges are some of the most serious crimes punished by society because homicide is often an intentional or unlawful taking of a human life, unless it is justified. In most states, including Wisconsin, the death penalty has been abolished. However, if someone commits homicide while also committing federal crimes, even if they lived and committed those crimes in Wisconsin, they could be subject to the death penalty.
Like homicide, attempted homicide is an extremely serious offense that comes with some of the most severe penalties that Wisconsin law has to offer. Attempted homicide occurs only when an individual intends to commit a homicide and tries to carry out the homicide but, for some reason, this individual fails to finish the crime.
Five Ways to Avoid Sabotaging Your OWI Defense
When you have been arrested for operating your vehicle under the influence of an intoxicant (OWI), you may feel that your life cannot get any worse at that moment in time. Shortly after you are arrested, the circumstances surrounding your arrest are still developing, and depending on the situation, your case may even be dismissed months down the line. However, if you engage in certain actions, you may give the prosecution more ammunition against you and proving that you may be your own worst enemy.
Under Wisconsin law, in order to be convicted of a OWI, the prosecution must prove that you were operating a motor vehicle while under the influence of an intoxicant. The prosecution has to prove every single element of the OWI charge in order to obtain a conviction. If the prosecution fails to prove any single element, the case against you is substantially weakened which raises your chance of acquittal.
Things to Avoid
Sleeping Off a Long Night of Drinking and OWI Charges
Many people are unaware that they can be arrested for operating a motor vehicle under the influence (OWI) of alcohol, even if they are sleeping in their automobile. Wisconsin law prohibits anyone from operating a motor vehicle under the influence of drugs or alcohol, among other things, that render them incapable of safely driving. The law defines what penalties you may be subject to and even defines what qualifies as an intoxicant. However, the law conveniently fails to define the term ‘operating.’
Factors Courts Consider
An Insight into the Grant of Immunity in Criminal Cases
When Wisconsin or the federal government is investigating you or someone else, and they need information in your possession, they may offer you a certain form of immunity in exchange for your testimony. In the area of criminal law, there are two types of immunity that are generally available: use immunity and transactional immunity. Depending on the type of immunity you are offered, you will have different forms of protection.
Generally, transactional immunity is favored because it provides the most protection—a total ban on using the witness’s testimony against the witness. But, use immunity serves a different purpose. It allows the witness to give information to the prosecution and bars them from using those statements against the witness in the future.
Disorderly Conduct in Wisconsin
Whenever you think of disorderly conduct (also referred to as “disturbing the peace”), you may think of an individual or group of individuals engaging in some kind of activity that is offensive or disruptive to the public. The laws prohibiting disorderly conduct allow law enforcement officers to arrest individuals who interfere with other people’s use and enjoyment of public areas. Disorderly conduct covers a broad range of activities.
In Wisconsin, an individual is guilty of disorderly conduct when he or she, “in a public or private place, engages in violent, abusive, indecent, profane, boisterous, unreasonably loud or otherwise disorderly conduct under circumstances in which the conduct tends to cause or provoke a disturbance.” This crime is charged as a Class B misdemeanor, which carries a maximum fine for $1,000 and/or up to 90 days in jail.
The Charge of Substantial Battery
There are many different types of battery in Wisconsin. As such, you can be charged with battery and be facing either misdemeanor charges or felony charges. One type of felony battery in Wisconsin is known as substantial battery. If you are facing substantial battery felony charges, it is imperative you reach out to an attorney for immediate assistance.
Substantial Battery as Defined
The most important thing for you to understand about substantial battery is that the prosecutor does not need to prove that you intended to cause substantial bodily harm. All the prosecutor needs to show is that you intended to cause any bodily harm, and that suffices. It used to be that the prosecutor was required to prove that you intended to cause the “substantial” harm that resulted, rather than just any level of harm. That was a much easier standard to defend, especially since many times people lash out in the heat of the moment and the damage caused is far greater than what was intended.
Armed Robbery Charges in Wisconsin
Armed robbery is a violent crime legislated by statute in Wisconsin as a Class C felony. Depending on the specific charge, it is punishable by up to 40 years prison and up to a $100,000 fine.
To be convicted of robbery in Wisconsin, the court generally requires proof beyond a reasonable doubt that somebody else possessed the property in question; that the person charged with armed robbery took the property from the person in question with the intent to steal it; and that the defendant used or threatened to use force to take the property.
What Else Must the State Prove to Convict You of Armed Robbery?
Armed robbery, because of the great risk to the general public for violence, is punished severely in Wisconsin and elsewhere if you are found guilty. To prove armed robbery, in addition to the requirements above, the state of Wisconsin also needs to prove that at the time the property was stolen, you used or threatened to use a weapon or a dangerous article in a manner that led the victim to reasonably believe that it was in fact a dangerous weapon.
