Case #1- OWI 4th/PAC 4th- Dane County
Client was on bail for an OWI 3rd when he was arrested for a 4th offense. The penalties on a 4th offense involve felony level charges, possible prison time and possible lifetime revocation of driving privileges.
The client was contacted by police after his wife called 911 stating that the client had appeared at her home intoxicated. The police located the client in his vehicle with 3 open bottles of alcohol at a .24 blood alcohol level. The case hinges on one fact, operation. We interviewed the wife how indicated that she did not know how the client got to the residence, she never saw him driving and didn’t see his vehicle. There was a statement that she heard him on a McDonald’s drive thru ordering food. The camera at the drive thru was viewed for hours and at no time, was there client in the drive thru. We had something.
Attorney Corey Chirafisi filed a motion to exclude the test results because the state could not establish a time of operation. At the hearing, the state did us one better, they dismissed the entire case because they could not establish that the client ever operated his vehicle that day.
No felony, no jail/prison and no lifetime revocation. A great day all around.
Case #2- OWI/PAC 2nd- Crawford County- Evidence Suppressed
The facts of this case are extremely hard to follow. Client was observed driving recklessly in Crawford County by an off-duty Grant County Deputy Sheriff. Off duty cop follows the client into Grant County and confronts him at a gas station. Off duty cop calls a Crawford County Deputy to travel into Grant County to arrest client for OWI. Yeah, that’s not going to work. Corey Chirafisi filed a motion to suppress based on the inability to arrest outside of his jurisdiction. The court indicated the issue required research and briefing. We did that, after the legal papers were filed, the Court suppressed the field tests and everything after on the illegal arrest. Client was thrilled