OWI/PAC 2nd .15 (Dane County) Evidence Suppressed, All Charges Dismissed

This case involves a client who crashed his vehicle off the interstate into the cement barriers which are sometimes located near the median areas. When the police found him he had no shoes on, was covered in mud and stated he had been drinking shots, beer and mixed drinks.

The mistake the officer made was moving the client to a different location to perform field sobriety tests. Officers are allowed to do that, except, there is a limitation on the distance they can move someone who is not under arrest. We had a motion hearing on the distance the officer moved the client and the court found that the distance was too great. The court then suppressed the test result in the case which was a .15. The state could have tried to move forward with the accident and observations of the client. Thankfully, the state moved to dismiss all the charges. Great result on a motion that isn't filed that often.

OWI/PAC .09 - Charges Amended (Dane County)

2 more OWI/PAC charges amended.

Case #2: This client was stopped for speeding 81 in 55. When police made contact with him he had bloodshot eyes, admitted to drinking and had an odor of intoxicants coming from his breath. The officer stated that the client failed field sobriety tests and a chemical test of his breath showed a result of .09.

Corey Chirafisi was able to raise a couple of issues which, like the last case, led to an amendment without having to go through a hearing. The client had made statements regarding a blood test and the officer ignored that request. Second, the officer told the client he was under arrest for an OWI 2nd offense when in fact it was his 1st offense. So Corey had 2 motions, one for failure to provide an alternative test to the client and one for misinforming him regarding what the offense was when the police requested the breath test.

The prosecutor, without a hearing, offered an amendment. Another great outcome for the client.

OWI/PAC .09 Amended to Reckless Driving

2 more OWI/PAC charges amended

The first case involved a client whose car was located in the ditch, running, with him sleeping behind the wheel. Client was contacted by police, had slurred speech, red, glassy eyes and smelled like alcohol.

Client was arrested for OWI and had a test result of .091. Client informed police that he had "alot to drink" the night before as the contact with him was at 5:30 a.m.

Corey Chirafisi reviewed the video of the incident and was able to file a motion which challenged the admissibility of the test result as there was a question as to the the time of operation. This has been happening more and more lately, the prosecutor didn't even want to have the motion hearing. She agreed to amend the charge to reckless driving. Happy client, case closed.

OWI in Commercial Vehicle with Minor Passenger - Not Guilty at Trial - 9th Win in Last 10 Trials

In the last 18 months, Corey Chirafisi has tried 10 cases. In 9 of those cases our clients have won. In a results orientated business, where success is the measuring stick, we are happy to put our results up against anyone.

Client was driving in his semi with his 7 year old son in the vehicle. A state trooper noticed that his vehicle had crossed the fog line multiple times and failed to turn off his hazards. The trooper stopped the vehicle, and noticed the odor of intoxicants coming from the client. Because the client was operating a commercial vehicle, his legal limit is a .04. The trooper also testified he noticed slurred speech and the client had difficulty keeping his eyes open.

After field sobriety tests and the pbt of a .07, the client was arrested for OWI in Commercial vehicle with a minor passenger and PAC.

The case proceeded to trial as the clients livelihood was on the line. The client breath test 2 hours after operation was a .04. The state had an expert to testify that at the time of operation the client's alcohol concentration was between a .07-.12. The jury was out one hour before finding the client not guilty. Job saved and client very grateful for a job well done.

OWI 3rd/PAC .09-Clark County - Charges Dismissed During Trial

It has been awhile since we posted last, but we have been busy. Since the last post, we have tried 2 jury trials, both wins. The first was an OWI/PAC .09 3rd offense in Clark County.

Client was stopped for speeding. She was traveling 16 mph over the limit on New Year's Eve. After being stopped, the client admitting to drinking indicating her last drink was about 3 hours ago, a bad fact.

Officer had client perform field sobriety tests and ultimately arrested her for OWI 3rd offense. Her blood test was a .09, so as expected, the case proceeded to trial.

Before jury selection, Corey Chirafisi argued various motions in limine. One of those motions related to the officer mentioning that a preliminary breath test (PBT) was administered to the client. The court granted the motion.

Around noon, while the officer was testifying, he mentioned that he offered the PBT to the client. Attorney Chirafisi objected and asked for a hearing. The court removed the jury and found that the officer violated the pretrial ruling. The court then correctly declared a mistrial and found that because the jury had been sworn, double jeopardy attached. The court dismissed the case with prejudice.

OWI/PAC 2nd .15 - Evidence Suppressed (Dane County)

Client was charged with OWI 2nd for crashing his vehicle under the interstate and having it come to rest next to a cement wall. Client was located walking without shoes, admitting that he drove his vehicle.

How we got the evidence suppressed in this situation was that law enforcement decided that based on the client being "shoeless" that they were going to move him to another location to conduct field sobriety tests. That doesn't work. The location of field sobriety tests must be within "the vicinity" of the stop. In this case, the court found that the officer moved the client a distance too far from the scene for that to be within the vicinity. Therefore, the court suppressed the test result. Case isn't concluded, however, good start.

OWI 3rd/PAC-Minor Passenger-Case Dismissed (Juneau County)

This client was charged in Juneau County with felony OWI (3rd offense with minor passenger is felony level OWI). The case appeared to have good facts to work with from the start. The police didn't see the client driving which helps substantially with the OWI portion of the case. Corey Chirafisi filed motions challenging both the basis to conduct field sobriety tests as well as a motion challenging whether the test result was admissible because the state did not have a time of operation.

After numerous delays, on the morning of the motion hearing, the state indicated that they opposed the motion, however, were not going to present evidence in the matter. Attorney Chirafisi moved for the court to grant the motion and suppress all evidence, the court agreed and suppressed all the evidence. At that point, the state dismissed all charges.

OWI 2nd/PAC - .11 Charge Amended During Trial

The client was facing a second offense OWI, that is not unusual in our practice. The issue for the client was he was a CDL holder and the conviction would have meant a lifetime revocation of his CDL. The state was unwilling to move off of the OWI charge, so we proceeded to trial. The client was driving his motorcycle with a friend when the friend crashed. The client was contacted by the police and was put through field sobriety tests and ultimately arrested. He provided a sample of his blood which was a .112.

After the state called the officer to testify and before the analyst was called, Attorney Chirafisi raised the issue that the state had failed to establish a specific time of operation. Without that information, the blood sample result was in jeopardy. The state didn't even raise an argument. They immediately offered the client a reckless driving ticket. The amendment saved the client from jail time but more importantly, allowed him to continue to work. Client gladly accepted the amendment.

OWI 1st/PAC .12 - Case dismissed

Huge win for client as he is an over the road truck driver who would have lost his job if he was convicted of an OWI charge.

Client was stopped for a loud muffler at 11:30 p.m. State trooper indicated he smelled an odor of intoxicants and the client admitted to having "a few" beers. Cop got client out to perform field sobriety tests.

Corey Chirafisi challenged the officer's decision to request field sobriety testing arguing that there was not reasonable suspicion to believe the client was impaired. After the hearing, the court made the finding that the officer did not have reasonable suspicion to request field sobriety tests and the court suppressed all the evidence. The state immediately moved to dismiss all charges.

Client was literally shaking. So happy we could help him save his job.

OWI 2nd/PAC .14 - Court suppresses test result

We have always said that we believe our results in cases are uncommon. Well, last week should help us back up that statement.

We believe that if a lawyer really works an OWI case, good things can happen. Client was pulled over for pulling out in front of a police officer. Officer said he smelled the odor of alcohol, client admitted to drinking and off the case went.

After the client was arrested, the officer informed the client that he was being charged with an OWI 1st offense, which turned out not to be correct. The client had a prior conviction that was within the 10 year look back period, therefore, it was not a first, rather a 2nd offense.

Corey Chirafisi filed a motion challenging the consent provided by the client to the blood sample based on the mis-information provided by the officer. After the motion hearing and briefing to the court, the court found that in fact the consent was coerced and the court suppressed the results.

The case has not concluded yet, however, we are off to a good start.

Boating OWI/PAC Dismissed, Oneida County

Our client spent the day boating with his wife in Oneida County. He contacted law enforcement for assistance after their pontoon got stuck in the weeds ,and his wife decided to swim to shore. When deputies contacted him, the client admitted to consuming alcohol throughout the day. Authorities determined he was impaired and placed him under arrest for boating while impaired. He submitted to a breath test, which resulted in a reported alcohol concentration of 0.11.

On the eve of trial, our attorney was able to convince the district attorney that he had significant problems with the case. First, the boat was not in operation when authorities arrived on scene. As such, the government would have difficulty establishing if the client was impaired when the operation occurred. Second ,the government would have difficulty disproving that our client consumed alcohol after the boat became stuck in the weeds and before authorities arrived. Last, our client's situation was sympathetic inasmuch as he called law enforcement for assistance and ended up being arrested. Given the circumstances, the prosecution agreed he would have trouble at trial. He agreed to dismiss the PAC charge and amend the OWI to a non-alcohol related violation for a distress signal flag violation.

Dane County OWI 4th, PAC .25 - Case dismissed at preliminary hearing

We are strong believers in doing preliminary hearings, unless the state gives the client a reason to waive the hearing. In this case, Dane County has a "policy" of not making offers at prelims, that policy ran into our "policy" of not being a doormat for the government.

The state attempted to introduce the test result, something which would have clearly gotten bindover, however, Attorney Chirafisi objected as there was no information the test was taken within 3 hours of driving. Court would not allow the test result to be admitted.

The State attempted to establish driving but didn't know the law on what constituted "operation" under the drunk driving laws. Attorney Chirafisi successfully argued to the court that operation was never established and the court dismissed the felony OWI.

The other part of this case which will be important moving forward is, the client has 2 other pending OWI charges. This case would have subjected him to a presumptive prison sentence. Not anymore. Client was beyond happy with the result.

Evidence tossed, OWI/PAC-2nd Dismissed

Another outstanding result in this Dane County case. Our client and her spouse were parked in their van with the engine running, looking at the stars in a county park. Unfortunately, it was about 45 minutes after park closing hours.

A sheriff's deputy made contact with our client and her husband and started asking questions. Ultimately the encounter resulted in our client being arrested. She was charged criminally with a second-offense OWI and PAC at a 0.11 concentration.

Prior to trial, Attorney Tim Verhoff filed two motions to suppress evidence. In the first motion, our lawyer alleged a Miranda violation and sought suppression of the client's statements. In the second motion, he argued that without the statements, taken in violation of Miranda, there was insufficient evidence for the deputy to have suspected impaired driving, making his request for the client to perform field sobriety tests and the breath test unlawful.

The prosecutor reviewed Attorney Verhoff's motions, consulted with other prosecutors in the DA's Office and even conferred with a lawyer from the Wisconsin Department of Justice who specializes in OWI prosecutions. They all reached the same conclusion. Our attorney was correct in his argument, and the government had to concede both motions. The judge also agreed and suppressed the evidence, leaving the prosecution unable to move forward on the criminal charges and with no options other than asking the judge to dismiss the case.

OWI 1st/PAC .21 (Dane County) All Evidence Suppressed, Charges Dismissed

The great results keep on coming. This case was an OWI with a high test result (over .20). The case had an interesting fact pattern. The client was stopped in downtown Madison at approximately 11:00 p.m. by an officer because the officer believed that she smelled the odor of marijuana coming from the client's vehicle. The officer stated she followed the vehicle for blocks and the odor did not dissipate while she was following the client. Ultimately, she pulled the client over and he was arrested for Operating While Intoxicated.

Attorney Chirafisi filed a motion challenging the stop of the vehicle. The court indicated that the initial impressions was the officer did have a reason to stop the client's car. After the cross examination of the officer, the court indicated the officer's report did not match the video of the incident and the court suppressed all the evidence related to the case. The DA then moved to dismiss the case.

Can't do better than that. Great outcome for a really good client.

3 More Cases Dismissed

In the last 10 days, Chirafisi & Verhoff has had 3 outcomes in cases which are worthy of mentioning. 2 OWI cases and a possible sexual assault charge. Each client walked away with no record of any kind.

Case No. 1- OWI 1st/BAC .12- Case dismissed by prosecutor.

The client was stopped because he was squealing his tires in downtown Prairie du Chien at bar time. A police officer was patrolling downtown and observed the violation, pulling the client over. What flipped the case was the video (as it is many times). On the video, after placing the client under arrest, the officer began to speak to him regarding possible penalties if he either agreed to, or refused the blood test. The problem was the information the officer provided was incorrect. Attorney Corey Chirafisi filed a motion to suppress the test result and the prosecutor simply conceded the argument and informed the court that he was dismissing the matter. No amendment, just a complete dismissal.

Case No. 2- precharge on possible charges of Intercourse with an Unconscious person- Dane County.

As we have mentioned many times in the past, we do quite a bit of pre-charge representation. If a client believes charges may be forthcoming, we get involved and usually can help with the case right from the start. In this case, the client believed that he might be charged for a consensual encounter with a woman the evening before. She had filed a restraining order against the client. We handled that matter, got it dismissed. Then the police came calling. Obviously, the client made no statements and he did comply with a DNA test. After approximately 8 months, law enforcement called and informed Attorney Corey Chirafisi that they were not going to forward charges to the DA, they did not believe they could prove the case. Client was able to avoid any charges and the restraining order was denied.

Case No. 3- OWI 2nd/BAC .258

This is a follow up from an early post where Corey Chirafisi was able to convince the trial court to throw out the clients blood alcohol concentration test of a .258. However, the driving in the case was terrible. The video, which usually helps, was very bad for the client. He was slurring his words, couldn't follow directions and just looked drunk. The case was amended from an OWI to Negligent Operation of a Vehicle. That is great, the client was able to get out of an OWI. What was better was at the end of the hearing, the court expunged the charge of Negligent Operation. No record of any kind. Result could not have been better.

OWI/PAC at 0.09 Amended to Reckless Driving

A Middleton police officer stopped our client shortly after 1:00 a.m. after he rapidly accelerated from a stop light, causing the tires to squeal. Upon contact, the officer noticed a strong odor of alcohol coming from our client, as well as red and glossy eyes. The client admitted that he had been consuming alcohol at a nearby bar.

After conducting field sobriety tests on the client, the officer placed him under arrest and took him for a breath test. The reported value was a 0.09 alcohol concentration.

During pretrial negotiations, Attorney Tim Verhoff raised questions about the basis for the traffic stop. He also was able to produce an alcohol curve to the prosecutor to demonstrate the client's alcohol concentration was likely less than 0.08 at the time of driving. After speaking with our lawyer, the prosecutor agreed to dismiss the PAC citation and amend the OWI to a reckless driving citation. Given the problems our lawyer pointed out with the case, the judge approved the amendment and imposed a modest fine on the reduced charge for reckless driving.

Court Lacks Jurisdiction, Upholds Win for Client

We won't quit. Nor should you. This is a follow-up to a recent post about an OWI/PAC case that both of our attorneys have been working on for several months. The defendant initially was charged in municipal court with OWI and PAC. After a court trial, the municipal judge found the client guilty of the OWI but dismissed the PAC charge. When we appealed the OWI case to circuit court to seek a jury trial, we learned the municipal judge attempted to reinstate the PAC charge on his own.

We did not believe the municipal court had the authority to simply reinstate the PAC charge, and we moved the circuit court to dismiss the PAC case, making an argument that the municipal judge never actually found our client guilty of the PAC charge. Over the objection of the prosecutor, the circuit court agreed and dismissed the PAC charge.

Despite the ruling in circuit court, the prosecutor then sought to revive the PAC charge in municipal court, where the case was again scheduled for a hearing. At the hearing, we objected to the municipal court even hearing the prosecution's new motion, arguing the municipal court lost jurisdiction once the case was removed to circuit court. As such, we argued the municipal judge was now bound by the circuit court's decision. This time, the municipal judge agreed and concluded the prosecutor was not entitled to a hearing on the matter, meaning the client can never be convicted of the PAC charge originally filed against her.

OWI-6th and Motion Hearing Outstanding Results

Normally, we only post results once a case is completed. However, we had some results in cases this week that we feel compelled to share. While some of the cases are not concluded, we will make sure to let you know how they turn out.

Friday- We normally don't ever post about sentencing hearings, but we feel this one warrants mention. The client was charged with an OWI 6th offense, his alcohol concentration level was .34. That is 17 times the legal limit for the client. He also picked up his 6th offense while he was out on bail for a 5th offense. The 6th offense was in a notoriously difficult county and presented many challenges to avoid a prison sentence. One issue is the law now presumes that the client will go to prison on a 5th or 6th for at least 18 months.

By the time the sentencing was over, the client received a sentence of probation with county jail time. The prosecutor even sent a nice email to Attorney Chirafisi describing his sentencing argument as eloquent and praising him for the work he did for his client.

Attorney Chirafisi then did a motion hearing to throw out a blood test result of a client who had a .25 blood alcohol concentration after a crash. The state did not concede this motion. In fact, they called an expert from the lab of hygiene to testify about the defendant's alcohol concentration level. After Attorney Chirafisi finished questioning the expert from the lab, the court found that the testimony of the expert would be pure speculation and the court barred the expert from testifying.

Not every week is like this, but with the pandemic and courts not running at full speed, we think these results are worthy of a mention.

OWI/PAC 1st- Appeal from Municipal Court- PAC charge thrown out by Court

The moral of this story is don't get pushed around. We had a case in municipal court, the defendant was charged with OWI, PAC and another traffic citation. A trial was held on those citations at which time the judge found the client guilty of the OWI and traffic citation and dismissed the PAC charge.

As we were preparing to appeal the case to the circuit court, the municipal court judge was informed of our decision and on his own motion decided to try and reinstate the PAC charge.

We did not believe the court had the authority to just reinstate the charges, so we moved the circuit court to dismiss the PAC charge on the grounds that the court never expressly found the client guilty of the charge.

Of course, the prosecution objected and after written and oral arguments to the court, the circuit court judge agreed with our position and dismissed the PAC charge.

Do the work. Follow through. Those are things we strongly believe in at this firm. That is the reason we get the results we do.

OWI Amended to Reckless Driving

An employee from a local fast-food restaurant contacted the EMS and the Sun Prairie Police Department after locating her and a passenger asleep in the drive-through lane with the engine running.  The client admitted to authorities that she consumed alcohol earlier in the evening and agreed to take a breath test, which produced a 0.08 test result.  She was arrested and charged with OWI and PAC violations.  Through negotiations with the prosecution, Attorney Verhoff was able to obtain a highly favorable outcome short of a trial.  The prosecutor agreed to dismiss the PAC charge outright and amended the OWI to a reckless driving citation.  The client, who was ecstatic with the end result, avoided the OWI/PAC conviction, a hefty fine, and a lengthy license revocation.