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 1st/PAC 1st (.156), Possession of THC - Charges Dismissed After Court Suppresses All Evidence

We have said over and over in other posts that we believe our results are out of the ordinary. This case was the second OWI charge which had all the evidence suppressed in the past two days.

This case involved the client operating his vehicle at approximately 3:00 a.m. He was stopped for having expired registration. He had refused to roll his window down more than a couple of inches and was not cooperative with the officer when trying to explain his actions that evening. Client's vehicle was seen outside a bar by the officer earlier in the evening. The officer noticed an odor of intoxicants and the client admitted to drinking. He was ultimately arrested and charged with OWI and possession of THC, his blood test was .156.

We filed motion to suppress the evidence based upon a lack of reasonable suspicion to perform field sobriety tests. The cop testified, continually adding information during his testimony to attempt to justify the request for field tests. However, at one point during the hearing, the officer acknowledged that he had "no reason to suspect impairment prior to having the client step from the vehicle." The judge suppressed all the evidence obtained as a result of the unlawful detention. The field tests, blood test and drugs were all suppressed. Case dismissed. That is how we do it.

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.