Legal Question in Criminal Law in Wisconsin

Although I am not familiar with the exact wording of either Madison's or Dane County's ordinance on open intoxicants, a finding of guilt probably would require the judge to find that there was some alcohol to be in that container at the time of your arrest. I doubt if the ordinance is designed to make the recycling of empty alcohol containers illegal. If the officers agreed that it was empty, I doubt that they would have cited you, however, so my guess is that you are only presenting one side of the story here. In any event, since any alcohol related conviction can have an unforeseen impact upon your driver�s license, auto insurance, and employability, everyone receiving a citation like this should have a consultation with an experienced criminal traffic attorney. Many employers, including the federal government, would also be interested in such convictions during the job application process, although I would be surprised if this one would be as bad as a criminal conviction. Please be aware that my responses to you in the public web forum do not make me your attorney and that I am not representing you or taking any action on your case. These answers are intended for public educational use only and may contain lawyer advertising materials. Regardless of this, however, you are still welcome to contact me during business hours at my in Racine if you still have questions.