Legal Question in DUI Law in Wisconsin

Re: 2 DUI's in two years in two states issues?

If your year 2000 DWI, (1) did not involve a crash (often a felony charge); (2) did not involve a claimed alcohol report of 0.20 or more; (3) did not involve child endangerment; or (4) did not involve other aggravating factors (for example, a prior alcohol-impaired driving "incident"), then it was likely a misdemeanor. You have not stated enough information to say for sure. The easiest way to tell if it was a misdemeanor would be to look at the court records at the county courthouse where the case was handled. You can do this at no cost to you; or hire an investigation firm to do it for you.

The last time I checked (years ago), if you had a second DWI (or implied consent violation) within 13 years of the first DWI (or implied consent violation), then neither of them would ever come off your Minnesota Department of Public Safety "driving record." They may have increased that 13 year look back since then -- you could call them to ask or read their Rules on the web. But in your case, it doesn't seem to matter if the look-back is 13 years or more, since yours are at most three years apart. There might be a way around this, with a lawyers help, if the Wisconsin DWI was solely based upon a claimed 0.08 or 0.09 alcohol level report, since in Minnesota the "per se" limit is 0.10. Consult a lawyer to follow up on that possibility, if you think it might apply to you.

Your Minnesota Department of Public Safety "driving record" is mostly a public record. Potential employers, or anyone (including insurance companies), should be able to see DWI and implied consent violations on that public record quite easily if they check.

For further information you could call a "Driver Evaluator" at the Minnesota Department of Public Safety, check the "Minnesota Rules" for that department (available at their web site or a law library), and-or a DWI-criminal defense lawyer.

As for Wisconsin aspects of your question, you will need to ask a Wisconsin-licensed lawyer, which I am not. I am a Minnesota lawyer, exclusively.

If these questions have any more importance to you than idle curiosity, you would be well advised to consult with lawyers in each applicable state, after fully and confidentially disclosing all relevant facts.

Re: 2 DUI's in two years in two states issues?

Wisconsin's DOT retains perpetual files on DUI's, since third and subsequent offenses allow a lifelong lookback period. DUI conviction information in WI is all public record, for employment purposes, and is also kept perpetually. It is available on the internet to the general public, and is certainly therefore available to potential employers.