Legal Question in DUI Law in Wisconsin

There is certainly no guarantee that a lawyer could get your son's fine reduced. Generally speaking, however, the amount of the fine pales in comparison to the amount of auto insurance which a person convicted of drunken driving could end up paying over the next ten years. Some have estimated the additional premiums, reduced employment opportunities, treatment expenses and other consequences of drunken driving convictions to exceed $10,000. For this reason, many people charged with drunken driving at least hire a lawyer to make an appearance and evaluate what the odds are of for success, at which time the lawyers plea bargains the best possible sentence if the case does turn out to be hopeless. Lawyers can often spot technical defenses which are not apparent to lay persons such as probable cause violations or failures by the officer to comply with the technical prerequisites which are necessary for an OWI conviction. For example, despite being caught on camera �weaving,� minor weaving within one�s own lane of travel has been determined by WI courts not to be sufficient justification for a stop on its own. Finally, no matter how strong the government's case, juries always have the right to find the defendant "not guilty," which decision is essentially final and non-appealable by the government. This is known as "jury nullification" and, although lawyers cannot ask juries to do it outright, juries nonetheless do it in a percentage of cases where they end up disapproving what the government has done to the defendant for one reason or another. Therefore, it is probably still in your son's best interest to have a lawyer. Your son's right to a jury trial in a first offense case, however, will be lost unless he pays a jury deposit and requests a jury trial at the time of his first court appearance. These comments are not intended as legal advice but are instead offered only for public educational purposes.

Just because a judge authorizes a program there is no guarantee that the program will continue to exist or that the defendant will be eligible for it. However, repeal of a program may be a basis for a motion to have the sentencing judge reconsiders the sentence, assuming that the defendant is otherwise suitable for it. I would not bother to hire a lawyer to bring such a motion unless every criterion has been satisfied, i.e. that he fits all criteria in terms of satisfying other treatment and programing requirements. If the judge anticipated early release in this event and the program is unable to do it, there is always a slim chance that the judge might be willing to order it. Unfortunately, however, this is probably least likely to happen with a repeat offense drunken driver, due to the political attitude of state voters opposing drunken driving and the willingness of voters to get rid of any politicians, including judges, whom they perceive to be "soft" on drunken drivers. I am guessing that your friend has at least four prior OWI convictions; otherwise it would be a misdemeanor allowing a county jail sentence at worst, rather than a felony authorizing prison. A person with a drinking problem that severe is a time bomb waiting to ruin the career of any politician of helps him in any way in the event that he falls of the wagon yet again. Obviously, he has proven his tendency to fall of the wagon beyond all doubt by getting so many convictions in the first place. . These comments are not intended as legal advice but are instead offered only for public educational purposes.