1st offense OWI Another charge. Another real RESULT.

Location: Brookfield, Wisconsin

Outcome: Dimissed!            

Recently I had a 1st OWI in Brookfield Municipal Court.  My client had been out that night and drove some of his friends home.  He was not familiar with where they lived as it was attached to the store they owned and not a residential area.  An officer saw my client driving and decided that it was suspicious that he was driving in this area because of the time of night when the stores would be closed and that it was not a residential area.  The officer also saw my client slow down a bit and then speed up again before making a turn into a parking lot.  Once my client pulled into the parking lot the officer followed him put on his lights and conducted an OWI interview.

The officer made my client perform standardized field sobriety tests.  Even though he passed multiple tests without any indications of intoxication, the officer arrested him anyway. 

The issue at hand in the case was whether the officer had the reasonable suspicion to conduct a traffic stop with my client and, following the stop, whether the arrest of my client for an OWI followed probable cause in Wisconsin.  Simply believing my client to be suspicious because he is in a certain area is not enough to conduct a traffic stop, nor is slowing down and speeding up again unless it is continued behavior or especially egregious.  Here it was because my client did not know exactly where he was going so he did not know where his turn was.  Once the officer spoke to the people in the car and determined they lived in the residential space attached to the shop there is an argument that the stop should have ceased at that point in time.

I was able to speak with the prosecutor regarding the issues in the case regarding the illegal traffic stop and arrest, and after discussing the situation with me and the issues at hand he was willing to resolve the case without an OWI conviction.  The OWI was amended down to a different citation and my client’s license was not revoked.  No conviction on an OWI in Wisconsin! 

Even if the testing says you may not be under the influence, an officer may arrest you anyway.  Having an experienced attorney on your case can make the difference between a conviction for an OWI that carries fines, driver’s license revocation, alcohol classes, and many other penalties, and having no conviction for an OWI! Learn more about WI OWI consequences.

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