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If you have recently been arrested or charged with drunk driving (OWI, DWI, OUI), anywhere in Wisconsin, you are probably still in shock over the incident, concerned with what is going to happen, embarrassed by the accusation and/or anxious to have this matter resolved soon.
It is natural to have any of the above feelings. You are also likely concerned with the potential loss of your license, receiving a significant fine, losing your job and even worse… receiving a possible jail or prison sentence. WE CAN HELP!
The experienced DUI / OWI attorneys at Brabazon Law Office have helped clients throughout Wisconsin defend themselves against OWI and DWI charges and have achieved strong results. When you need agressive representation from a Wisconsin DUI attorney, you need to call on Brabazon Law Office.
Many persons charged with an OWI refuse to hire an attorney and simply enter a guilty or no contest plea. These people are usually under the misconception that there are no defenses to OWI charges. THIS SIMPLY IS NOT TRUE! In many cases there are legitimate defenses to an OWI charge. Even if there is not a defense that leads to charges being dismissed, in many situations, an experienced DWI/OWI attorney at Brabazon Law Office will be able to minimize the potential damages. There are many issues our drunk driving attorneys can address that most individuals charged with OWI or DWI are unaware of.
If you have been charged with an OWI anywhere in Wisconsin, you should consider hiring an attorney. This is true whether you feel you are guilty or not. A good Wisconsin DUI / OWI lawyer will, at a minimum, review the facts of your case for possible defenses, present arguments to minimize the severe consequences and help explain the effects an OWI conviction will have on your Wisconsin driver’s license, your work and your family. WE CAN HELP!
Brabazon Law Office has a staff of five attorneys experienced in aggressively defending persons charged with OWI (Operating While Intoxicated) or DWI (Driving While Intoxicated). Our commitment to our clients is unmatched and our ability to represent our client’s vigorously is well known.
Perhaps the best way of understanding the benefit of hiring Brabazon Law Office, LLC
is by reading about some of the more dramatic results we have been able to achieve for our clients. Read our success stories and client testimonials to see why Brabazon Law Office, LLC is the right choice. Click on the video to your left to see how we helped this client with his OWI.
Even if we are not able to achieve dramatic results with your case, we can help in many other ways: we can help you by making court appearances on your behalf so you don’t have to; we can assist you with setting up your work privileges (HUBER); we can assist you by providing you with information regarding the electronic monitoring program so you can serve your jail sentence at home; we can explain the benefits/disadvantages of probation; we can advise you on your right to substitute judges; we can help you transfer title of your vehicle while your case is pending; we can provide arguments to the Court to mitigate the length of your jail sentence, the amount of your fine, the length of your license revocation period, or the amount of restitution to any victims; we can assist you with transferring your jail sentence to another county; we can assist you in setting up your alcohol and drug assessment; we can prepare you for sentencing so you know how to address the Judge.
When you hire and experienced Wisconsin DUI attorney at Brabazon Law Office to represent you, you can be certain that your case has been investigated, your rights protected and you can rest assure that you have done everything within your power to help yourself and your family.
Even if your court date is weeks away, it is imperative that you speak to one of our experienced DWI attorneys immediately as you may be facing serious penalties. Some of these penalties may occur before your court date. Please call (920) 494-1106 today to talk to one of our experienced OWI/DWI attorneys or to schedule an appointment. There is NEVER a fee for your initial drunk driving consultation.
1. Prior Convictions. If you have prior OWI convictions, it is possible they should not be counted when determining your current OWI penalties. If you did not have the assistance of an attorney with at least one of your prior OWI’s, it may be possible to remove that conviction for sentencing purposes, resulting in less severe penalties.
2. Two within Five. The law provides that a second conviction for OWI within five years of a first will result in the loss of occupational privileges for at least 12 months. Winning your case could save your job.
3. Refusal. If an officer believes you refused the blood or breath test, you only have ten (10) days to request a hearing. If you do not request a hearing your license can be revoked for up to two years.
4. Administrative Suspension. If a blood or breath test reveals that you had a prohibited alcohol concentration at the time the test was administered, the Department of Motor Vehicle will administratively suspend your license for a period of six (6) months. You have a right to request a hearing prior to the suspension taking effect. You can even subpoena witnesses to the hearing.
5. When were you driving? The blood or breath test is taken some time after you were driving. When that test was taken in relation to the time you were driving can lessen the significance of the result.
6. When and what were you drinking? Alcohol is absorbed into our bodies over time. Alcohol also is eliminated from our bodies over time. What you had to drink, when you took your last drink (and numerous other factors) can impact your blood or breath test results.
7. Did the police do their job? Police officers have rules and procedures they must follow. Failing to do so could result in evidence being determined unreliable or in certain cases, unusable.
8. Judge. You have the right to request a different judge than the one you are assigned. In many cases, which Judge you have can affect your case significantly. Beware – once you enter your plea, you cannot request a different judge!
9. Jury Trial. You have the right to a jury trial. The jury must agree that you are guilty before you can be found guilty.
10. Discovery. You have a right to see the police reports, test results and all of the evidence the State possesses.
11. HUBER. In most situations, the Court will grant work release privileges or child care privileges. Knowing how this system works will increase the chances you spend as little time off of work as possible.
1. Reasonable Suspicion. An officer needs to have either “probable cause” that you committed a crime or a violation, or “reasonable suspicion” that you were committing a crime or a law violation. If an officer lacks reasonable suspicion to stop you, he or she has violated your constitutional rights and, in most cases, any evidence obtained after the stop cannot be used against you.
2. Probable Cause to Arrest. Even if an officer has a legitimate reason to stop you and your vehicle, the officer must establish probable cause prior to arresting you for drunk driving. The officers usually base this upon your driving behavior, visual observations of the officer, Preliminary Breath Test Results (P.B.T.) and by your performance in Standardized Field Sobriety Tests. Unfortunately, many law enforcement officers fail to either properly administer the tests or correctly score them. Our attorneys are trained in the performance of Field Sobriety tests and have been very successful getting cases dismissed due to the officers’ improper administration of field sobriety tests.
In many cases the officers fail to administer the P.B.T. properly. Under Wisconsin Law, they must offer you to take the test. They cannot force or direct you to submit to the P.B.T. test. Our OWI attorneys have been successful getting the P.B.T. results removed from the Court’s determination of probable cause.
3. Fighting the Admisability of the Blood or Breath Test Results
Prior to obtaining your blood or breath sample, officers are required to follow Wisconsin Laws. If the officer did not adhere to Wisconsin statutes, it is possible your blood or breath test may be thrown out
4. Refusing a Blood or Breath Test. Wisconsin has serious penalties for persons who refuse to submit to a blood, breath or urine test for determining the level of intoxication. Not only will your blood or breath sample be taken by force, your license will likely be revoked. These penalties can go into effect within 10 days of your arrest, without any hearing! It is imperative you retain one of our attorneys immediately, in an effort to prevent you from suffering these penalties.
5. Blood Test Results. The blood is submitted by the arresting officer to the Wisconsin State Lab of Hygiene for analysis. The attorneys at Brabazon Law Office, obtain these results and additional information to determine if your sample was contaminated or mishandled. If a concern is raised, we can have the results examined by a blood expert to determine if any problems did occur.
6. Breath Test Results. If you submitted to a breath test at the police station, you were probably tested by some type of intoxilizer or ER/IC. These machines are subject to a high rate of error and arguably, unreliable.
7. Prior Convictions. We examine your prior drunk driving convictions in an effort to have them voided. We will also review them to see if we can have them essentially thrown out when determining how many prior convictions you have. Thus, if you are charged with a 4th offense OWI, we may be able to have it reduced to a 3rd, 2nd, or even 1st offense, depending on your circumstances. Examples of these can be found in our Success Stories.
8. Blood/Alcohol Chart. Even if you show signs of impairment, we can utilize a blood/alcohol chart together with your pattern of drinking from that day or evening to show the jury what your blood/alcohol level really was.
9. Blood Retest. In some occasions, we have made a request to have a client’s blood retested. In most instances, this has resulted in a lower blood alcohol concentration which has either helped obtain a dismissal, or reduced the penalties.
10. Affirmative Defense. If you have been charged with an OWI causing injury, OWI causing serious bodily injury, or OWI Homicide (Homicide by Operation of a Motor Vehicle While Impaired) you have a defense if the accident or injury would have occurred even if you were operating the vehicle without being under the influence of an intoxicant. Some times, accidents happen, regardless as to whether you were drinking. In some cases, we obtain the help of an accident re-constructionist to help us prove you were not at fault.
11. Trial. You have a right to a trial. You can choose to have either a judge or a jury listen to all of the evidence presented at trial. You have the right to subpoena persons to court to testify in your favor (family members, bartenders, others who witnessed your appropriate behavior). You have the right to have the prosecutor prove their case beyond a reasonable doubt (in a criminal case). You have the right to testify. You also have the right not to say anything.
While few of our cases do go to trial, we will be prepared to vigorously and aggressively represent you at trial should you decide.
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