Client Avoids Felony Convictions In Two Different Counties

Our client had been working with a different lawyer when he came to Chirafisi & Verhoff.  The lawyer suggested the client hire our firm given the severity of the situation.  The client was charged with felony OWI-causing Injury as a third offense in Dane County.  He had been in a t-bone accident and had a reported alcohol concentration of 0.21 percent at the time of the crash.  The stakes were high, as a felony conviction would cost our client the job he held for more than 30 years.  Our firm went to work, reviewing the reports and medical records.  Our attorneys immediately saw the records showed the other driver was a 0.16 at the time of driving.  In addition, the attorneys could not locate evidence of an injury that would satisfy the "causing injury" portion of the case.  Once Attorney Verhoff pointed this out to the district attorney, he was forced to amend the case from a felony charge to a misdemeanor.  But things became even more complicated.  Out on bail in the case, our client was stopped by a DNR warden while driving through a park in a different county.  The client panicked drove away, allegedly at a high rate of speed.  Law enforcement also suspected he had been drinking.  Prosecutors in that county charged our client with a felony eluding charge one week before the client was set to resolve his case in Dane County.  Attorney Verhoff had his work cut out for him.  To best serve our client's legal interest, he needed to get the Sauk County case resolved before finishing the Dane County case.  Not an easy task, as cases typically take months to resolve. And because the client would lose his job if convicted of a felony, Attorney Verhoff not only had to resolve the Sauk County case quickly, he  had to get it resolved as a non-felony.  Fortunately for the client, Attorney Verhoff was able to negotiate a resolution of the Sauk County case on misdemeanor grounds the day before the case in Dane County settled. When the parties showed up for court in Dane County, the prosecutor, who had learned about the Sauk County case, was grinning.  He informed Attorney Verhoff, "Your client has a new felony case."  Attorney Verhoff told him to "check again."  He did and saw the case had been resolved the day before for misdemeanors. In disbelief, the prosecutor simply said,  "How do you always get those kinds of result for your clients? Unbelievable!"