Local police arrested our client for child abuse after she had an altercation with her teenage son. Upon advice from a different, Madison-based criminal defense lawyer, the client's family contacted Attorney Tim Verhoff for help. His first step was to get the client out of jail as quickly as possible. He then went to work negotiating a possible resolution of the case before a formal charge was issued. Based on his negotiations with the prosecution, Attorney Verhoff worked out an agreement by which the DA agreed not to file formal charges against the client, provided she successfully completed a deferred prosecution contract. Spared the embarrassment, anxiety, and other complications stemming from a formal criminal prosecution, the client was delighted with the outcome achieved.
Finding Of Child Maltreatment Vacated by Court
While this is not something we do everyday, this was the continuation of a case that started in criminal court. It also shows the extent the government will go in an effort to get a client.
The client was originally charged with Reckless Child Abuse in criminal court. That case proceeded to trial and the client was found not guilty in approximately 5 minutes. That did not end the matter.
The county then decided that even though the client was found not guilty, they would move forward with a claim that the client was a child abuser. The client interacted with kids on a daily basis and was unwilling to accept this finding.
The case initially went to hearing. At the hearing every single witness who testified stated that what had occurred was an accident. Every witness. The Administrative Law Judge disagreed and found that the county had proven their case.
One thing we take pride in at this firm is the willingness to take the cases to places other firms are not, if necessary. So, we appealed the judge's decision. The case moved to the Wisconsin Department of Justice. Finally, an Assistant Attorney General took a look at the case and agreed with our position on appeal that the judge was wrong on the law. The government then moved to dismiss the case with prejudice. It cannot be re-filed and the client is finally free from the shadow the case had cast over him for so long.
Felon Child Abuse Amended to Misdemeanor DC, Dismissed
Our client was arrested and charged with two counts intentional child abuse after he was alleged to have grabbed his daughter, picking her up by the neck and kneeing her in the stomach. The client, as well as his wife who witnessed the incident, was adamant that the daughter exaggerated the situation. Attorney Verhoff advised the client to enroll in a parenting class while the case was pending. Over the course of many months, he worked on the prosecutor, pointing out inconsistencies with the child's report. He also presented the prosecutor with the positive reports from the classes. While the client admitted he handled the incident poorly, he pointed out it happened during the course of discipline. For a long time, the prosecution insisted that the client either plead to the felony charges or go to trial. In most cases, lawyers don't let their clients speak directly to the prosecutor. But in this case Attorney Verhoff suspected he could convince the prosecutor to change his mind if he spoke directly to the client. Our attorney had the client and his wife sit in on a meeting with the him and prosecutor. They answered several of the prosecutors questions and presented information directly to him. As suspected, the meeting was fruitful and the prosecutor ultimately agreed to our attorney's proposed resolution. The District Attorney amended the felony child abuse charges to counts of misdemeanor disorderly conduct. The client was offered the chance to participate in a deferred prosecution program, after which the remaining misdemeanors will be dismissed.
Reckless Child Abuse- Found Not Guilty at Trial
Our client, a middle school principal, was charged with child abuse. A conviction of this offense would not only cause him to lose his job, but as a convicted felon, he would never be able to work with kids again. Our client made a potentially career saving decision in hiring Chirafisi & Verhoff to represent him in this matter.
The principal was charged with reckless child abuse for washing a child's hand (which had a profanity on it) with gum remover. The child suffered a chemical burn and the parents called the police.
The facts were not in dispute in this case; the only question was whether the client acted recklessly, or if the burn was an accident? This case had drawn considerable attention in the community because of the client's job. Knowing this, a very helpful thing we did on this case was to request that the court send out specific jury questionnaires to gauge the prospective jury members' opinions about the case.
The jury selection ended up taking an entire day--something that is very rare. However, the questionnaires made it much easier to get the people that we believed would be helpful hearing the case onto the jury.
The case was tried in two days and in the end, the client was found not guilty in approximately 5-10 minutes.
The reaction of the jury really says it all in the video linked below:
https://wxow.com/news/top-stories/2018/08/23/amundson-found-not-guilty-of-child-abuse/
Felony Sexual Assault Reduced to Misdemeanor With Expungement
When our client received a summons to court for charges alleging repeated acts of sexual assault of a child, he went into panic mode. Although the client was in his early twenties, the Dane County District Attorney's Office charged him for several acts that occurred when he was approximately 14 years old. The family hired our firm before making an initial court appearance. Attorney Verhoff contacted the District Attorney and requested a meeting at which he suggested that had the case been filed at the time of the offense, the client would have been treated as a juvenile. Attorney Verhoff proposed a postponement of the case to give the client time to undergo various evaluations and treatment to demonstrate he was not a high risk to re-offend. Assuming that checked out, Attorney Verhoff proposed amending the charge from a felony offense to a misdemeanor that could be expunged from his record. As Attorney Verhoff argued, this would be an outcome that very much mirrored what would have happen in juvenile court if the client had been charged at that time in his life. The District Attorney agreed to the proposal. At the plea hearing, the judge was at first taken aback by the proposed outcome in this case. But once Attorney Verhoff explained it thoroughly, she said she was very comfortable with the outcome and accepted the agreement in full. This case is an excellent example of our firm thinking outside the box to resolve cases favorably for clients.
Precharge case involving allegation of Child Abuse- No charges filed
Same scenario as our previous post. Client with a lot to lose found herself being accused of child abuse and arrested by law enforcement. She called us the same evening she was arrested and we began working on the situation. First, no statements given to police. If they believe a crime was committed, let them try to put the pieces together, don’t help them.
Second, we reached out to the district attorney reviewing the file, letting them know we were involved, and providing them some background on what actually occurred in an effort to try and avoid charges. We had conversations with the prosecutor and eventually convinced them that there was a very viable parental discipline defense to the charges. No charges were ever brought on our client.
4 More Outstanding Results Include No Prosecution on Negligent Homicide Charge
In the past 10 days or so, Chirafisi & Verhoff has had four more outstanding outcomes for our clients!
Case #1- Pre-charge Negligent Homicide
This case involved a motor vehicle accident resulting in the death of the client’s passenger. Initially when the client’s family called us, there was an allegation that the client had failed to stop at a stop sign, resulting in the vehicle striking a semi which ultimately led to the death of the passenger. We were informed that there were multiple witnesses who observed the accident.
At that point the client had not been charged, so it gave us an opportunity to get to work on some areas of the defense. The first thing we did was hire an accident reconstructionist. The expert was able to get out to the scene shortly after the accident and get measurements before the government was able to complete their reconstruction.
We notified the State that we had been retained and that an expert was on board. Ultimately after more than 8 months of investigation in the case, the State had the detective assigned to the case inform us that no criminal charges were being brought against the client. While the case involved a tragedy when the passenger lost his life, we were able to help avoid the client from having to face serious felony charges stemming from the accident.
Case #2- OWI 1st/Refusal- Complete Dismissal of all Charges
Client was on vacation at a campground when he was arrested for OWI 1st. What made matters much more difficult was he was an Illinois licensed driver. The penalties for Illinois drivers arrested for OWI in Wisconsin is very severe in Illinois. Clients can lose their driving privileges in Illinois for years, even on 1st offenses.
The client was also alleged to have refused to submit to an evidentiary chemical test of his blood when requested by the police. Believe it or not, the case involved the client driving a gas powered golf cart on a public roadway. He was involved in an accident which severely injured him and he had no memory of what occurred. The prosecutor wasn’t moving on the case, initially recommending the OWI charge along with the IID requirement.
We began by watching a video from a bar parking lot where the accident occurred. We slowed down the video literally second by second. What we discovered was for a split second on the video, headlights from a vehicle were on the golf cart and we could see that another person was actually the driver of the golf cart. Once the accident occurred, that person fled the scene and because our client suffered a head injury, he had no recollection as to who was driving.
We then showed the prosecutor the video from the bar and he dismissed all charges against the client.
Case #3- OWI/PAC 1st- Dane County- amended to inattentive driving
This client, like many we have, needed a valid license to continue working a brand new dream job he had just landed. A conviction would have resulted in immediate termination from his company.
A gas station worker witnessed our client pull into the parking lot with a flat tire and riding on his rims. The client was alleged to have parked his car, opened the door and threw up, then tried to go to sleep in the parking lot. The police arrived shortly after our client got there, and our client was put through field sobriety tests after the police noticed his blood shot eyes, slurred speech and his clothes having vomit on them.
The client tested a .088 on the breath test after being arrested. Further, the client informed the police that he had not consumed alcohol for 6 plus hours as it was approximately 5:30 a.m. when the police made contact with him.
Ultimately after back and forth negotiations with the prosecutor, the government offered to resolve the case for an inattentive driving ticket. It saved the client's career.
Case #4- Two Counts of Second Degree Sexual Assault turned into One count of Child Abuse to Deferred Prosecution with Alford Plea
This case took two years to resolve. It started as 2 counts of sexual assault. Client had used our services in the past and when these charges were filed he came to us again for assistance.
The turning point in the case was when we were able to convince the judge that the time alleged in the complaint (approximately 3 weeks) was too long. The prosecution was required to go back to the mother of the complainant and she had to narrow down the time frame. That changed the entire case. She narrowed it down to 3 days. When we were provided with that information, we were able to get the client's work records which showed it was likely that he was working at the time of the allegation.
Once we provided that information to the DA, the case basically fell apart. If the client does not get in any trouble for the next 12 months, the entire case will be dismissed. Outcome totally changed our client's life.
No Child Abuse Charges, Dane County
This case is another example of why the lawyers at Chirafisi & Verhoff recommend hiring legal counsel before criminal charges are filed. In this case, a detective from a local law enforcement agency contacted the client, seeking to interview her about a child abuse claim. It was alleged the client struck her boyfriend's son multiple times while engaging in discipline of him. The child made a disclosure of abuse to officials who also observed bruising on his body. In addition to the criminal investigation, a social worker wanted to interview our client as part of a Human Services investigation. Before making any statements, the client wisely called Attorney Verhoff for advice upon recommendation from a different lawyer in the Madison area. Attorney Verhoff spoke with both the detective and the social worker. He informed them the client would not be making any statements. He then met with prosecutors several times over a period of months to discuss the case. He also provided the client with recommendations for actions that would put her in a position where he would be able to make an argument to the prosecution as to why the case should not be charged. Ultimately Attorney Verhoff brokered a deal with the prosecution in which the District Attorney's Office agreed not to formally file criminal charges against the client if she agreed to participate in an uncharged, deferred prosecution program and engage in parenting classes.