Law enforcement referred to prosecutors potential criminal charges of homicide by intoxicated use of a motor vehicle after our client crashed his car while drinking and driving. In a tragic twist, a passerby who stopped to assist the client after the crash was killed. Attorney Verhoff spoke with prosecutors prior to charges being issued and argued that while our client was impaired while driving and should be held accountable for those actions, he did not directly cause the death of the other person. If charged criminally, this would leave open a statutory defense to the charge. Prosecutors ultimately agreed. Although the client was charged and convicted of OWI-1st Offense, the prosecution declined to file the homicide charge.
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.
Negligent Homicide and Operating After Revocation Causing Death--Charges Dismissed After Jury Selection (Kenosha County)
A huge victory for our client in this case: he was charged with Negligent Homicide and OAR Causing Death for an accident at a traffic intersection. The bad news for the client was that he had a valid occupational license but was 12 minutes outside of his hours when the accident occurred. He initially had a different lawyer and was not satisfied with the direction the case was headed and he looked around and got a referral to Attorney Corey Chirafisi. Attorney Chirafisi was very familiar with Kenosha County, having been a prosecutor there about 15 years ago. He thought it would be helpful to bring another lawyer on board who had a presence in Kenosha and he called his colleague Attorney Mark Richards. Together they went to work. First, they were able to get a qualified accident reconstruction expert to review not only the statements of the witnesses (which initially were not helpful at all to the client) but also the data from the airbag modules (which was very helpful to the client). Once the expert wrote his report, which indicated the client was not the cause of the accident, the case started to go the client’s way. But Kenosha County is known for not resolving cases in a favorable way. Even after the accident report was provided to the prosecutor, she would not dismiss the charges.
One of the biggest things we were able to do in this case was to have the Court modify the jury instruction on who caused the accident. It was the game changer. We were able to convince the Judge that the jury instruction used in all cases that have charges like this was not appropriate. We convinced the Judge that our instruction on causation was correct and once the Court agreed, the case started to unravel. First, the Government moved to dismiss the Negligent Homicide charge. Good start. But it was Kenosha County, and they were still going to go to trial on the OAR causing death charge. That was, until the jury was selected. Once the jury was seated the prosecution came back and finally said that they were dismissing the OAR Causing Death, provided the defendant plead to the OAR charge. We agreed, since he was, in fact driving outside of his hours. So the client avoided a prison sentence, a felony conviction and ended up with no jail on a driving ticket for operating after revocation. Very happy to get such a wonderful result for our client!