At approximately 2:00 a.m. on recent weekend, our client was driving in downtown Baraboo. She was waiting at a stop light with her turn signal activated. Unfortunately, she failed to drive forward for approximately 11 seconds after the light turned green. A police officer traveling behind her conducted a traffic stop. Based on his interactions with the client, the officer asked her to do field sobriety tests. She was ultimately arrested and submitted to a breath test, which lead to a reported value of 0.179. Attorney Tim Verhoff filed a suppression motion, arguing that the client had not committed any driving infractions prior to the stop, and the officer lacked reasonable suspicion to stop her for driving under the influence. After our attorney cross examined the police officer at an evidentiary hearing, the judge agreed and ruled in favor of our client, forcing the prosecutor to dismiss both the OWI charge and the PAC charge. Once again, our attorney received one of the highest compliments a defense attorney can receive. At the conclusion of the case, the arresting officer approached Attorney Verhoff and told him what a fantastic job he had done, as well as how much he learned by being cross-examined by our lawyer.
OWI-2nd at 0.14 Dismissed, Sauk County
In this case, our client hired Chirafisi & Verhoff upon a recommendation from another local lawyer. The client, an out-of-state resident and over-the-road salesman, was in Wisconsin on business. On his way home from diner at a restaurant, police stopped him and ultimately arrested him for OWI-2nd Offense and PAC-2nd Offense with a reported alcohol concentration of 0.14. The client was clear from the start. Any OWI-related conviction would result in the loss of his license and the loss of his career. Attorney Verhoff began the case by conducting the administrative review hearing. This proved to be instrumental in the ultimate outcome, as the police officer gave answers to questions that did not align with the video evidence later received. Armed with this information, Attorney Verhoff filed a motion to suppress evidence in the case. On the day of the scheduled hearing, the prosecutor told Attorney Verhoff that he thought the prosecution would prevail at the suppression hearing. However, the prosecutor was more concerned about what Attorney Verhoff would do to the officer in cross examination at trial. Given his concerns, the prosecutor made an unusual offer in this time of case. He agreed that if the client withdrew the suppression motion and settled the case short of trial, he would dismiss the OWI and the PAC charges. Instead of those charges, the prosecutor agreed to have the client plead to an obstructing charge. In so doing, the client avoided any licensing implications and saved his job. Needless to say, the client was thrilled with the outcome.
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!"
OWI 1st- Sauk County (.132 blood test result)- Case dismissed
This is a case which proves that a small crack in a case can turn into a huge problem for the prosecution. Our client was charged with OWI/PAC 1st offense. The allegation involved him striking a tree at approximately 4:00 a.m. There was no question that he was the driver since he had to be extracted from the vehicle with the help of law enforcement.
The defendant met with Attorney Corey Chirafisi and they mapped out the issues in the case. The biggest issue was whether or not the government could establish a time of operation in the case. They needed to establish what time the client was involved in the accident in order to get the test result into evidence.
First, Attorney Corey Chirafisi filed a Motion to Strip the Test of its Reliability. That Motion was conceded by the Government. Once that happened, Attorney Chirafisi then filed a Motion to Exclude the Test Result unless the Government could establish a time of operation. About a week before the motion hearing was to be held, the Government filed a Motion to Dismiss the entire case, as they realized they could not establish time of driving.
One small little crack in that case led to an amazing result. Our client was thrilled with the results.
Sauk County OWI/PAC – Evidence Thrown Out and Case Dismissed
Police stopped our client was for driving with a headlamp that was burned out. The officer contacted our client and smelled an odor of intoxicants. Our client admitted to be on his way home from a bar and to have consumed mixed drinks earlier. Police had him perform field sobriety tests and based on those results arrested him for second-offense OWI. He submitted a breath test and the reported result was 0.09 percent. Attorney Verhoff filed a motion arguing that the police officer violated our client’s rights because the officer did not have a sufficient basis to ask him to do the field sobriety tests. The judge agreed and threw out the test results and the client’s performance on the field sobriety tests. Left with no additional evidence to prove the case, the Assistant District Attorney dismissed both charges.
Felony synthetic pot charges - all charges to be dropped
Our client was charged with selling synthetic pot in Sauk County. The defendant faced one felony charge of possession with intent to distribute a hazardous substance. This charge carries a maximum imprisonment of three years and six months. Attorney Tim Verhoff successfully negotiated with the Prosecution for a deferred prosecution agreement of 18 months, at which point all charges against our client will be dropped.