Our client came to us with two problems: he was arrested for OWI and refusal, but he also had a CDL that he needed for his occupation.
He knew he needed to fight the charges in order to save his career so he hired Chirafisi & Verhoff to help him do just that. The prosecutor would not dismiss the case outright as he had a refusal to work with and knew that if the defendant lost on the refusal, his driver’s license would be revoked and he would lose his CDL.
The matter proceeded to trial. After the prosecution called the arresting officer and rested, it was Chirafisi & Verhoff’s turn. The arresting officer was questioned about her observations and tests she performed on the client during the incident. By the end of the cross examination, the officer admitted that she did not perform the field sobriety tests correctly and the Court found that there was a problem with probable cause based on that testimony.
Before the Court made any specific findings on the Operating While Intoxicated charge, the prosecution offered to amend the OWI to Reckless Driving and to dismiss the refusal charge. The client was thrilled as he was able to keep his CDL and his job.
Disorderly Conduct Case Dismissed - Domestic Injunction Dismissed
Our client struck up a relationship with a woman and moved to Madison to live with her. Unfortunately, after several months, things were not working out. On a recent weekend, our client, his girlfriend and some friends attended a festival. He and his girlfriend got into a verbal argument at the festival. When they got home, she told him the relationship was finished and he needed to move out. Several days passed as our client searched for a new place to live. Fed up, the girlfriend called the police and reported that the client had threatened to harm her at the festival several days before. Police arrested our client for disorderly conduct and prosecutors filed charges against him. That same day, his girlfriend petitioned for a domestic abuse injunction. He moved out and immediately contacted Chirafisi & Verhoff. Our lawyers met with the girlfriend prior to the injunction hearing. After our lawyers discussed the situation with her, she agreed to voluntarily dismiss the injunction. Our lawyers then discussed the disorderly conduct charges with the prosecution. Our lawyers told the prosecutor that if the case went to trial, we would argue that the girlfriend’s decision to seek an injunction and call the police was not because she was disturbed by the client’s behavior at the festival. Rather, she was simply using the system as a mechanism to get him out of the residence. After meeting with our lawyers, the prosecutor agreed he could not go forward and dismissed the disorderly conduct charge.
Battery and Disorderly Conduct Charges Declined
The Dane County District Attorney’s Office agreed not to file any charges against a Chirafisi & Verhoff client who was recently arrested by the Dane County Sheriff’s Office. The client, who was visiting Madison from Illinois, attended a party at a relative’s home. After the party ended, a person not affiliated with the party entered the home without permission. Our client asked her to leave. The person refused and things turned physical as our client escorted the interloper out of the house. Our client then went to bed thinking the incident was finished. But she was wrong. The interloper, who was intoxicated, called law enforcement and reported that she had been assaulted. The Sheriff’s Department arrived and took her statement but did not question our client who had gone to bed. The Sheriff’s Department returned the next morning, took a statement from our client, and then arrested the her. She then hired the lawyers at Chirafisi & Verhoff. Our lawyers met with prosecutors from the District Attorney’s Office. We provided prosecutors with information about our client, who is a professional with no prior criminal history. Our lawyers provided our client’s version of the events, the criminal history of the reporting parties, as well as information from witnesses our client would call if the case was charged. After discussing the matter, the prosecutor agreed that no charges would be filed.
Dane County Client Avoids Criminal Charges
A Dane County client recently avoided criminal charges after hiring Chirafisi & Verhoff. The client, an Illinois resident with no record, was arrested in June 2014. While driving in the Madison area, the Wisconsin State Patrol attempted to stop our client for speeding. He did not immediately pull over. After the trooper finally stopped the vehicle, he arrested the client on criminal charges for eluding an officer. He also cited the client for speeding. The charges were referred to the District Attorney’s Office. Before charges were formally filed, however, our lawyers spoke with the prosecution and explained our client’s version of the events and provided some background information about the client. The prosecution agreed not to file criminal charges against the client. Instead the prosecution agreed only to issue traffic tickets to the client.
OWI/PAC - 8th Dismissed in Juneau County
Potential clients sometimes ask us why they should hire a lawyer or enter a not guilty plea if they know they committed the offense charged and the evidence looks grim. There are a variety of answers to these questions. Often a lawyer can help a client obtain better results at sentencing. In other situations, the lawyer can review the case and make sure the police officers did their job properly. Sometimes, as in this case, the lawyer can find problems with the police investigation that requires the judge to throw out evidence, leaving the government unable to move forward. In this case, our client was stopped for speeding. During the traffic stop, the trooper learned our client had multiple prior convictions for OWI and was subject to a permissible alcohol concentration for driving at 0.02 percent. The trooper had our client provide a breath sample on a preliminary breath test (PBT) device, which showed a result of 0.127. The trooper arrested our client and took him for a legal blood draw. The test results from the blood draw showed an alcohol level of 0.138. Our client was charged with two felony counts, OWI-8th and PAC-8th. He also received a citation for speeding. Our office immediately requested a hearing on the administrative suspension of our client’s license. This is a step that many lawyers do not take, but one our firm conducts at every opportunity. In this case, the administrative review hearing proved to be worth its weight in gold. During the hearing, the trooper testified that he did not observe in our client any of the typical signs of consuming alcohol. He did not observe an odor of intoxicants. He did not observe red, watery or glassy eyes. He did not observe slurred speech or a thick tongue. The trooper never even asked if our client had consumed any alcohol. Instead, the trooper admitted that he demanded our client submit to a PBT solely because he was aware of our client’s the prior OWIs and his lower permissible alcohol concentration for driving. Using the answers provided in the administrative review hearing, Attorney Verhoff filed a motion to suppress evidence based on the trooper’s improper use of the PBT to establish probable cause for an arrest. The motion was so strong that the District Attorney conceded the issue and dismissed the case on the morning of the scheduled evidentiary hearing. Our client, who began the case wanting nothing more than the least amount of prison time possible, walked away having to pay a forfeiture on the speeding ticket.
OWI/PAC 1st - .12 with an Accident - Charges Dismissed
Our client somehow found his vehicle on the wrong side of the concrete barrier under a interstate overpass. The State Patrol arrived on the scene and believed the client to be intoxicated. According to police he had slurred speech, an odor of intoxicants and admitted to drinking, not to mention the vehicle on the wrong side of the concrete barrier.
Attorney Corey Chirafisi began working on the case and after review all the reports and viewing the video on the case he discovered that there was no indication as to what time the vehicle and been operated. None of the four or five officers on the scene ever asked the client what time the accident occurred and the client never made any statements providing that information.
Attorney Chirafisi filed a Motion to Strip the Test of its Presumption of Reliability based on no information the test was taken within three (3) hours of driving. The trooper conceded that she had no idea what time the driving occurred in the case. The government then conceded that the test result would not be able to be admitted into evidence. Shortly after, they gave the entire case up. All charges were dismissed.
OWI/PAC 1st - 0.14 Amended to Inattentive Driving
The police found our client sleeping behind the wheel of his vehicle blocking the driveway of a person who was trying to leave. Upon making contact with our client, police noticed indicators of possible impairment and ultimately arrested our client for Operating While Intoxicated. The client provided a breath sample which registered a result of 0.14.
The problem with the case for the prosecution was they couldn't establish a time of operation. The car was not running when the police arrived and although the client did make some statements as to time of operation, they were vague enough to cause problems for the case.
Ultimately, the prosecution realized there was a real problem with her case and she offered to resolve the matter for an inattentive driving ticket. Even though the client was almost twice the legal limit, he was able to avoid the OWI conviction.
OWI 1st, PAC .155 - NOT GUILTY
Our client was charged in Columbia County with Operating While Intoxicated 1st offense as well as having an alcohol concentration in excess of the legal limit at .155.
Client was referred to Chirafisi & Verhoff regarding her arrest for OWI 1st and after speaking with the client it was clear that she had a real issue in her case, she was at home the time the police arrived at her home. That issue posed two problems for the government, first, what time did she get home? Second, had she consumed alcohol since she had been home?
The government thought they could prove the time of operation with another witness who told the police what time the vehicle arrived home and according to the police, the client stated that she hadn't consumed any alcohol since she had been home. The government wouldn't move off the OWI charge, so the matter proceeded to trial.
At the trial held on July 25th, the government ran into multiple problems that proved to be the death of the case. First, they could not produce any witness to establish the time that the client had arrived home. The client testified as to the time of her arrival at home and the government literally had no response to her statement. Second, the client testified that she had told the officer that she had consumed alcohol after returning home and in fact pointed to a drink she had on the counter when they were in the residence.
The jury had the case for 22 minutes before returning a not guilty verdict on both counts.
OWI 1st / PAC .14 – Amended to Reckless Driving
Getting a first offense OWI in Wisconsin, especially if the case begins in municipal court, can provide the client great opportunities to fight the case.
Our client was charged in the Town of Beloit with OWI 1st and PAC after a police officer witnessed his vehicle travel almost completely into the wrong lane of traffic at about bar time.
The officer was able to capture the driving behavior on videotape and based on the field sobriety tests and the breath test, the client was charged with OWI and PAC. The client didn't believe that he was impaired at the time he was driving and he hired Chirafisi & Verhoff to attempt to deal with the situation.
Because the case was in municipal court, Attorney Chirafisi was able to conduct a trial in an effort to lay the groundwork for a trial at the circuit court level. At the municipal trial the officer testified in a way that Attorney Chirafisi knew would make it very difficult for the government if they choose to move forward with the case. The officer did the field sobriety tests completely incorrect, scored them incorrectly and did not know what clues he was looking for.
Further, the officer did not run the intoximeter machine properly and acknowledged that he did make mistakes in doing that test. After the client was convicted in municipal court he appealed the matter to circuit court.
Once the case was brought into circuit court, the prosecutor called Attorney Chirafisi and was told that the officer was concerned about having to testify again at the trial based on all of his previous errors in municipal court. Even though the test result was over the legal limit (by almost double) the prosecutor offered to amend the charge to Reckless Driving. The client saved his license, had no record of an OWI conviction, and was able to continue on with this job.
From Felony Charges to Dismissal in Dane County
The Fitchburg Police Department recently arrested our client on a felony charge of strangulation, as well as misdemeanor charges of battery, disorderly conduct and criminal damage to property after he got into a physical fight with his cousin during a night of drinking with friends. Our client had no criminal record and was fearful about how the situation would turn out. He contacted Chirafisi & Verhoff while he was still in jail but before the Dane County District Attorney’s Office made a charging decision. Attorney Tim Verhoff spoke to prosecutors and provided background information about the client and the situation. He was able to secure a resolution to the case before our client even appeared in a courtroom. Given the circumstances, the District Attorney’s Office agreed to charge our client only with the lowest level misdemeanor offense – disorderly conduct. The prosecution agreed to have our client participate in a deferred prosecution program, meaning the remaining charge will be dismissed after he successfully completes the program in a few months.
Client found NOT GUILTY in gun case
The new law in Wisconsin which allows our citizens to carry a firearm has caused the lines on what citizens can and can't do with a firearm to become blurry.
Police were dispatched to a 911 call of a man with a gun. The complaining witness informed dispatch that the vehicle they had just passed had a driver in it who threatened them with a gun.
The police stopped the client at his home and he acknowledged that there was an incident on the road and that he did display a firearm. The officer testified that the client told him that he showed the gun to the couple in the other vehicle "so they knew not to [mess] with him."
The client hired Chirafisi & Verhoff, and after some research, the attorneys believed the client's actions were not only justified, but not in violation of the law on carrying firearms. The matter went to trial on June 9th and after 4 hours of deliberation, the jury found the client not guilty and the case was dismissed.
Felony Charge Thrown Out
Our client was convicted of a felony battery in Dane County nearly 15 years ago. He contacted Chirafisi & Verhoff because the conviction was interfering with job opportunities. Attorney Verhoff reviewed the information from our client’s conviction and realized that the plea agreement and sentence originally imposed was unlawful. Attorney Verhoff challenged the conviction, and the prosecution conceded error. The client’s felony conviction was vacated.
OWI/PAC 0.188 Amended to Reckless Driving and DC with a Motor Vehicle
Sometimes good people get in bad situations. That is what happened with our client in February of 2013. The client was out with co-workers and was stopped by officers who stated they observed her traveling partially in the wrong lane of travel.
Officers stated that upon contact with the client they could smell an odor of intoxicants coming from the vehicle and the client’s speech was slurred and her eyes were glassy and red.
Officers requested that the client perform standardized field sobriety tests based on their observations and according to officers, the client failed all three tests offered to her.
The client’s blood draw came back at 0.188 which is well over 2 times the legal limit. The client was very concerned how the charge may impact her life and profession so she made a decision to hire a lawyer to fight the case for her. After looking around, a lawyer in Chicago told her that Chirafisi & Verhoff could help her.
After many months and motions being filed in her case, the prosecutor became concerned that he was going to lose the case based on an issue with the chain of custody. He offered the client an amendment from OWI to Reckless Driving and DC with a motor vehicle (both are ordinance violations). The client avoided any alcohol related conviction as well as any driver’s license revocation. Needless to say she was thrilled with the outcome.
Obstructing Charge Dismissed
Madison Police arrested our client during a beer party. He refused to identify himself, and was arrested for obstructing. Our attorneys argued the client’s refusal to identify himself did not constitute obstructing because he had not actually lied and had a right not to speak to the police--the charge was dismissed.
Felony Strangulation Charge Dismissed
Our client was arrested and charged with a felony count of strangulation after getting into a physical confrontation with his wife. The stakes were high for our client. Not only was he charged with a felony, but as a person who is required to carry a firearm for work, any conviction for a domestic violence offense would mean he’d lose his job. A loss of his employment would have resulted in losing more than a decade’s worth of benefits along with the pension coming to him. Our attorneys were able to prove to the prosecutor that while our client may have pushed his wife during the argument, he had not strangled his wife. The Assistant District Attorney (ADA) agreed to dismiss the felony charge upfront. The ADA then entered into a deferred prosecution agreement on a low-level disorderly conduct charge, which will be dismissed at the conclusion of the agreement.
Disorderly Conduct Dismissed in Dane County
The McFarland Police Department arrested our client after an argument with her husband. Before formal criminal charges were filed, Attorney Verhoff met with the prosecution to present our client’s version of the events. Based on his presentation, the District Attorney agreed not to file a criminal charge against our client. Instead, the District Attorney agreed to file a non-criminal, ordinance violation (the legal equivalent of a traffic citation). Attorney Verhoff then struck a deal in which the government agreed to dismiss the charge once the client provided proof of alcohol treatment. After providing proof of the treatment, the District Attorney filed a stipulation to dismiss the case – meaning she can honestly answer that she has never been convicted of anything related to this arrest.
OWI Amended to Reckless Driving
Attorney Tim Verhoff was able to secure an amendment from an OWI-1st offense to a citation for reckless driving in Madison Municipal Court. In addition, Attorney Verhoff was able to convince the prosecution to dismiss a companion citation for imprudent speed. Our client hired Chirafisi & Verhoff after he was involved in a traffic accident that led to his arrest for OWI-1st. Our client admitted to having consumed wine and a couple of beers earlier in the day. He performed poorly on the field-sobriety tests and exhibited some of the tell-tale signs of impairment including glassy eyes and slow speech. He submitted to a breath test which produced samples at 0.08 and 0.79. Attorney Verhoff was able to convince the prosecution that poor weather conditions contributed to the accident and explained that the performance on the field sobriety tests was due, in part, to several knee and leg surgeries. Attorney Verhoff obtained the client’s medical records to document this fact. Based on this information, the prosecution agreed to amend the citation from OWI to a reckless driving, rather than go to trial. This saved the client an OWI conviction, several hundreds of dollars in fines and a lengthy driver’s license revocation.
Battery and Drug Charges to be Dismissed
Our client, a student at UW-Madison, was arrested after a night of drinking in which he got into a fight outside of a bar. Madison police took our client into custody because the person with whom he fought ended up with a broken nose (a potential felony charge). While processing him at the jail, authorities discovered a small amount of cocaine in our client’s pocket. Our lawyers spoke with prosecutors before formal charges were filed, and they agreed not to charge a felony assault. Instead, our client was charged with misdemeanor battery and possession of cocaine. Our lawyers then worked out an agreement in which our client will participate in a deferred prosecution program. Once he completes the program, the case will be dismissed.
OWI Reduced to Inattentive Driving
In some cases motor vehicle accidents happen because someone has been drinking, sometimes they are just accidents. Our client was involved in an accident at 2:05 early on a Sunday morning on a main road in Sun Prairie. The client’s vehicle struck another vehicle as he was driving home. Client was found behind the wheel, officers described him as having bloodshot eyes, an odor of intoxicants coming from his breath and the client had admitted to consuming alcohol. There were witnesses who also informed police that after the accident, the client put something in a dumpster which was near the accident scene. Officers recovered a beer bottle which the client admitted was his.
The client had informed law enforcement that he was using his phone at the time of the accident and was not intoxicated. Police had the client do field sobriety tests and he allegedly failed 2 of the 3 tests.
Client was issued multiple tickets including OWI, Inattentive Driving and Open Intoxicants in the Vehicle. After having a pretrial conference with the prosecutor, the lawyers at Chirafisi & Verhoff were able to convince him that the accident did in fact occur as the result of the clients use of his phone and not being impaired. Further, because the government couldn’t prove that the client had been drinking in the vehicle, the open intoxicant charge had to be dismissed as well.
At the end of the day the client had to pay a small fine on an inattentive driving ticket while the OWI and Open Intoxicant tickets were both dismissed.
Dane County Assault Charge to be Dismissed
Our client received a summons from the Sheriff’s Department informing him that he needed to come to court because the District Attorney decided to charge him with a felony battery after a road rage incident. The client did not wait until going to court to hire an attorney. He immediately contacted our office. Although the prosecution originally decided to charge our client with a felony, the criminal complaint had not been formally filed. Our lawyers contacted the District Attorney’s Office and spoke with the prosecution to provide our client’s version of the event. After talking with our lawyers, the prosecutor agreed not to charge the client with a felony assault. Instead, the District Attorney agreed to file a misdemeanor charge and recommend deferred prosecution, meaning all charges will be dismissed after our client completes the program.