Wisconsin drunk driving defense lawyers

Common Drunk Driving owi Defenses

If you have been charged with a drunk driving offense, don't despair; there is hope. There are as many creative ways to overcome such charges as there are police to bring them, but not every drunk driving defense lawyer can successfully win on the more creative defenses. At Birdsall Law Offices, the drunk driving defense attorneys have been very successfully in overcoming clever prosecuting attorneys. If you have been charged with drunk driving, please contact the law office to speak with an attorney. :: See Free Initial Consultation :: What to bring ::

Some of the more typical defense strategies are listed below.

Administrative suspension.

You will be given a form that will allow you 10 days from the date of arrest to request an "Administrative Suspension Hearing." This is a very often overlooked hearing that will allow you to subpoena the arresting officer and get him locked into a version of events. Many attorneys either don't know about how to request and conduct these hearings, or don't even know they exist. At this hearing you may challenge whether proper notice about alternate test options was given, whether the "Informing the Accused" was read and, most importantly, if there was probable cause to make the arrest. This last one is the real focus of this hearing: you can lock the officer into his story about what he saw, where he saw it, how he conducted the field sobriety tests, and (hopefully) detail all of your conduct that actually showed sobriety (able to walk, talk, stand and understand directions, etc.)

The administrative hearing takes place at the Department of Motor Vehicles, with a DMV employee (conveniently called a "hearing examiner") presiding over the hearing and making all of the decision. The hearing should be recorded. You can either tape record the hearing, or arrange for an independent court reporter to be present to record and then transcribe the testimony.

If the officer does not show after being subpoenaed, the Administrative Suspension is vacated, and you may continue to drive with your regular licence while the case is pending.

Field Sobriety Tests

Field sobriety tests are very bad indicators of intoxication. Nevertheless, the state uses them and people without an OWI attorney are convicted on their results. Field sobriety tests have been proven in court trials to be very bad indicators of intoxication. Even though the tests are faulty and wrong, people are often convicted with them because they do not have an experienced drunk driving defense lawyer to argue otherwise. Don't get caught in that trap.

Three tests are recognized by the federal Department of Transportation (DOT) as accurate indicators of intoxication. Many field sobriety tests, such as HGN (Horizontal Gaze Nystagmus), Walk and Turn, and One Leg Stand, were found to be only 65-77% ineffective, thereby leaving their results open to dispute in court proceedings. These tests are wrong nearly 1/3 of the time, but people who do not have an OWI attorney are wrongly convicted on those tests. Police officers also incorrectly administer these tests, which reduces the accuracy of the results even more.

Another favorite test of police officers are the "divided attention" tests. In those tests, police force you to concentrate on multiple physical movements that are not natural for humans.

Preliminary Breath Test

The results of a preliminary breath test are inadmissible at a trial. The jury will never hear about it, but the officer and the court may use it as part of the probable cause justification to arrest you. The machines used for this test, are often cheaply made and incorrectly administered by ill-trained police officers.

Horizontal Gaze Nystagmus (HGN)

For the horizontal gaze nystagmus - HGN - test, police pass a pen in front of your face and you are asked to follow it with your eyes. Supposedly, if your eyes exhibit a jerkiness (nystagmus) during the passes, it indicates intoxication. However, your OWI defense attorney will force the police officer to admit that nystagmus can, and does, occur naturally in many people, and that stress and bright lights (which are present at every traffic stop) can bring an onset of nystagmus.

Walk and Turn Test

Police will ask you to keep your hands at your side, walk heel-to-toe 9 steps (counting each aloud), turn and walk back. They will be looking for "clues," such as if your walking was unbalanced, if you stopped while walking, if your heel and toe didn't touch, if you used your arms for balance, if you made an improper turn (often a "pirouette," like a ballet dancer) and if you made an incorrect number of steps. The facts about this test are similar to the other tests; walking heel-to-toe is a very unnatural movement that very few sober people can do. As well, few police officers could do this test, except for the fact that they are trained to do it at the police academy. There are many challenges to this test: the slope of the road, presence of gravel, heavy clothing in the winter, high heels, passing traffic dangers, distracting squad lights as well as police spotlights.

The One legged stand

Only pelicans are physically qualified to do a one leg stand.For the one leg stand test, police will ask you to put your feet together, and then raise one foot and count to 30 using "one thousand one," etc. Police officers will record any swaying, using arms for balance, hopping and putting your foot down. The same test conditions that are troubling for the walk-and-turn apply here. The one leg stand is physically impossible for most people to accomplish, unless they are gymnasts or police officers who practice it every night by the roadside while arresting fellow citizens.

Alphabet

For the alphabet test, police will ask you to recite the alphabet without singing it, and they may ask you to recite the alphabet backwards. It sounds simple. After all, everybody knows the alphabet, yet people often miss a letter, get rattled, begin again, etc. The alphabet test is not a recognized test, and can be challenged on that ground alone. The alphabet test should not be the part of any probable cause analysis.

BAC tests

Remember, while they usually charge you with both OWI and BAC crimes, you can only be convicted of one charge under the statute. Police use both breath and blood samples to prove that you were intoxicated. Even so, you can only be convicted on one charge.

Intoximeter
An intoximeter tests your breath to determine if you have alcohol on your breath, and if so, how much alcohol you likely have in your bloodstream. The intoximeter test results are very flawed and many challenges can be made, such as: if the machine was maintained properly and was calibrated correctly, if the operator (a cop) did the 20 minute observation period, or if the machine's design was flawed. The physiology of the subject (you) can be challenged on the basis of the depth of your breaths or perhaps excess dissipation from your saliva, which greatly affect the test results. An outside catalyst, such as Radio Frequency Interference from police radios, may cast doubt on the test result. All of these issues (and more) can create reasonable doubt that the test result is accurate.

Blood Test
Blood tests are more difficult to challenge, but not hopeless. Often times, the procedures used to draw blood can cast strong doubt on the results, such as if the medical technician made an error or was ill-trained, if there was contamination with the chain of custody of the sample, or even if the crime lab used improper procedure or the analyst was insufficiently trained.

Initial Consultation free

The attorneys at Birdsall Law Offices stand ready to defend you against any type of criminal charge, for probation and parole issues, in drunk driving cases, and on appeal to the Wisconsin Circuit Court, Court of Appeals or Supreme Court.

For a free initial consultation to discuss your situation, please call 1-866-493-0726, e-mail - - or send your case information to the attorneys at Birdsall Law Office, S.C..

The criminal defense attorneys at Birdsall Law represent people across the state of Wisconsin and routinely appear in the counties (and cities) listed below.

• *Milwaukee County (Milwaukee, Wisconsin)
• *Brown County (Green Bay, Wisconsin)
• Door County (Sturgeon Bay, Wisconsin)
• Fond du Lac County (Fond du Lac, Wisconsin)
• Kenosha County (Kenosha, Wisconsin)
• Manitowoc County (Manitowoc, Wisconsin)
• Outagamie County (Appleton, Wisconsin)
• Racine County (Racine, Wisconsin)
• Sheboygan County (Sheboygan, Wisconsin)
• Winnebago County (Oshkosh, Wisconsin)

*Birdsall Law Offices, S.C. has offices in Milwaukee, Wisconsin and Green Bay, Wisconsin. Call 1-866-493-0726 and you will be connected to the attorney that can help you.