States Objects to waiving preliminary hearing - OWI Dissmissed

OWI Dismissed - States Objects to waiving preliminary hearing

Yesterday, the court dismissed an OWI charge against my client. The State of Wisconsin objected to waiving a preliminary hearing on the grounds that they felt that they had the right to the hearing. Total joke.

You see new things everyday...

You see things new everyday. Today, a judge found a client of mine not guilty of drunk driving when I asked him to find the client guilty. It was in municipal court and if we lost, we could appeal and start the whole process over in front of a jury. The court found the Village did not meet their burden of proof and found him not guilty, now the Village can appeal which makes defending the case more difficult.

Suspended License and the Police

I ran in the Whistlestop Marathon over the weekend and thank God it is over. My legs are so very sore. I did see that the Court of Appeals found that reasonable suspicion to pull a vehicle over exists if the police know the owner of the vehicles license is suspended, even though they do not know who is driving the car. I hope it goes up to the Supreme Court, small municipal police are going to have a field day with that one.

Retiring Judge John Shabaz

It was in the paper today that Judge John Shabaz was going to assume senior status if the President can appoint his successor prior to January of 2010. This will be the first federal vacancy in 25 years in the Western District of Wisconsin. Judge Shabaz was known for being extremely harsh on federal drug sentences. I had tried various times to get him to reduce the 100 to 1 ratio for powder to crack disparity on cocaine cases and he never agreed. No doubt many attorneys in Madison will be interested in seeing who will be his replacement.