100s of Cases Dismissed

River Falls, WI driver charged with OWI/PAC-1st offense. This was truly the type of case you don’t see every day. Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the law enforcement officers were careful about disinfecting the Intoximeter breath testing machine area of their jail. The problem with using disinfectants, however, is that many contain alcohol. The Intoximeter aborted at least two testing sequences because alcohol from Lysol spray was contaminating its “blank checks,” which have to come back at 0.000 for a testing sequence to be completed. Finally, a testing sequence was able to be finished; however, if the Lysol contaminated two sequences before this, the risk that it continued to contaminate and artificially inflate the breath test results for this client were too great to ignore. The prosecutor agreed with Attorney Nero’s arguments, decided not to fight a losing battle, and amended the charges to reckless driving. The client was thrilled.

River Falls, WI driver charged with OWI/PAC-1st offense. This was truly the type of case you don’t see every day. Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the law enforcement officers were careful about disinfecting the Intoximeter breath testing machine area of their jail. The problem with using disinfectants, however, is that many contain alcohol. The Intoximeter aborted at least two testing sequences because alcohol from Lysol spray was contaminating its “blank checks,” which have to come back at 0.000 for a testing sequence to be completed. Finally, a testing sequence was able to be finished; however, if the Lysol contaminated two sequences before this, the risk that it continued to contaminate and artificially inflate the breath test results for this client were too great to ignore. The prosecutor agreed with Attorney Nero’s arguments, decided not to fight a losing battle, and amended the charges to reckless driving. The client was thrilled.

Chetek, WI driver charged with OWI/PAC-3rd offense. This case involved a successful attack on an alleged prior offense. Due to the timing of the client’s other priors, this was reduced not just from an OWI-3rd to an OWI-2nd, but all the way down to an OWI-1st, which saved the client from having to do any jail time at all, a lengthier license revocation, and ignition interlock device order.

Lakeland, MN driver charged with OWI/PAC-7th offense, which carries a mandatory minimum 3-year prison sentence upon conviction. Like the case above, this man needed to find a problem with one of his prior offenses to avoid that prison sentence. Luckily, Attorney Nero found such a problem, and presented it to the prosecutor, who did their own review of the situation. After that review and several lengthy conversation, the prosecutor agreed that they could not prove what needed to be proven regarding that prior conviction. The charges were amended to OWI-6th offense and the client was able to continue working and to maintain a relationship with his child.

Lakeland, MN driver charged with OWI/PAC-7th offense, which carries a mandatory minimum 3-year prison sentence upon conviction. Like the case above, this man needed to find a problem with one of his prior offenses to avoid that prison sentence. Luckily, Attorney Nero found such a problem, and presented it to the prosecutor, who did their own review of the situation. After that review and several lengthy conversation, the prosecutor agreed that they could not prove what needed to be proven regarding that prior conviction. The charges were amended to OWI-6th offense and

Champlin, MN driver charged with OWI/PAC-7th offense. His alleged prior convictions dated back to 1989, which is the first year Wisconsin law begins to consider and count prior offenses against those charged with OWI. Whether these old convictions are countable in a new case often depends on whether the court of conviction has destroyed the records, which they often do after several decades have gone by. This was one such case. This client needed to have one prior conviction “thrown out” if he was going to avoid prison. Fortunately, after extensive pretrial litigation, the State conceded the issue. The prior was thrown out, and the client’s sentenced was reduced from a mandatory minimum three-year prison sentence to a few short months of house arrest.