OWI-DUI-DWI

Drunk Driving Information

My OWI Story - Part 2

The Decision to Fight Back

I struggled over this decision and my wife struggled right along with me. What is the right thing to do? Adults with families must often sacrifice for the good of the family. But is it right to allow a broken system to set you up and knock you down unjustly. Is it good for my family if I have an OWI on my record? Is it good to pay higher insurance rates for many years. Is it good to pay a fine to a government that passes such arbitrary law, and by paying such a fine, make it worth their while financially? Is it good to go to alchohol assessment when I only take a drink three times in a month?

Clearly, these are not good things. But we always came back to the money. $6,000 or $7,000 or $8,000 is a lot of money to remove from our family budget. I made the decision. Because of the high cost of justice, I would not fight. I would plead "No Contest", admitting no guilt, but suffering the same consequences as if guilty.

Besides talking with my wife, I had also confided in my employer and a few good friends. I was very pleased that I have the good fortune to work for and associate with such good people that I could tell them of my OWI arrest and have my message received with empathy and understanding. In fact, as I explained to one of my good friends that I was going to plead "No Contest" because of the prohibitively high cost of a good defense, he offered to pay my attorney fees. He is a generous man of strong principle. He apparently decided that injustice should be stood up to and that my legal defense was a good use of his money.

I struggled again with the decision because I didn't think I should take my friend's money for this. Again I went home to my best friend, my wife, and discussed my new dilemma. We decide that I should not accept this financial help, which essentially would have someone else pay for my problem. I went back to my generous friend and told him "Thanks for your very generous offer". But I explained that I believe I should pay my own way. He insisted and explained that he really wanted to help. After further discussion with my wife, I told him I would accept his help but that I too would pay part of the cost. The decision was reversed. I would indeed fight back through the legal system.

Miracle #1

I believe I have seen the hand of God in this thing. It is in great adversity that we often see how loving and helpful (and subtle) our Creator really is. I had already delivered my written plea of "No Contest" to the Clerk of Courts before the conversation with my generous friend. It is as if I was being coaxed to change my plea and to fight this thing. Luckily, when my preliminary court date arrived, I was still able to change my plea to "Not Guilty". Wow...that sounds good! Not Guilty!!!

My Attorney

You may recall that I had done my research on OWI Lawyers before deciding to plead "No Contest". I had spoken with several. One in particular had impressed me. Yes, he had very good credentials. Yes, he was the most costly of those I spoke with. These things mattered. But more than that, he seemed like someone who believed in what he was doing. He seemed to believe in me. I knew it was a long shot, but I thought maybe he can help me to win. He was bright. (Now, I know he was brilliant.) I hired him. I had to pay him upfront. $7,500. Was he worth it? Yes!!! Should it cost this much to defend yourself? Of course not!!! When the cost of justice is so high, the system is broken, at least for the average citizen. The justice system is clearly geared toward those who can pay the price. If you can't, you simply take the consequences.

My attorney was able to get the police video that was refused to me. I don't quite understand that. The video was a source of great confidence for me. The video is not one of a drunk person. I look very much in control and very normal on the video. The video also clearly shows the driving wind and rain that I had to contend with during my sobriety tests that cold March night.

He was also able to get the police dispatch tape, which was pretty well inaudible. He was also able to get the records of the machine that was used to test my blood sample. Interestingly enough, these records, including the record of my sample, were hand written (and maybe subject to transposition or other human transcribing and calculation errors). Even more interesting, over the time that we waited for my trial to move forward, proceedures at the lab were changed to eliminate the hand written recording of blood test information. It was changed to improve accuracy. Oh?

He was very familiar with police procedures as they relate to OWI and he was familiar with the police training manual. As he studied my story, the police report, the police video and the other evidence, he explained the weaknesses and areas of doubt in the prosecutions case against me. He also explained court proceedures which are very much geared toward attorneys and are difficult to understand for the average citizen. My attorney helped me to build my confidence in my case.

Miracle #2

From the time of my arrest to my actual trial date was 20 months. Where is the hand of God in this? I'll explain that later. By the way, so much for the notion of a "speedy trial" or "swift justice".

The Speedy Trial

My trial was delayed 3 times and finally went forward the 4th time. The delays had to do most often with the court's schedule. One delay was due to the blood analyst giving birth (prosecution's witness). I guess over a period of 20 months, a lot can happen. I wondered how the officer would ever remember my arrest among the hundreds he has made since.

Each time that we approached the trial date, my wife and I would meet with my attorney, to go over the facts of the case and to discuss the court proceedures.

Merry Christmas

Yes, believe it our not, my trial was scheduled to finally go forward nealy two years after my arrest. The date was scheduled just a few days before Christmas. My wife and I were very displeased that our holiday season was going to be essentially preempted by my OWI trial. Merry Christmas indeed.

The Mailed Subpoena

About one week before my trial, my wife received a subpoena in the mail to appear as a prosecution witness. That week I went to see my attorney for our final pre-trial meeting. Because she was so busy preparing for the holidays, my wife decided not to join me this time. I told her that I would ask my attorney what she must do about the subpoena. His answer took me by surprise.

The Surprise

All through the months and through the various meetings with my attorney, it was assummed by all of us that my wife would testify in my behalf. She was very nervous about it, but was resigned to do it. She was concerned however, that the prosecuting attorney would turn her words around or trick her into saying something that would damage my defense. As the time approached to go to trial she was very uneasy.

I think it was because she didn't accompany me on that final trip to see my attorney that he assummed she was not going to testify. I asked him if that would be okay. He told me that it was a toss up. Her testimony could help but it could also be used to discredit my testimony. He explained that prosecutors are very good at getting witnesses to contradict themselves or each other. They try to confuse the facts to make the witness look bad to the jury. I was pleased at this turn of events because I knew it would take a lot of pressure off of my wife. I knew she would be relieved that she would not have to testify. I couldn't wait to tell her the good news. Surprise Honey!!

But what about the supoena? My attorney explained that a supoena must be served to the witness in person. Because my wife was served via the U.S. mail, she was under no obligation to respond or appear. As an aside, the mailed supoena is worded in such a way that the average citizen would think they were obligated to respond. If you respond via the mail, you are obligated to appear. Per my attorney's instructions, she didn't respond. She was off the hook...or was she?

It was still a few days before the trial and we worried that the prosecuting attorney could still deliver a supoena to my wife if he realized that she had not responded to his mailed supoena. For the next few days my wife did a lot of shopping and errand running to avoid being home just in case a supoena was on its way. She said she felt like a fugitive from justice. The supoena never came. She truly was off the hook. I was happy for her. But was this good for the outcome of my case? It turned out to be very good for my case, but in an unexpected way. It will come out in the trial.

The Trial Begins with Jury Selection

Jury selection doesn't seem too exciting, but when you come to realize that these 8 people will decide your case, it gets much more intense. In my case, the jury selection process became very important.

You see, each side, the prosecution and the defense, gets to ask questions of the jury pool. These questions help the attorneys to eliminate jurors who they think will be detrimental to their respective sides. What was unusual in my case is that one of the prospective jurors asked a question of the judge during the jury selection process. I was told that this is very unusual. This person asked if I had been given the opportunity to get my own BAC test taken. (In Wisconsin, you have the right to have your own blood test taken at your expense.) Interestingly enough, this prospective juror ended up on the seated jury. (Both sides had other people they wanted eliminated from the jury more than her.) This too becomes very important later in the trial.

The rest of my story!