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Recent Blog Posts
Pedestrian Accidents: When Intersections, People and Automobiles Collide
Getting struck by an automobile is a traumatic experience for most when two automobiles are involved. But when a vehicle strikes a pedestrian, the experience is not only traumatic but also often deadly.
Recently, an individual driving under the influence struck and killed a pedestrian. At approximately 7:15PM on June 18, 2015, the driver sped through a red light and struck a pedestrian who was properly walking within a crosswalk when she was struck by the vehicle. The pedestrian later died of her injuries at the hospital.
Proving Liability in Pedestrian Accident Cases
Understanding Motions to Suppress in the Context of Traffic Stops
Individuals all throughout Wisconsin have, at one point in time, found themselves detained by a police officer for a traffic violation. Of course, this may be for good reason, or it may have been conducted illegally. To be sure, when a law enforcement officer pulls you over, they must have a probable cause that a crime has been committed. This means that if you were driving one mile over to speed limit, or had a broken tail light at the time you were pulled over, the officer was within their lawful powers to pull you over.
If the traffic stop was illegal, a motion to suppress would be appropriate. A motion to suppress is a tool used to challenge the admissibility of evidence used in the prosecution’s case against the defendant. When the court is deciding whether to grant or dismiss a motion to suppress, the court will look at the totality of circumstances, which includes the officer’s decision to stop and arrest you.
Fighting OWI Charges in Wisconsin
Getting charged and convicted with operating while intoxicated (OWI) can have devastating consequences on your life. If you are found guilty, your driver’s license could be revoked, your insurance will increase and you might be looking at significant fines and jail time.
Wisconsin, like many states, passed laws to combat drunk driving. According to the law, no person is permitted to operate a motor vehicle under the influence of drug or alcohol.
Therefore, in order for you to be found guilty, the prosecution must prove that you were 1) operating an automobile 2) while under the influence of drug or alcohol.
Implied Consent
Wisconsin has adopted a law known as implied consent. This ultimately means that if you are lawfully arrested by a police officer who believes that you were operating an automobile under the influence, you are required to take a blood, urine or breathalyzer exam. This law applies even if you are not operating the automobile. For example, if you pulled the car over to sleep, turned the engine off and took a nap, and the police find you, you will be required to take an exam to determine if there are drugs or alcohol in your system and you may be charged with an OWI.
Negligence in Automobile Accidents
In mere seconds, the negligent conduct of another can significantly change your life. Accidents come in all shapes and sizes, and some happen in the most unusual of circumstances. In order to recover for any injuries you suffered, you need to prove that the negligent conduct of the other party caused your injuries.
In order to prove negligence, you need to prove that the other party owed you a duty, breached that duty, the breach caused your injury and that you suffered damages as a result of the negligent conduct. Under Wisconsin law, if you contributed to the accident, then you will be deemed to have been comparatively negligent; here, any recovery you are entitled to will be reduced by the percentage of your negligence or completely barred if you are over 51 percent negligent.
Not Guilty: Defending against Bank Robbery Charges
Traditionally, robbery was defined as using force or intimidation to take property from another. Today, when individuals steal from a bank by force or intimidation, they are guilty of bank robbery. The simple conduct of passing a note to a bank teller demanding money falls under the category of bank robbery even if you did not use a weapon, it is intimidation.
Under Wisconsin law, bank robbery is a serious offense. According to the law, a person who commits bank robbery is one who: “by use of force or threat to use imminent force takes from an individual or in the presence of an individual money or property that is owned by or under the custody or control of a financial institution.” Bank robbery is a Class C felony and carries a possible $100,000 fine, up to 40 years imprisonment, or in some cases both.
Objective Reasonableness: Mistakes of Law and the Fourth Amendment
When you are about to be pulled over by law enforcement officers, you presume the officers pulling you over know the law, since they are charged with enforcing it. Usually, law enforcement officers are aware of the laws they are enforcing. Sometimes, however, law enforcement officers stop you based on their mistaken belief of the law — specifically, on an incorrect understanding of the law.
- Judged through the perspective of a reasonable officer;
Negligence: The Disastrous Effects of Tractor Trailer and Automobile Collisions
When large trucks or tractor-trailers are involved in accidents with passenger automobiles, the results are usually disastrous. The sheer size and weight disparity between these two types of vehicles mean that even minor accidents have the possibility of causing serious injuries and even death. When you add a careless truck driver to the mix, it is certainly a recipe for catastrophe.
In 2013, the Wisconsin Department of Transportation estimates that large trucks were involved in over 7,000 accidents across the state of Wisconsin, resulting in 86 deaths and approximately 1,500 injuries. Unfortunately, trucking accidents are part of sharing the roads and highways with commercial trucking vehicles. In 2012, the National Highway and Traffic Safety Administration estimated that large commercial trucks were involved in over 330,000 accidents that resulted in approximately 3,900 deaths and 104,000 injuries. In any event, the law in Wisconsin, and the majority of the United States, provides that when the negligence of another driver contributes to an accident and causes you to suffer injuries, you are entitled to compensation for those injuries.
Attempted Homicide and the Prosecution’s Case
Homicide charges are some of the most serious crimes punished by society because homicide is often an intentional or unlawful taking of a human life, unless it is justified. In most states, including Wisconsin, the death penalty has been abolished. However, if someone commits homicide while also committing federal crimes, even if they lived and committed those crimes in Wisconsin, they could be subject to the death penalty.
Like homicide, attempted homicide is an extremely serious offense that comes with some of the most severe penalties that Wisconsin law has to offer. Attempted homicide occurs only when an individual intends to commit a homicide and tries to carry out the homicide but, for some reason, this individual fails to finish the crime.
Five Ways to Avoid Sabotaging Your OWI Defense
When you have been arrested for operating your vehicle under the influence of an intoxicant (OWI), you may feel that your life cannot get any worse at that moment in time. Shortly after you are arrested, the circumstances surrounding your arrest are still developing, and depending on the situation, your case may even be dismissed months down the line. However, if you engage in certain actions, you may give the prosecution more ammunition against you and proving that you may be your own worst enemy.
Under Wisconsin law, in order to be convicted of a OWI, the prosecution must prove that you were operating a motor vehicle while under the influence of an intoxicant. The prosecution has to prove every single element of the OWI charge in order to obtain a conviction. If the prosecution fails to prove any single element, the case against you is substantially weakened which raises your chance of acquittal.
Things to Avoid
Avoiding Pedestrian Accidents
Automobile accidents can be deadly when two automobiles are involved. When pedestrians are involved in automobile accidents, their injuries tend to be serious, and more often than not they lead to death.
Recently, a pedestrian was involved in accident caused by the automobile driver. The pedestrian was crossing the street when the automobile driver fatally hit him. Although these accidents are often devastating, they happen too frequently here in Wisconsin. According to the Wisconsin Department of Transportation in 2012, there were over 118,000 automobile accidents and 1,273 accidents involving pedestrians. As a result of those accidents, over 1,200 pedestrians suffered injuries while another 35 pedestrians were killed.
