Wisconsin Court of Appeals Reverses Felony OWI Conviction

The Wisconsin Court of Appeals agreed with Hart Powell, S.C. Attorney Craig Powell, and turned a Felony OWI-3rd conviction into an OWI-1st. Craig convinced the court that his client’s 1998 OWI-2nd conviction could not be counted as a prior offense because the client, who was not represented by a lawyer, did not understand the disadvantages of self-representation in that case. As a result, due to the passage of time between the client’s original OWI offense in 1996 and the current offense, the current offense will be treated as a non-criminal forfeiture.