Washington County v. Kelly L. Springer, 2020AP491, 10/21/20, District 2 (1-judge opinion, ineligble for publication); case activity (including briefs) After being stopped for a suspected OWI, Springer failed field sobriety tests and his preliminary breath test showed a .18% blood alcohol content. A sheriff read the Informing the Accused form and asked if he would… Read more
Refusal Hearing
Village of Lomira v. Phillip N. Benninghoff, 2020AP31, District 4, 10/15/20 (one-judge decision; ineligible for publication); case activity (including briefs) Benninghoff tries to raise a bevy of challenges to the implied consent law and to the revocation of his driving privileges for refusing a blood draw. His challenges are forfeited because he failed to file… Read more
State v. Scott W. Heimbruch, 2020 WI App 68; case activity (including briefs) When an officer arrests a driver either for OWI or for causing death or great bodily harm without suspicion of OWI and requests a chemical test, he must read the driver the legislatively prescribed “Informing the Accused” form. See §343.305(3) and (4)… Read more
State v. Bartosz Mika, 2019AP1488, District 2, 2/19/20 (one-judge decision; ineligible for publication); case activity (including briefs) The circuit court appropriately exercised its discretion in continuing Mika’s refusal hearing so the state could call another witness, and the testimony of the additional witness established police had reasonable suspicion to stop Mika. After Mika was arrested… Read more
State v. Robert E. Hammersley, 2018AP1022, District 3, 7/30/19 (one-judge decision; ineligible for publication); case activity (including appellant’s brief) Birchfield v. North Dakota, 136 S. Ct. 2160 (2016), doesn’t provide a basis to void the revocation of Hammersley’s driver’s license back in 1995 for refusing a blood alcohol test after his OWI arrest. Hammersley argues… Read more
State v. Nathan Alan Bise, 2017AP1662, District 4, 1/24/19 (one-judge decision; ineligible for publication); case activity (including briefs) Bise raises three challenges to the finding he improperly refused a breath test. The court of appeals rejects them all. Bise’s main argument is that there wasn’t a sufficient factual basis to find he refused a test… Read more
City of Crandon v. Lynda Morris, 2017AP2266, District 3, 1/15/19 (one-judge decision; ineligible for publication); case activity (including brief of appellant; respondent didn’t file one….) The circuit court improperly jumped the gun by ordering Morris’s driver’s license to be revoked for refusal before the 10-day deadline for her to request a refusal hearing. But she… Read more
State v. Stuart W. Topping, 2018AP318, 2/6/18, District 4 (1-judge opinion, ineligible for publication); case activity (including brief) You don’t see this very often. Topping, represented by counsel, filed an initial brief. The State never responded. That might have been cause for summary reversal. But here Topping’s challenge to the circuit court’s finding that he… Read more
