FN FAL
Freight Dawgs Rule
- Joined
- Dec 17, 2003
- Posts
- 8,573
First offense DUI is not a "criminal" offense in WI...it's a civil offense.midlifeflyer said:...In other states, there is a separate administrative procedure in which the licensing agency can do the suspension through an administrative procedure that has nothing whatsoever to do with the criminal proceedings. It's possible to have your license suspended through that process even if you "win" the DUI trial in the criminal courts, due to different standards of proof in each.
There are at least a few other variations on the theme of loss of driving privilege without a conviction. That variety is probably the reason 61.15 defines "motor vehicle action" the way it does.
In WI, the officer will hand you a pink piece of paper that he will simply tell you is a "reciept" for your driver's license. This is really a "notice to suspend" and becomes a 30 day temporary license for the alleged violator and gives him/her something to drive on until they suspend you after the judicial review.
Here's where a pilot who gets pinched, may want to pay attention. You may attend the judicial review and ask that your license not be suspended untill your actual court disposition. Then, if you can postpone your court case for a year, you might be able to postpone your FAA notification and your employer notification until after you have met your probationary period of employment...it could be something to think about.
Otherwise, for most people, it's probably going to be better to get the suspension out of the way as soon as possible, by taking it up front at the judicial review determination. If you read the last sentence in the quoted material, it is said that the adminstrative and the court imposed suspensions run concurently...which means if you take your suspension up front, when you are tried and found guilty, the court will see that you already served your suspension already. You do not get a second suspension.
In Wisconsin, first-time Operating While Intoxicated (OWI) offenses are treated as civil rather than criminal offenses and may be adjudicated by municipal courts. Wisconsin statutes prohibit prosecutors from reducing OWI offenses to lesser offenses, and deferred prosecution also is generally prohibited.
Wisconsin imposes both an administrative and a court-imposed license suspension for the first OWI offense. The administrative penalties include a mandatory six-month suspension for persons who fail the BAC test and a mandatory one-year revocation if the BAC test is refused. The administrative penalties are imposed 30 days after the date of the offense. If the driver fails the test, the law enforcement officer takes immediate possession of the driver's license and gives notice to the driver that the license will be administratively suspended and that the driver has the right to obtain an administrative and judicial review. This notice serves as a 30-day temporary license. The officer then forwards the license to the Division of Motor Vehicles, which suspends the license if the driver does not appeal. The process is similar in the case of a test refusal, except that the officer gives the driver a notice to revoke by court order, and then forwards the license to the court, with copies to the prosecutor and the Division of Motor Vehicles. Upon conviction for OWI, offenders receive a court-imposed license revocation of six to nine months. The administrative and court-imposed license penalties must run concurrently.