Some recent success stories from the criminal defense side of Mays Law Office, LLC.

In the Village of Marshall four teenagers were charged with one count each of disorderly conduct and damage to public property.  The charges arose from an incident in which a public park’s bathrooms and concession stand were vandalized.  An onlooker flagged down an officer and reported what she had just seen.  Four of the teenagers were identified and subsequently questioned by the officer.  Each one gave conflicting and shifting accounts of what occurred.  The only consistency is that each one denied being involved and suggested that the others were responsible.  A little over a week prior to the matters proceeding to trial, Attorney John Orth was retained to represent one of the teens.  After obtaining police reports Attorney Orth made contact with the prosecuting attorney.  Her position was that given the fact that no one was accepting any responsibility, she would not be offering any plea deals or concessions and simply proceed to trial and let the judge decide which, if any, of the teens were being truthful.  When the trial was about to commence, Attorney Orth requested a meeting with all of the parents present.  After a rocky start with each of the parents being angry in varying degrees with their own children, the other children, and the police, Attorney Orth set about seeking some common ground, common sense, and a unified plan for how to proceed.  As always, the number one objective is to avoid convictions and sometimes that requires creativity, flexibility, and persuasion.  After some back and forth between the prosecuting attorney and the group of parents, Attorney Orth was able to reach a solution that was beneficial to all involved.  Rather than proceeding to trial and having the judge try to sort out the truth, Attorney Orth was able to convince the prosecuting attorney to agree to hold the charges open for 60 days.  During that time each of the teens would agree to perform eight to ten hours of community service for the Parks Department and all of the families would split the relatively modest restitution for repairing the damage four ways.  Upon fulfilling these obligations, all charges were dismissed.  An event that began with palpable anxiety and angry grumbling ended with a group of families lightheartedly chatting and catching up.

Attorney Stephen Mays was contacted by the distraught mother of a 17-year-old boy, ND, who was being held in the county jail for days pending a bail hearing before a court commissioner.  He was being charged with felony reckless endangering of safety for allegedly driving at a speed in excess of 115 MPH in a high-traffic business district with a 35 MPH speed limit.  While ND’s conduct may have been impulsive and perhaps reckless (two things teenagers often are), Attorney Mays was determined not to have a young man be saddled with a felony conviction that could haunt him for the rest of his life.  By focusing on the positive attributes in ND’s life – great grades, being in the process of obtaining a pilot’s license, working multiple jobs – Attorney Mays we able to convince the prosecuting attorney that this is a promising young man with a bright future that would be all but destroyed by a felony conviction and greatly hampered by any conviction.  Attorney Mays got the charge reduced to a misdemeanor charge of negligent operation of a motor vehicle and secured a deferred prosecution agreement ultimately resulting in dismissal of the charge.  In the end, ND won’t have so much as even a speeding ticket to show for this incident.

Following a three-month long intensive investigation by the Federal Drug Enforcement Agency working in conjunction with local law enforcement, GV was arrested in a sting operation executed by the Wisconsin State Patrol.  The investigators obtained warrants to track all of GV’s movements by GPS and ultimately determined that a storage unit was the nexus of his activities and a warrant for its search was obtained.  While the State Patrol was detaining GV in a traffic stop that ultimately led to his arrest for misdemeanor possession of cocaine, the search warrant for the storage unit was executed.  Among other evidence, agents seized an entire pound of cocaine.  Initially charged in state court for simple possession of cocaine while the evidence from the storage unit was being processed, GV was referred by a trusted friend to Attorney Orth for representation.  Given the overwhelming strength of the evidence and the fact that law enforcement methodically followed proper procedures and secured valid warrants every step of the way, the best strategy was to work out the best deal possible.  And to do so for not only the current misdemeanor charge, but to begin negotiations on the upcoming felony possession with intent to deliver while there was still a possibility to wrap that more serious charge into a state court agreement.  Were it to be filed in the Federal District Court, GV would be facing sentencing guidelines that would ensure a lengthy prison sentence given the amount of cocaine seized.  Ultimately, Attorney Orth was able to convince the prosecutor to agree to impose but stay a two-year prison sentence and instead place GV on probation for three years.  One pound of cocaine and not a day in prison – no small feat.

LR was charged with felony stalking of underage victims.  The alleged victims in this case were his step-grandchildren – the children of LR’s second wife’s son and his wife.  During the height of the COVID-19 pandemic, the children’s parents had concerns about their grandmother’s and LR’s level of safety precautions and drastically reduced the amount of exposure LR and his wife were allowed to have with the children.  This conflict ultimately led to a souring of relations between the two families and LR and his wife were told to have no contact with them.  However, given that all parties live in the same small town, incidental contact would be practically inevitable.  In instances in which that would happen, LR found it to feel awkward and downright mean spirited to ignore the children.  Instead, he would simply wave or say hello.  These seemingly innocuous gestures incensed the children’s parents.  And as often unfortunately happens, what might have been a minor and easily correctable dispute turns into a potentially life altering event when law enforcement is brought into the picture.  Given the serious charge LR was now facing, he turned to Mays Law Office for assistance.  Over the course of nearly three years of persistent advocacy, investigation and negotiation, Attorney Mays was successful in convincing the prosecuting attorney that the allegations reported by the parents were, in fact, simply trumped up, concocted out of sheer anger and lacking any real merit.  Throughout that time, Attorney Mays made it perfectly clear that he would absolutely not settle for anything less than outright dismissal.  And in the end, that’s exactly what he secured for LR.

Mays Law Office is proud of the results that they continually get for their clients.  This kind of strong advocacy comes in many forms that can only be mastered with experience and a strong reputation.  Attorneys Mays and Orth have more than 45 years of combined experience defending their clients in criminal matters with superb results.  Contact them today for a free consultation.