Baraboo is the seat of Sauk County, which means a criminal case that starts anywhere in the county tends to end up here — at the Sauk County Circuit Court on Oak Street. An arrest by the Baraboo Police Department or the Sauk County Sheriff’s Office is only the opening move. After booking at the Law Enforcement Center on Lange Court, the reports go to the Sauk County District Attorney’s Office, which decides what to charge, and an initial appearance gets set whether or not you have a lawyer yet. The window before that first hearing — while officers still want a statement and the charges are not yet locked in — is when a defense does its most important work.

Mays Law Office represents clients across Wisconsin from our office in Middleton — including Baraboo, the rest of Sauk County, and the Sauk-side cases that come out of the Wisconsin Dells area. Our office is at 6405 Century Ave STE 103 in Middleton. Call 608-305-4518 for a free consultation before you give anyone else your version of what happened.

Criminal Defense Attorneys in Baraboo, WI

Attorney Stephen E. Mays has practiced law in Wisconsin since 1995. He is a member of the National Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers, the Wisconsin Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers, and the State Bar of Wisconsin. For someone charged in Baraboo, that experience runs the length of the process: a case here is charged by the Sauk County DA’s office and heard in the Sauk County Circuit Court, and knowing how a Wisconsin criminal case actually moves — from initial appearance to suppression motion to trial — is the difference between reacting to the State and getting ahead of it.

The job does not change from courtroom to courtroom: make the State carry its burden on every element of every count. Was the stop lawful? Was the questioning constitutional? Does the evidence actually prove what the complaint alleges? Those are the questions a case needs answered from the start, and we begin pressing them at the first phone call.

When to Call Our Baraboo, WI Criminal Defense Lawyers

Some situations should trigger a call the same day:

• Someone you love is being held at the Sauk County Jail. Bail is set at the initial appearance, and once it is set, changing it is harder. Counsel should be in place before that hearing, not after.
• An officer wants to “ask a few questions.” Miranda warnings are required only during custodial interrogation. If a reasonable person in your position would not consider the situation the equivalent of formal arrest, no warning is owed — and what you say can still be used against you, though other challenges, such as voluntariness, may remain.
• Police responded to a domestic incident at your home. Under Wisconsin’s mandatory-arrest law, Wis. Stat. § 968.075, officers with reasonable grounds in defined circumstances generally must make an arrest — even over the other person’s objection. A 72-hour no-contact provision then takes effect automatically, lifts early only if the alleged victim signs a written waiver, and violating it while it is in force is a separate crime.
• The charge is a felony. You are entitled to a preliminary hearing where the State must show probable cause — a stage the defense can use for early discovery.
• You are already out on bond. Bail jumping under Wis. Stat. § 946.49 punishes the intentional violation of a bond condition — a Class A misdemeanor on a misdemeanor case, a Class H felony carrying up to 6 years on a felony case — and it stacks on top of the original charge even if you are later acquitted of that charge.
• You are under 25 and worried about your record. Wisconsin expungement is narrow — it turns on your age, the offense, and your history — and eligibility must be granted at the sentencing hearing itself. Miss that moment and the chance is gone for good.

Wisconsin Misdemeanor and Felony Penalties

Wisconsin grades every crime into one of three misdemeanor classes or nine felony classes, and that letter sets your maximum exposure. Under Wis. Stat. § 939.51, a Class A misdemeanor carries up to 9 months in county jail and a $10,000 fine, a Class B up to 90 days and a $1,000 fine, and a Class C up to 30 days and a $500 fine.

Felonies, under Wis. Stat. § 939.50, are crimes punishable by state-prison sentences. The ladder starts at Class I — up to 3 years and 6 months and a $10,000 fine — and climbs through Class H (6 years, $10,000), Class G (10 years, $25,000), Class F (12 years and 6 months, $25,000), Class E (15 years, $50,000), Class D (25 years, $100,000), and Class C (40 years, $100,000) to Class B (60 years) and Class A, which carries life imprisonment.

Truth-in-sentencing shapes every felony term: the sentence is bifurcated into initial confinement followed by mandatory extended supervision in the community, with no traditional parole for offenses committed after 1999. If supervision is revoked for a rule violation, you can be reconfined for up to the time remaining on the bifurcated sentence — and time already spent in the community generally does not reduce that exposure.

Criminal Charges We Defend

Our Wisconsin criminal defense practice is built around the charges people in Baraboo and the rest of Sauk County actually face.

Disorderly conduct, Wis. Stat. § 947.01, is the catch-all Class B misdemeanor — but the State must prove both the conduct and circumstances tending to provoke a disturbance, so context and First Amendment defenses matter. Battery, Wis. Stat. § 940.60, scales with the harm alleged: simple battery is a Class A misdemeanor, substantial battery a Class I felony, and aggravated battery a Class H or Class E felony depending on intent. When battery or disorderly conduct arises between spouses or former spouses, adults who live together or formerly lived together, or adults with a child in common, the domestic-abuse framework attaches — mandatory arrest when the statutory conditions are met, followed by the automatic 72-hour no-contact period that only the alleged victim’s written waiver can lift early.

Drug charges under Wis. Stat. § 961.41 escalate quickly: first-offense marijuana possession is an unclassified misdemeanor carrying up to 6 months and a $1,000 fine, but a second possession offense of any drug is a Class I felony, and first-offense possession of a Schedule I or II narcotic drug — or methamphetamine — is a Class I felony from the start. Possession-with-intent charges are all felonies graded by weight, and prosecutors often build the “intent” element from circumstantial pieces like baggies, a scale, or cash.

Theft under Wis. Stat. § 943.20 is a Class A misdemeanor when the value is $2,500 or less, climbing by value to a Class G felony above $10,000 and a Class F felony above $100,000; theft of a firearm is a Class H felony regardless of value. And bail jumping under Wis. Stat. § 946.49 — among the most frequently charged crimes in Wisconsin — is defensible more often than people assume, because the State must still prove the violation was intentional.

Where a Baraboo Criminal Case Actually Goes

Baraboo now has its own municipal court, established in early 2024 and sitting at 101 South Blvd. — and that is exactly where a criminal case does not go. The City of Baraboo Municipal Court handles only city ordinance matters: non-criminal violations decided on a civil standard, where the city must prove its case by clear, satisfactory, and convincing evidence rather than beyond a reasonable doubt. Every misdemeanor and felony arising in the city is a different animal. Those are prosecuted by the Sauk County District Attorney’s Office and heard in the Sauk County Circuit Court at 515 Oak Street in Baraboo — the courthouse that, because Baraboo is the county seat, also hears criminal cases from across Sauk County, including the Sauk-side cases that come out of the Wisconsin Dells area.

After arrest and booking at the Sauk County Jail and Law Enforcement Center at 1300 Lange Court, the DA’s office reviews the reports and decides whether to file a criminal complaint — prosecutors can decline or amend charges on review. At the initial appearance the court states the charges, advises you of your right to counsel, and sets bail. Wisconsin has no commercial bail bondsmen — release is by signature bond or cash bond posted directly with the court — and since the 2023 constitutional amendments, judges in violent-crime cases may weigh prior violent convictions and the need to protect the community from serious harm when setting bail.

A felony case then generally moves to a preliminary hearing — unless the defense waives it — where the State must establish probable cause before an Information is filed and the case proceeds to arraignment; misdemeanor arraignments typically happen at the initial appearance itself. Discovery, pre-trial motions — suppression above all — and plea negotiations follow. Some Wisconsin counties offer deferred-prosecution or diversion agreements that can end with charges reduced or dismissed — whether that path exists for a given case depends on the county and the charge; whether to pursue it or fight the charge is a judgment call we make with you, based on the evidence. If nothing resolves, the case goes to trial, where every element must be proven beyond a reasonable doubt.

How We Defend Criminal Charges

Every file gets worked on at least three fronts. The first is the search and the seizure: warrantless searches are presumptively unreasonable under the Fourth Amendment, and Wisconsin’s appellate courts keep redrawing the lines on warrantless home entries, blood draws, and cell phone extractions. Where police overstepped, a motion to suppress can pull the resulting evidence out of the case.

The second is the questioning. Because Miranda protects you only during custodial interrogation, the fight is frequently over whether you were actually “in custody” when you talked. A statement taken in violation of your rights can be suppressed — and many prosecutions do not survive losing the statement.

The third is the State’s proof itself. Every charge has statutory elements the State must prove beyond a reasonable doubt: disorderly conduct takes more than rudeness, battery and theft require intent, and an “intent to deliver” theory stitched from circumstantial inference can be pulled apart. Where the facts support it, self-defense under Wis. Stat. § 939.48 enters the case — and the threshold for getting that instruction to a jury is low.

We also defend with the aftermath in mind. A felony conviction ends firearm rights — only a governor’s pardon can restore them; convictions in categories like drug offenses, domestic violence, or crimes involving moral turpitude can complicate immigration status; and employers may act on a record that “substantially relates” to the job. Those stakes shape charge-bargaining strategy from day one.

Baraboo Criminal Defense Questions We Hear Most

My case is going to the courthouse on Oak Street — is that the right place for a criminal charge in Sauk County?

Yes. The Sauk County Circuit Court at 515 Oak Street in Baraboo is where every misdemeanor and felony in the county is heard, prosecuted by the Sauk County District Attorney’s Office. Because Baraboo is the county seat, that courthouse hears criminal cases from across Sauk County — not just the city. The City of Baraboo Municipal Court on South Boulevard is a separate track entirely: it handles only city ordinance matters on a civil standard, not crimes. If you are holding paperwork and are not sure which court you are dealing with, that is worth a phone call before your first date.

The police never read me my rights. Does that get my case thrown out?

By itself, usually not. Miranda applies only to custodial interrogation, and the remedy for a violation is normally suppression of the statement, not dismissal of the case. But a confession is often the spine of the State’s evidence — take it away and the case can collapse — so it is among the first issues we examine.

Can the domestic abuse charge be dropped if the other person doesn’t want to pursue it?

Not automatically. The charging decision belongs to the District Attorney, not the alleged victim — the same framework that required the arrest once officers found the statutory criteria met. The 72-hour no-contact provision begins automatically after the arrest, can be lifted early only by the alleged victim’s signed written waiver, and violating it while it is in force is a new crime. Work through this with counsel, not around it.

I was arrested on US-12 or Highway 33 heading through Sauk County. Where does that case go?

If the arrest led to a misdemeanor or felony charge, it goes to the Sauk County Circuit Court in Baraboo, wherever on the county’s roads the stop happened. Baraboo PD and the Sauk County Sheriff’s Office both work the county’s main corridors, but the charging and the courtroom are the same: the Sauk County DA and the circuit court on Oak Street. The exception is a purely non-criminal municipal ordinance citation, which follows local municipal court rules instead.

Can I get my record expunged down the road?

Only if the foundation was laid at sentencing. Wisconsin’s expungement statute, Wis. Stat. § 973.015, requires that you were under 25 at the time of the offense, that the charge carried a maximum of 6 years or less (with additional restrictions for Class H and I felonies and certain excluded offenses), that the court found expungement would benefit you without harming society — and, critically, that the judge granted expungement eligibility at the sentencing hearing itself. Even then, it takes effect only after you successfully complete the sentence — and it seals the conviction from the public court record, not from everything: the record can still appear on Department of Justice background checks, stays visible to law enforcement and certain licensing authorities, and does not restore firearm rights. Retroactive expungement is not allowed; if the moment passes, the door closes for good.

Get a Free Consultation

Se Habla Español — Call 608-305-4518

If you are facing a criminal charge in Baraboo or anywhere in Sauk County, the earliest days after an arrest are when a defense takes shape. Call 608-305-4518 or contact Mays Law Office online for a free consultation. Mays Law Office, LLC — 6405 Century Ave STE 103, Middleton, WI 53562.