If you were arrested in Columbus — or you got the call that someone you love is being held after a stop on US-151 or Highway 16 — the case is already in motion. The Columbus Police Department writes the reports, a county prosecutor decides what to charge, and an initial appearance gets scheduled whether or not you have a lawyer yet. Columbus sits in an unusual spot: the city is mostly in Columbia County but reaches east into Dodge County, so where the alleged conduct happened decides which county courthouse your case lands in. What you say to an officer before any of that is sorted out can shape everything that follows.

Mays Law Office represents clients across Wisconsin from our office in Middleton — including Columbus and the surrounding Columbia and Dodge County communities. Call 608-305-4518 for a free consultation before you talk to anyone else about your case.

Criminal Defense Attorneys in Columbus, WI

Attorney Stephen E. Mays has practiced law in Wisconsin since 1995 and was named a 2025 Wisconsin Super Lawyer in DUI/DWI defense. He is a member of the National Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers, the Wisconsin Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers, the Dane County Criminal Defense Lawyers Association, and the State Bar of Wisconsin. For a Columbus case, the local layout matters: your charge will be filed in either the Columbia County or the Dodge County Circuit Court depending on where the conduct occurred, and each has its own judges, prosecutors, and rhythm. Knowing which door your case walks through is part of the defense.

A criminal defense lawyer’s job is to hold the State to its burden on every element of every charge: was the stop lawful, was the questioning constitutional, does the evidence prove what the complaint alleges. Those are the questions a case needs answered from the start.

When to Call Our Columbus, WI Criminal Defense Lawyers

Call us right away if any of the following applies to you:

• You or a family member is in custody. Bail is set at the initial appearance — often the first hearing after booking — and counsel should be in place before it happens, not after. Someone arrested in the Columbia County portion of Columbus may be held at the Columbia County Jail in Portage until that appearance.
• An officer wants to “ask you 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, like voluntariness, may remain.
• Police responded to a domestic incident at your home. Under Wisconsin’s mandatory-arrest law, Wis. Stat. § 968.075, officers who find 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 waives it, and violating it while it’s in force is a separate crime.
• The charge is a felony. You’re entitled to a preliminary hearing where the State must show probable cause — a stage the defense can use for early discovery.
• You’re out on bond. Intentionally violating a bond condition is bail jumping under Wis. Stat. § 946.49 — a Class A misdemeanor on a misdemeanor case, a Class H felony carrying up to 6 years on a felony case. It stacks on top of the original charge even if you’re later acquitted of it.
• You’re under 25 and hoping to keep your record clean. Expungement eligibility in Wisconsin is limited — it depends on your age, the offense, and your record — and it must be granted at the moment of sentencing, not after. If the court doesn’t take it up at that hearing, the opportunity is gone for good.

Wisconsin Misdemeanor and Felony Penalties

Wisconsin sorts crimes into three misdemeanor classes and nine felony classes, and the class attached to your charge sets the maximum exposure.

Misdemeanors (Wis. Stat. § 939.51) are punishable by county jail time and a fine:

• Class A misdemeanor: up to 9 months in jail and a $10,000 fine.
• Class B misdemeanor: up to 90 days and a $1,000 fine.
• Class C misdemeanor: up to 30 days and a $500 fine.

Felonies (Wis. Stat. § 939.50) are punishable by state prison, and most classes carry a fine maximum alongside the prison term (the two most serious, Class A and Class B, are punished by imprisonment alone). They run from Class I — up to 3 years and 6 months and a $10,000 fine — 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), Class C (40 years, $100,000), and Class B (60 years), up to Class A, which carries life imprisonment.

Under Wisconsin’s truth-in-sentencing system, a felony prison sentence is bifurcated: 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 handles the charges Columbus-area residents actually face:

• Disorderly conduct (Wis. Stat. § 947.01) — the catch-all Class B misdemeanor. The State must prove both the conduct and circumstances tending to provoke a disturbance; context and First Amendment defenses matter.
• Battery (Wis. Stat. § 940.60) — the charge scales with the injury: 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.
• Domestic abuse allegations — battery or disorderly conduct between spouses or former spouses, adults who live together or formerly lived together, or adults with a child in common can trigger mandatory arrest when the statutory conditions are met, and an arrest starts the 72-hour no-contact period, which only the alleged victim can waive.
• Drug possession and delivery (Wis. Stat. § 961.41) — first-offense marijuana possession is an unclassified misdemeanor (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. Possession-with-intent charges are all felonies graded by weight — and prosecutors often build “intent” on circumstantial evidence like baggies, a scale, or cash.
• Theft (Wis. Stat. § 943.20) — a Class A misdemeanor when the value is $2,500 or less, escalating by value to a Class G felony over $10,000; theft of a firearm is a Class H felony regardless of value.
• Bail jumping (Wis. Stat. § 946.49) — among the most frequently charged crimes in Wisconsin, and defensible when the alleged violation doesn’t hold up — the State still has to prove an intentional violation.

Where a Columbus Criminal Case Actually Goes

Columbus does have a court on the municipal side — the Eastern Columbia County Joint Municipal Court in Wyocena, at 165 E. Dodge St., which took over after the old City of Columbus Municipal Court closed. But that court is exactly where a criminal case does not go. Wisconsin’s municipal courts handle only non-criminal, city-ordinance matters — violations proved by the lower “clear, satisfactory and convincing” standard under Wis. Stat. § 800.08(3), resolved by forfeiture rather than jail. Every misdemeanor and every felony is a state charge that belongs in circuit court.

Which circuit court is the piece unique to Columbus. Because the city sits mostly in Columbia County but extends east into Dodge County, venue follows where the alleged conduct occurred. A charge arising in the Columbia County portion is filed in the Columbia County Circuit Court, 400 DeWitt St. in Portage — the primary venue for most Columbus cases. A charge arising in the eastern reaches that fall within Dodge County is routed instead to the Dodge County Circuit Court, 210 W. Center St. in Juneau. The Columbus Police Department investigates and arrests, with the Columbia County Sheriff’s Office, the Dodge County Sheriff’s Office, and the Wisconsin State Patrol working the same corridors — US-151 and Highway 16 chief among them — but the prosecution itself is carried by the county’s district attorney, not the city.

After arrest and booking, the prosecutor 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. If nothing resolves, the case goes to trial, where every element must be proven beyond a reasonable doubt. 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 diversion or fight the charge is a judgment call we make with you, based on the evidence.

How We Defend Criminal Charges

Every case gets examined on at least three fronts:

The search and the seizure. Warrantless searches are presumptively unreasonable under the Fourth Amendment, and Wisconsin’s appellate courts are continually redrawing the lines — on warrantless home entries, blood draws, and cell phone extractions. If police overstepped, a motion to suppress can take the resulting evidence out of the case.

The questioning. Miranda protects you only during custodial interrogation, so the fight is often over whether you were actually “in custody” when you talked. Statements taken in violation of your rights can be suppressed — and without the statement, many cases lose their spine.

The State’s proof. Every charge has statutory elements, and the State must prove each one beyond a reasonable doubt. Disorderly conduct requires more than rudeness; battery and theft require intent; 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 comes into play — the bar for getting that instruction to a jury is low.

We also plan for what happens after the courtroom. 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.

Columbus Criminal Defense Questions We Hear Most

Columbus is in two counties — which courthouse will my criminal case be in?

It depends on where the alleged conduct happened. Columbus sits mostly in Columbia County but extends east into Dodge County, so a charge from the Columbia County portion is filed in the Columbia County Circuit Court at 400 DeWitt St. in Portage — the venue for most Columbus cases — while a charge from the eastern reaches within Dodge County goes to the Dodge County Circuit Court at 210 W. Center St. in Juneau. The Eastern Columbia County Joint Municipal Court in Wyocena is not where any of this is decided; it handles only civil city-ordinance matters. If you’re holding paperwork and aren’t sure which track you’re on, that’s worth a phone call before your first court 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’s among the first issues we examine.

My partner wants the domestic abuse charge dropped. Will it be?

Not automatically — the charging decision belongs to the prosecutor, not the alleged victim, under the same framework that required the arrest once officers found the statutory criteria met. Those relationships are defined narrowly: spouses or former spouses, adults who live together or formerly lived together, or adults with a child in common. The 72-hour no-contact provision begins automatically after the arrest, can be lifted early only if the alleged victim waives it, and violating it while it’s in force is a new crime. Work through this with counsel, not around it.

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. It does not restore firearm rights, and it does not erase the record from Department of Justice background checks, which law enforcement and certain licensing authorities can still see. Retroactive expungement is not allowed; if the moment passes, the door closes for good.

How long will my case take?

A typical misdemeanor resolves in roughly four to eight months from initial appearance to sentencing. Felonies — with the preliminary hearing, fuller discovery, and motion practice — frequently run past a year, especially if headed to trial. Diversion or early negotiation can move faster.

Get a Free Consultation

Se Habla Español — Call 608-305-4518

Whether it’s a misdemeanor citation or a felony complaint out of Columbia or Dodge County, the earliest days after arrest or charging 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.