An OWI arrest in Chippewa Falls sets two separate clocks running the moment you are released. One is your license. If you refused the test, you have 10 days from the Notice of Intent to Revoke to request a refusal hearing; if you failed it, you have 10 days from the Notice of Intent to Suspend to request an administrative review — miss either window and the license consequence takes effect on its own 30 days after that notice is issued. The other clock is your case in court. Mays Law Office defends OWI charges — the offense most people search as DUI or DWI, though Wisconsin’s statutory charge is OWI — along with drugged-driving allegations, for clients throughout Chippewa Falls and Chippewa County. Mays Law Office represents clients across Wisconsin from our office in Middleton — including Chippewa Falls and Chippewa County. Criminal OWI cases from Chippewa County are heard at the Chippewa County Circuit Court on North Bridge Street. Call 608-305-4518 for a free consultation before you say anything to anyone else about your arrest.

OWI Attorneys in Chippewa Falls, 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 belongs to 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. Chippewa Falls is the seat of Chippewa County — a river town with deep logging and manufacturing roots, and criminal OWI cases from the county are heard at the Chippewa County Circuit Court on North Bridge Street, while a civil first offense may be municipal or circuit depending on the citing agency. Knowing exactly where a case will be filed, and reading the reports behind the stop, shapes the defense from the first day.

An OWI lawyer earns their fee in the specifics — whether the stop was lawful, whether the field sobriety tests actually show what the officer claims, whether the blood draw held up under the Fourth Amendment, and whether every deadline that protects your license was met. Those are the questions a case needs answered from the start.

When to Call Our Chippewa Falls, WI OWI Lawyers

Reach out right away if any of this fits your situation:

• You were handed a “Notice of Intent to Revoke” after refusing a breath or blood test. You have 10 days from that Notice of Intent to Revoke to request a refusal hearing in writing — let the window close and the revocation takes effect automatically 30 days after the notice, and you forfeit the statutory chance to contest it.
• You took the test and the result was over the limit. That triggers a Notice of Intent to Suspend, and you have a 10-day administrative review window from that Notice of Intent to Suspend — otherwise a 6-month administrative suspension begins 30 days after the notice is issued.
• You already have an OWI on your record. A second offense is generally a criminal misdemeanor carrying 5 days to 6 months in jail if the prior falls within the last 10 years. A third runs 45 days to a year, and every prior in your lifetime starts to count.
• A child under 16 was riding with you. That one fact turns even a first offense into a criminal misdemeanor — a $350 to $1,100 fine and a mandatory 5 days to 6 months in jail.
• Someone was hurt. Causing injury to another person while intoxicated makes even a first offense a crime, and great bodily harm or death brings separate felony charges.
• You hold a CDL. A single OWI conviction — even in your own car — disqualifies your commercial privileges for a year, and a second lifetime conviction ends them for good.
• You were at 0.15 or above. On a first offense, that reading brings a mandatory one-year ignition interlock order.

What an OWI Conviction Costs in Wisconsin

Wisconsin writes its drunk-driving law under a single name — operating while intoxicated, or OWI. People search for DUI and DWI lawyers, but those are everyday labels for the same charge. What the charge costs you depends first on your history — and then on aggravating facts like a high BAC, a refusal, or a passenger under 16. A standard first offense is not a crime at all: it is a civil forfeiture of $150 to $300 plus a mandatory $435 surcharge, with no jail — but your license is revoked for six to nine months. A second offense becomes a criminal misdemeanor when the prior falls within the past ten years, carrying five days to six months in jail. At the third offense, the counting changes: every qualifying prior in your lifetime counts — including OWI convictions, implied-consent refusal revocations, OWI-related injury convictions, and comparable out-of-state offenses — and jail runs from 45 days up to a year. A fourth offense is a Class H felony punishable by 60 days to six years of imprisonment. Certain facts short-circuit that ladder entirely — a passenger under 16 turns even a first offense into a criminal misdemeanor with a $350-to-$1,100 fine and a mandatory five days to six months behind bars. An ignition interlock is required after a test refusal, a first offense at 0.15 or above, or any repeat offense. An occupational license may keep you driving to work, but eligibility is never automatic — it depends on the type of suspension, any interlock requirement, the rest of your record, and DMV approval. And whichever way your case starts, you generally have just 10 days from your notice to request a refusal hearing or administrative review.

The fine on the citation is the smallest number in an OWI case. Wisconsin adds a mandatory $435 surcharge to every OWI conviction, and the court-ordered alcohol and drug assessment typically runs $165 to $500 depending on the county. If an interlock is ordered, plan on roughly $50 to $150 for installation and $60 to $100 a month while the order lasts. Getting your license back costs another $200 reinstatement fee, and SR-22 high-risk insurance keeps raising the price for years afterward. Add it together and a typical first offense lands between $4,000 and well over $10,000 all-in. Those are typical ranges, not quotes — your county, your vendor, and your insurer set the real numbers.

How OWI Cases Move Through Chippewa Falls and Chippewa County Courts

Because Chippewa Falls is the county seat, the courthouse is right in town. A standard first-offense OWI in Wisconsin is a civil, non-criminal matter, and whether it is handled in a municipal court or in the circuit court depends on which agency issued the citation. In municipal court, the case is proved by a lower standard than a crime — “clear, satisfactory and convincing” evidence under § 800.08(3) — rather than the beyond-a-reasonable-doubt standard that applies to criminal charges. A civil first offense that is not routed to a municipal court is heard in the Chippewa County Circuit Court instead. The routing is not categorical; it follows the citing agency, and confirming where your citation actually lands is one of the first things our Wisconsin OWI defense practice checks.

Every criminal OWI — a second offense within the 10-year window, a third or subsequent offense, or a first offense involving a minor passenger or injury — is filed in the Chippewa County Circuit Court at the Chippewa County Courthouse, 711 N. Bridge Street in Chippewa Falls, and prosecuted by the State. A second offense is generally criminal when the prior falls inside the 10-year window; a third and beyond is always criminal. Chippewa Falls sits on the Chippewa River in the northwestern quarter of the state, and an OWI stop can come from any agency working the local roads — which agency stopped you can affect the reports, the video, and how the case is built, and that is part of what we sort out at the start.

The criminal track follows a set path. The arresting agency forwards its file to the prosecutor, who issues a criminal complaint; you make an initial appearance; contested issues get litigated at motion hearings; and if a pretrial conference produces no resolution, the case goes to trial, where the State must prove guilt beyond a reasonable doubt.

How We Defend OWI Charges

An OWI prosecution is a chain of moving parts, and each part can fail. The first is the stop itself: an officer needs reasonable suspicion to pull you over and probable cause to arrest, and when either is missing, a court can suppress the evidence gathered afterward. The second is the roadside testing. The three standardized field sobriety tests were validated on narrow research populations, and age, weight, injuries, medical conditions, footwear, and the weather can all generate “clues” in a perfectly sober driver. The third is the chemical evidence. A breath number at or near the legal limit — 0.08 for most drivers, though stricter limits apply behind the wheel of a commercial vehicle (0.04), for drivers under 21 (absolute sobriety), and for drivers under an interlock order or with three or more priors (0.02) — is a measurement, not a verdict — the reliability of chemical testing is one of the recognized fronts for challenging an OWI, and once you submit to the agency’s primary test, Wisconsin law lets you request the agency’s alternative test free of charge — or arrange a test of your own choosing at your own expense. Blood draws raise a separate constitutional question: taking blood is a Fourth Amendment search, and in State v. Prado (2021) the Wisconsin Supreme Court struck down the implied-consent provision that presumed consent from an incapacitated driver. Not every warrantless draw gets suppressed — the State can point to exceptions like exigent circumstances — but a draw taken without a warrant and without valid consent deserves scrutiny in every case. Finally, the State must prove “operation” — the physical manipulation or activation of a vehicle’s controls necessary to put it in motion. That element is fact-specific, and facts can be contested. Which of these doors is open in your case depends on the reports, the video, and the timeline — call 608-305-4518 before those details go cold.

We also handle the license side of the case — refusal hearings and occupational license applications. An occupational license is not automatic; eligibility depends on the type of suspension, any interlock requirement, other suspensions on your record, and DMV approval, so the paperwork is worth getting right the first time.

Chippewa Falls OWI Questions We Hear Most

Will I go to jail for a first-offense OWI in Wisconsin?

For a standard first offense, no. Wisconsin is the only state that treats a first OWI as a non-criminal civil forfeiture — a fine and license revocation, but no jail. That changes fast if a child under 16 was in the car — a criminal misdemeanor with a mandatory 5 days to 6 months in jail — or if anyone else was injured, which also criminalizes the charge.

Where will my Chippewa Falls OWI case actually be heard?

In Chippewa Falls you are at the county seat, so the courthouse is right in town. A criminal OWI — a repeat offense, or a first offense with a minor passenger or injury — is filed in the Chippewa County Circuit Court at the Chippewa County Courthouse, 711 N. Bridge Street in Chippewa Falls, and prosecuted by the State. A standard civil first offense is a non-criminal matter that may be handled in a municipal court or in the circuit court, depending on the agency that wrote the citation. Criminal OWI cases from Chippewa County are heard at the Chippewa County Circuit Court on North Bridge Street; a civil first offense may be municipal or circuit depending on the citing agency, so check the court listed on your citation.

Can I still drive to work?

Often, yes — but it is not automatic. An occupational license permits up to 12 hours of driving per day and 60 hours per week for work, school, medical appointments, treatment, and essential household duties — never recreation. Eligibility depends on the type of suspension or revocation, any interlock requirement, other suspensions on your record, and DMV approval — and the timing rules differ by situation, so we confirm your exact eligibility window before filing. The application runs through WisDOT paperwork, an SR-22 filing from your insurer, and proof of interlock installation where ordered — we can help prepare and review the application and supporting filings.

I have a CDL. What does an OWI do to my commercial license?

A first OWI conviction disqualifies your commercial driving privileges for 1 year — even if you were driving your personal vehicle at the time — and for 3 years if you were hauling placarded hazardous materials. A second lifetime OWI conviction means lifetime CDL disqualification. Commercial drivers also operate under a stricter 0.04 limit in a commercial vehicle, and any detectable alcohol triggers an immediate 24-hour out-of-service order.

I wasn’t impaired — can they still charge me for drugs in my system?

Yes. Wisconsin’s restricted-controlled-substance law is zero-tolerance: operating with a detectable amount of a restricted controlled substance such as cocaine, methamphetamine, or Delta-9-THC in your blood supports a charge regardless of whether you showed any actual impairment — the one narrow statutory exception is Delta-9-THC below one nanogram per milliliter of blood. And because Wisconsin does not recognize recreational or medical marijuana, a prescription or legal purchase in another state is not a defense.

Get a Free Consultation

Se Habla Español — Call 608-305-4518

Whether this is a civil first offense or a felony repeat charge, the days right after a Chippewa Falls OWI arrest are the ones that matter most. 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.