Eau Claire Criminal Defense Blog

Like many other college students in Wisconsin, you are kicking off your first year in university by participating in activities involving alcohol. While you may have every intention of drinking responsibly, you should understand the potential liabilities that can result from campus drinking.

Students have considered drinking in college to be a rite of passage for generations. The National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism reports that nearly 60 percent of college students across the country between the ages of 18 and 22 drank during the past month. About two out of three binge-drank during that time. You may not consider that very surprising. After all, most people consider drinking at parties, sporting events and bars to be part of the college experience. However, it can help to understand that binge drinking can involve a lot more than harmless fun.

Police say they just happened to be in the neighborhood to conduct a search of an empty house when they witnessed several people exhibiting suspicious behavior nearby. One person apparently entered a parked vehicle that contained the other two people involved. All three people are now facing charges for suspected drug crimes in Wisconsin.

Officers had been dispatched to the empty residence to execute a search warrant in connection to a separate shooting incident. However, one of the officers says he noticed the suspicious activity happening at the parked car, so he and his colleagues tried to get nearer to see what was going on. The officers all agree that they witnessed what they believed was an illegal drug exchange.

A person could be out in public in Wisconsin one minute, then facing serious legal problems the next. This is especially so in situations where police claim to recognize someone as a person with a warrant out for his or her arrest. A man was out and about on a recent Monday in Baraboo, and is now facing serious charges for suspected drug crimes.                

Local police officers who were apparently in the area at the time say they saw the man along West Street and recognized him as someone wanted by the Wisconsin Department of Corrections on a felony warrant. Officers pursued the man and took him into custody. As often happens in such situations, the man's circumstances got worse instead of better.  

Immigration aside, if there's one topic that tends to incite contentious debate in Wisconsin and throughout the nation, it is cannabis. Some agree with the U.S. government that marijuana should always be classified as an illegal drug. Others believe the opposite: that it never should be categorized as such but should be 100 percent decriminalized, even for recreational use. Then there are those whose opinions fall somewhere in between, thinking perhaps that certain uses of the cannabis, such as those that are medicinal, are acceptable but should be strictly regulated.  

Recent polls show that nearly 60 percent of Wisconsinites believe marijuana should be legal in this state. The same percentage of people also say they favor some sort of state regulations similar to those now in place for alcohol. One state representative has been spearheading an effort since 2014 to get the bill she introduced passed through the legislature.