Eau Claire Criminal Defense Blog

College life is full of new beginnings. The excitement of living on your own, making new friends and seeking a path to adulthood is challenging and rewarding.

While enjoying this stage of your life, you may find that you do not always make the best choices. When you make questionable decisions and the police get involved, what are your rights? When you signed a dorm agreement, did you give consent for officials to freely enter your room? Can the police search it without your permission? The answers to these questions may surprise you.

Wisconsin residents, as well as those in all other states, enjoy a right to privacy. It is a right protected under the Fourth Amendment of the U.S. Constitution. For the court to rule that police violated this right, a criminal defendant must show that he or she had the right to reasonably expect privacy in a particular situation and that said privacy was invaded. Things can get complicated regarding drug-sniffing dogs and suspected drug crimes.

If police officers enter a school building with canine units to search students' lockers for drugs, they do not need a warrant. This is because no one has a right to expect privacy in a public school. While someone might argue this point, asserting that a student's personal locker or contents therein are private property, federal courts have consistently upheld that random drug searches in schools do not violate personal rights.

If a Wisconsin resident answers his or her door and finds police officers outside wanting to come in to have a look around, he or she is protected by the Fourth Amendment of the U.S. Constitution against unlawful searches or seizures. Police must have a valid warrant to search a person's vehicle, residence or body. There are exceptions to the rule, such as if a police officer claims to witness a crime as it unfolds. One particular resident's home was recently searched by police, resulting in an alleged discovery of large amounts of marijuana.

Police say they found nearly 30 pounds of marijuana inside the home. In Wisconsin, use of this drug is only permitted medicinally under highly restricted circumstances. Officers who searched the home say they took more than drugs into custody.

If law enforcement arrests you for operating while intoxicated in the state of Wisconsin, you face some harsh penalties, including fines, license suspension and possible jail time.

In addition, even if this is your first offense, you may be ordered to have an ignition interlock device installed in your vehicle.