Supreme Court hears arguments over OWI fine for drunken driver with baby in car

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The Marquette County Courthouse sounded like a math classroom during oral arguments in a Wisconsin Supreme Court case on Monday. The justices asked two attorneys appearing before them how they’d calculate fines in a felony OWI case involving a baby in a car and a blood alcohol concentration more than four times the legal limit.

Charles Neill IV is asking the court to lower the $4,800 fine he received for a third-offense OWI he received in July 2016. According to court documents, he was hit with the fines following a series of incidents that started when h passed out in a minivan in a Subway drive-thru. He later woke up and drove off, threw a beer bottle at a witness who had followed him and nearly smashed into several cars. The witness called the police, who found Neill to be intoxicated. They said Neill had a one-year-old child in a carseat with the seat belt on but the shoulder straps unfastened. Neill was arrested and taken to the hospital for a blood test, which came back at a 0.353 BAC.

Neill was convicted of a third-offense OWI, and a judge sentenced Neill to two years in prison and a $4,800 fine, which is eight times the minimum fine. Having a BAC above 0.25 quadrupled the fine, and having a child in the car doubled the total and made the alleged crime a felony.

Neill and his attorney appealed, arguing that having a minor in the car should have no effect on the fine because the elevated BAC already enhanced it. They asked to have the fine reduced from $4,800 to $2,400, but the court of appeals rejected their argument and declined to provide post-conviction relief.

The state Supreme Court heard oral arguments in the case Monday. The justices are deciding how fines are calculated when the enhancers for having a minor passenger and an excessive alcohol concentration both apply.

“Reading this statute feels a little like a dog chasing its tail sometimes,” said Judge Brian Hagedorn.

The judges asked both the prosecutor and the defense attorney to calculate the applicable minimum and maximum fines under their interpretations of the statute. They came up with different numbers, but both said the statute was complex. The state and Neill are scheduled to comment later this month.