Nixon LAW Offices

01/22/2026

Universal public link to Jay’s answers, 0324: https://www.avvo.com/attorney-answers/53548-wi-jay-nixon-1529181/answers.html :

https://www.avvo.com/attorney-answers/53548-wi-jay-nixon-1529181/answers.html QUESTION POSTED ON AVVO.COM: What do you think will be my outcome?

I have a speeding and operating with controlled substance in WI. No drugs detected and alcohol and they are still trying to get me with the charges. Offered me 6 months revocation and finding me with no contest. I had no drugs detected from laboratory report. There probable cause would be my green tongue, red eyes, and twitching eyes. Well, I was tired, which I kept explaining and the green tongue which I have always had. I cannot do jury trial anymore because I guess I didn’t know I had to do it within 10 days. So stuck with pretrial; now, what happens next?

ANSWER BY ATTY. JAY K. NIXON, WITH OFFICES IN BOTH KENOSHA & JANESVILLE, WI AND OVER 40 YEARS’ LEGAL EXPIRIENCE: If you’ve already botched things by self-representation, why on earth would you think that situation might improve if you continue? Don’t assume that nothing more could still go wrong because it still can, especially at your trial. What you really need is therefore an experienced, local, criminal defense Attorney, who can file a formal appearance in the case and then fully represent you. That might include a motion to extend whatever deadlines you have already blown on your own. Then, your chances that the Judge might allowing a redo might even improve (but no guarantees).

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12/01/2025

Universal public link to Jay’s answers, 0324: https://www.avvo.com/attorney-answers/53548-wi-jay-nixon-1529181/answers.html :

https://www.avvo.com/attorney-answers/53548-wi-jay-nixon-1529181/answers.html

QUESTION POSTED ON AVVO.COM: How can I be charged as a Party to a Crime due to the work of “snitch,” who has now disappeared. My ex was a drug dealer, who was himself set up by one, resulting in the disappearance of all of his charges from court website. I was charged as a “Party to the Crime,’ yet I was not even aware that there were drugs his pocket. They had nothing on me at all. He received a stayed sentence of 2yrs n 2months days before release, just the same as my sentence. It was 32 days after I posted bond with no charges before he posted same bond amount and, and then he picked up many new charges which were even more serious afterwards which also disappeared from the internet. How can I be a party to a crime if his crimes are gone?

ANSWER BY ATTY. JAY K. NIXON, WITH OFFICES IN BOTH KENOSHA & JANESVILLE, WI AND 40 YEARS’ LEGAL EXPIRIENCE:

Retain a felony lawyer used to narcotics work right away, since in a drug case, your lawyer may investigate options "off the record," outside of any ongoing court case, in hopes of avoiding new charges down the road. All this needs to happen right away. The government has up to six years to make up their minds about charging anyone, and time is critical, since opportunities might now exist no longer exist if not taken advantage of promptly. DA’s have “Prosecutorial Discretion,” in WI, which is the sole right to decide what, where & when anyone gets charged. These are internal DA’s office decisions, with which courts very rarely interfere, since elected DA’s are “Quasi-Judicial, Officials, which means that they can have even more power than judges in charging decisions. Even if it was unfair to you, that alone does not make it illegal. Challenges in court rarely go anywhere, but criminal defense lawyers can file motions to dismiss, on such grounds as Prosecutorial Misconduct, but only if that is done quickly, since opportunities expire if not acted upon. Either way, it is common in plea bargains for DA’s and Defense lawyers to negotiate deals where many charges are dismissed and “read-in” resulting in the Judge still being allowed to consider them, so you should not be overly suspicious about that detail. Go over all of this in depth to see what your lawyer thinks may have happened, however, since I know absolutely nothing about the ins and outs of your case, and am only speaking very broadly here about things which frequently occur in other cases.

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03/03/2025

https://www.avvo.com/attorney-answers/53548-wi-jay-nixon-1529181/answers.html QUESTION POSTED ON AVVO.COM: What can I do to either appeal or expunge my case? I went through the trial process. The only thing I wanted was a misdemeanor because it was my first offense, and the prosecution refused to drop the charges down, and I was convicted of fleeing and alluding an officer and during the trial, they added obstruction of justice as well.
ANSWER BY ATTY. JAY K. NIXON, WITH OFFICES IN BOTH KENOSHA & JANESVILLE, WI AND 45 YEARS OF LEGAL EXPERIENCE: Regrettably, appeals from criminal convictions are only available for a very short period of time and are rarely commenced properly by anyone other than a seasoned criminal lawyer. Once that time limit expires, further review of your case by higher judges is very hard to get and must involve violation of a substantial one of your constitutional rights which was likely prejudicial to you case. Even those arguments rarely succeed, however, so your best bet is to try to win your trial the first time with the help of a first-rate lawyer. Once a judge or a jury finds certain facts to have been true in your case, those facts are assumed true throughout the appellate process in most cases, so filing an appeal does not solve that problem. Here, in your case, the judge or jury has already decided on the facts and found you guitly, apparently, so you may be stuck with this. Either way, however, you should locate and pay a good criminal lawyer to review all the records and advise you as soon as possible, before you make any more bad decisions.

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02/02/2025

WEBSITE USER QUESTION POSTED ON AVVO.COM: If the ticket had wrong information in the police report? When I went to make a left turn , however I yielded to oncoming traffic and looked in all directions before turning with no one crossing because the walk light was off when I made my turn.
ANSWER BY ATTY. JAY K. NIXON, WITH LAW OFFICES IN BOTH JANESVILLE & KENOSHA WI: I don’t know what you were cited for, but generally, one should yield to pedestrians. If your pedestrians that day took so long in crossing that the light changed, stranding you in the intersection facing red, and you were ticketed for proceeding through it, then, yes, you should fight it. But even when people are clearly guilty of any moving violation, I would always fight it, or at least getting a lawyer to make sure that the least damaging alternative is what ends up on your record, with a goal of avoiding DMV demerit points. Points are precious and you never know when you will need them in the future due to a streak of bad luck. You get notice of a suspension or revocation any time that you use up twelve of them within a year, with at least several months before you can reinstate, depending upon your record. Points or moving violations can also lead to other type of suspensions and revocations looking back over periods longer than a year, such as an even longer habitual traffic offender suspension, so, your investment in fighting tickets before you face those is clearly worthwhile, especially if you need your license to drive to work each day. This is even more important for new drivers, who receive double points. Intersection and signal violations are generally 4 points (or 8 for probationary drivers), so even one such conviction puts your license in danger if you received even one additional ticket if that means you. While mistakes in accident reports are common, the reports themselves are hearsay and therefore not normally usable in court against you as evidence. But they are still used in settlement negotiations, so have your Private Investigator try to re-interview them and/or interview other drivers or pedestrians who did witness it, thereby going back to the source of the officer's information, to hopefully reduce the impact of unfavorable portions.

01/30/2025

https://www.avvo.com/attorney-answers/53548-wi-jay-nixon-1529181/answers.html
QUESTION POSTED ON AVVO.COM: Can I retrieve my car back from sheriff department? A Friend got pulled over after borrowing my car and ran from the Police, following an attempted traffic stop. ANSWER BY ATTY. JAY K. NIXON, WITH 45 YEARS EXPERIENCE & LAW OFFICES IN BOTH JANESVILLE & KENOSHA, WI: Yes, they should eventually surrender your car after towing and other fees are paid, unless they need it for an ongoing investigation. Since attempting to flee or elude and officer is felony in WI, however, this investigation could take a year or longer, forcing you to rent long-term if your livelihood depends upon your having a car day-to-day. Call and ask the arresting officer (if available), who might know more about whether it is still being held as evidence than anyone else in the station. You might also want to be more careful about who you let drive your car. If you depend upon having it every day for your livelihood, you might even consider never letting anyone else use it, since things like this can always happen, especially with younger drivers.

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01/20/2025

https://www.avvo.com/attorney-answers/53548-wi-jay-nixon-1529181/answers.htmlWEBSITE USER QUESTION POSTED ON AVVO.COM: Please decipher this sentence. My boyfriend was sentenced after his probation was revoked. The judge was going to determine how long he would be in jail, but it has been a month and nothing has been updated:
ORIGINAL SENTENCING: “Count 1: I/S 3 years WSP. 2 years IS. 1 year ES. 3 years probation. consecutive to count 3.) 2 years I/S. 1 year E/S. 3 years’ probation. consecutive to count 3.” ANSWER BY ATTY. JAY K. NIXON, WITH LAW OFFICES IN BOTH JANESVILLE & KENOSHA WI:
TRANSLATION OF SENTENCE BY ATTY. NIXON: Count 1: 3 years of prison, imposed, but stayed unless his probation is revoked. If revoked, he would go straight up to the prison, rather than back before the Judge for sentencing (that’s what the “imposed and stayed” part means). On count two, on which I have created some missing language in order for the while thing to make sense, he must have received the same sentence, except only 2 potential years to be served after revocation on count 2. 1 year ES means one year of extended supervision on count 2. ES is a modern-day term for what used to be called “parole,” allowing a person to get out somewhat early and serve the balance of the sentence under community supervision, just like probation. Since that is a required part of every prison sentence for every count, my guess is that you wrote this down wrong or that there was a type somewhere, since you only ES it for one count. On count 3, he received straight probation, which is a bit strange and possibly not allowed after prison.
SENTENCING AFTER REVOCATION: Count 3: 210 days PJC. subject to GT. subject to WR. concurrent with count 1:Translation by Atty. Nixon: This sounds like he was only revoked on the 3rd count and not on the first two counts. Either that or he already served all of his time and discharged his obligations on those counts. PJC is probably Pretrial Jail Credit, e.g., time in jail awaiting trial or final disposition on his case. GT is probably “Good Time” credit, which is a certain number of days off the sentence for a certain number of days served without fights, rules violations or other major incidents. Revoked good time credit days would postpone his release. Obviously, these are guesses and I could not truly answer your questions without access to the court or attorney file details. Feel free to follow up with me with the rest of the details if you still need more guidance.

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01/19/2025

Can someone give a cop a photo of you with a drink in your hand from 2-4 weeks ago and it be used against you as breaking bond?
WEBSITE USER QUESTION POSTED ON AVVO.COM: Currently we have a deferred judgement agreement, one of the terms is to not consume alcohol. Someone who continuously wants to ruin my life has a photo of me with what he thinks is an alcoholic beverage in my hand. The beverage was unidentified. They continue to tell me they’re going to show it to a cop, can it be used against me in court? No incidents took place on the day the photo was taken; no cops were involved.
ANSWER BY ATTY. JAY K. NIXON, WITH LAW OFFICES IN BOTH JANESVILLE & KENOSHA WI: Yes, they certainly can do that. Even if they couldn’t, however, violating your deferred judgment agreement, just like violating the conditions of bond before trial, is never a good idea, since it can result in loss of your deferral and conviction of a crime instead, with lifelong consequences upon your employment. It’s the same for violating pretrial bond conditions by drinking; that too can get you jailed until your trial or sentencing, can translate into many months in jail 24/7, without work release. You can also be charged with brand new charges of violating your bond, which is just as serious as your original charges. If these threats to tell the Police about your illegally drinking brought about better and behavior, you should therefore probably thank this person rather than complaining about them, because they appear to have your best interests at heart.

01/14/2025

https://www.avvo.com/attorney-answers/53548-wi-jay-nixon-1529181/answers.html QUESTION POSTED ON AVVO.COM: The DA offered a year for third 0WI I am asking for house, arrest, and probation so that I do not leave my small children at home alone and I do not lose my job or my house.ANSWER BY ATTY. JAY K. NIXON, WITH OFFICES IN BOTH KENOSHA & JANESVILLE, WI AND 45 YEARS OF LEGAL EXPERIENCE: While it is possible for the Judge to give you house arrest on an OWI 3rd, it is not very likely in most counties. That sentence would technically be illegal under current Wisconsin state law, which requires 45 days minimum “in jail” time for a 3rd offense. Although some judges have done these things regardless of their legality, I am not certain how those eventually worked out for the Judges. My guess would be that they faced opponents running against them for Judge and sometimes were even defeated in later elections. That probably explains why sentences like you request are so rare. Either way, however, Judges consider dozens of different factors and humanitarian concerns of avoiding the neglect of children are among them and are entirely proper. WI State law, however, says that at least 45 days of jail, up to a full year, are required. Sentences in the middle of that range are the most common, and child neglect normally avoided in those cases by referring the children to the care of County Human Services agencies. Once such a referral occurs, that Department also has the option of pursuing Juvenile Court Child Protection cases, which can result in everything from placement back with their mother to removal from the home and eventual placement in alternate care. And, in severe cases, Termination of Parental Rights and permanent out-of-home placements such as adoption of the children by 3rd parties can sometimes occur.

https://www.avvo.com/attorney-answers/53548-wi-jay-nixon-1529181/answers.html . QUESTION POSTED ON AVVO.COM: How long does it take an inmate to get a resentencing court date for probation violation? My boyfriend is on 1 year misdemeanor probation with with held jail time. He was arrested on 11/22/24...

01/12/2025

USER QUESTION POSTED ON AVVO.COM WEBSITE: Non injury hit and run and leaving scene w/o reporting accident (so called “Hit & Run”): I was driving a semi and turned into a parking lot to cross through. They said that I hit a rail in the parking lot in route. When I exited my cab, I saw snow covering the tires and thought I had just been temporally been stuck in snow rather than having hit anything, so I returned to cab and left, not thinking that I had hit anything. I did a post trip inspection of my rig and noticed no damage, along with several other pre-trip inspections later, none of which showed anything unusual. I received a call the next day, however, from a deputy. He was rude and condescending and told me he would be writing me a ticket.
ANSWER BY Attorney Jay K. Nixon, Licensed for 44 years, Avvo.com Rating: 10 Criminal Defense Attorney in Janesville & Kenosha, WI
At both of my Law Offices, we often represent professional Truckers who are working under CDL (Commercial Driver's Licenses) and are well aware of the importance of even minor traffic convictions to these Big Rig Drivers. Tickets can affect their employability as well as their insurance rates, so you might also want to retain counsel on this one early on, to improve the odds for a better outcome. A lawyer could potentially settle civil claims with both with the property owner and any other opposing party(s), as well as with the prosecutor, for a lesser charge even before the citation is issued. Either way, however, negligence by the opposing party in an accident does not relieve you of needing to provide insurance and contact information to all concerned parties before leaving the scene. And, how well the property owner was plowing snow relative to safety signs would likewise not relieve you of that duty. Fleeing or failing to report can be an admission of guilt, although in your case, not realizing that there even had been an accident, as in your case, could change many things and potentially give you a legal defense. Either way, however, we all wish you the very best of luck keeping this major traffic violation off your CDL record.

12/29/2024

https://www.avvo.com/attorney-answers/53548-wi-jay-nixon-1529181/answers.html
QUESTION POSTED ON AVVO.COM: https://www.avvo.com/attorney-answers/53548-wi-jay-nixon-1529181/answers.html : What if conditions of release from custody includes not entering place that serves alcohol but you are employed FT at bar/grill? Picked up while driving “drunk” (2nd) offense in WI. Missed court date. Got hauled in from home on a bench warrant. Condition of release pending hearing: no drinking alcohol and no frequenting places serving alcohol but that’s where I am employed.
ANSWER BY ATTY. JAY K. NIXON, WITH 45 YEARS EXPERIENCE & LAW OFFICES IN BOTH JANESVILLE & KENOSHA, WI: This bond condition is extremely common for drunk driving and other alcohol related offenses. Your lawyer may be able to fight for alternatives for you, so you should get him or her started as soon as possible, before you lose your job. As you seem to be finding out, the penalties for breaking bond can be worse than those for a simple 2nd offense drunk driving, so your immediate future freedom might be endangered if you continue to violate the bond condition. If you miss court again, an arrest warrant will again likely be reissued for you. You can also be charged an entirely new offense of bail jumping, just for violating your bond, each time that you violate it, either for missing court or for being in a bar.

What happened to you in being arrested later after last drinking is more common than you think, and always raises important issues. The is because the government must prove that any alcohol found in your system was also present there when you last drove. If your lawyer properly raises the issue, tha...

12/04/2024

https://www.avvo.com/attorney-answers/53548-wi-jay-nixon-1529181/answers.html QUESTION POSTED ON AVVO.COM: Will my moving violation from WI carry over to CA? There is a car registered in WI under my name and I received a citation for passing a stopped school bus. The thing is that I wasn't the driver when the violation happened. I live in CA and am wondering if the moving violation will carry over to CA and possibly affect my insurance rates.
ANSWER BY ATTY. JAY K. NIXON, WITH OFFICES IN BOTH KENOSHA & JANESVILLE, WI AND 45 YEARS OF LEGAL EXPERIENCE: Yes, many insurers will hold out-of-state convictions against you and potentially use them against you as justification to increase your rates. Most states do report traffic convictions nationally, and even if not, information about that WI conviction is public (as is nearly all other WI court information) and available to anyone who runs a national record check, including insurance companies. You might therefore consider writing to you insurer to make sure that they realize that this was an "owner liability" offense rather than one where you operated the vehicle, unless that fact is already spelled out in your CA traffic record printout. You should probably involve an experienced CA traffic lawyer in that effort, since I know little about how CA traffic law compares to Wisconsin’s. The language used for all the abbreviations in the printouts is highly technical, hard to understand, and potentially different in each state. Moving forward, the most important thing that you could do to protect yourself in the future is to insure the vehicle, if it being driven with your blessings by a close relative. If not, or if it is a vehicle which you sold, where the buyer never transferred title via his state’s DMV, however, you really need to remove your name from the title. That is because you are not only liable for citations like this, but also for possibly enormous civil injury claims from car accidents. Involuntary title transfers can potentially be done via litigation if the person in possession won't cooperate. Again, it would be best to file that lawsuit in CA, but it would be far cheaper, even if less effective, to first litigate one here and then try to enforce the judgment in CA. If it is indeed a vehicle which you sold but never transferred the title on, you are an unfortunate poster child for why all armature auto sales should be finalized at a DMV office, so that you can actually watch the buyer file and pay for title transfer permanently relieving you from all these unwanted responsibilities.

Sorry to be the bearer of bad news, but the IID (standing for “Ignition Interlock Device” or an “in car Breathalyzer” in plainer terms) is statutory for Judges and hard wired into the DMV servers, in any WI drunk driving case, for certain “qualified” people. What an experienced criminal ...

11/30/2024

https://www.avvo.com/attorney-answers/53548-wi-jay-nixon-1529181/answers.html
QUESTION POSTED ON AVVO.COM: What will happen and what should I do? So I stole a pair of expensive shoes out the lost and found and told the school staff that they were not mine and I got a $500 dollar ticket and I'm going to Court because I can't pay for it.

ANSWER BY ATTY. JAY K. NIXON, WITH 45 YEARS EXPERIENCE & LAW OFFICES IN BOTH JANESVILLE & KENOSHA, WI: If you are going to juvenile court at the county courthouse, in a proceeding which is closed to the general public, then you are probably in the juvenile equivalent o6 adult f criminal court, which handles cases which would be serious crimes if committed by an adult (defined as a person age 17 or above in WI criminal courts). There, you would be eligible for a free Public Defender Attorney, who would obtain the reports from the government and help you make an intelligent decision, which could indeed be to agree to pay a fine as you describe. There, however, the Judge probably would give you an installment plan where you could pay the fine over time via payments which you could afford, if you or your lawyer requested it. There would be many other important parts of the sentence or disposition which would also need to be negotiated, such as what the future holds for you in terms of where you will live, which counseling, treatment or probation you receive, whether or not you will be formally adjudicated delinquent of what would be a criminal offense if committed by an “adult,” and many other details on which your attorney can advise you. If you were attending juvenile citation proceedings in a Municipal Court, however, there is probably not any program there to appoint an attorney for you, so you should ask the judge yourself for an installment agreement to pay the fine over time. Have your parents join you, however, because they might be able to speak up for you if you are unable to get the right words out, and provide other information about you to the judge which might be valuable.

Sorry to be the bearer of bad news, but the IID (standing for “Ignition Interlock Device” or an “in car Breathalyzer” in plainer terms) is statutory for Judges and hard wired into the DMV servers, in any WI drunk driving case, for certain “qualified” people. What an experienced criminal ...