State v. Dominic A. Caldiero

CourtCourt of Appeals of Wisconsin
DecidedApril 28, 2022
Docket2021AP001163-CR
StatusUnpublished

This text of State v. Dominic A. Caldiero (State v. Dominic A. Caldiero) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Court of Appeals of Wisconsin primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
State v. Dominic A. Caldiero, (Wis. Ct. App. 2022).

Opinion

COURT OF APPEALS DECISION NOTICE DATED AND FILED This opinion is subject to further editing. If published, the official version will appear in the bound volume of the Official Reports. April 28, 2022 A party may file with the Supreme Court a Sheila T. Reiff petition to review an adverse decision by the Clerk of Court of Appeals Court of Appeals. See WIS. STAT. § 808.10 and RULE 809.62.

Appeal No. 2021AP1163-CR Cir. Ct. No. 2019CT34

STATE OF WISCONSIN IN COURT OF APPEALS DISTRICT IV

STATE OF WISCONSIN,

PLAINTIFF-RESPONDENT,

V.

DOMINIC A. CALDIERO,

DEFENDANT-APPELLANT.

APPEAL from a judgment and an order of the circuit court for Waupaca County: RAYMOND S. HUBER, Judge. Affirmed.

¶1 GRAHAM, J.1 Dominic Caldiero was arrested for his third operating while intoxicated (OWI)-related offense in January 2019. Caldiero provided a blood sample, and chemical testing revealed an alcohol concentration

1 This appeal is decided by one judge pursuant to WIS. STAT. § 752.31(2)(f) (2019-20). No. 2021AP1163-CR

of 0.072 grams per 100 milliliters. The State determined that, at the time of his January 2019 arrest, Caldiero was subject to an ignition interlock device order, which had been issued in September 2015 following his second conviction of an OWI-related offense. Therefore, the State determined that Caldiero’s maximum allowable blood alcohol concentration was 0.02 pursuant to WIS. STAT. § 340.01(46m) (2019-20) and WIS. STAT. § 343.301 (2013-14).2 Caldiero was charged with operating a motor vehicle with a prohibited blood alcohol concentration, third offense, and he was convicted following a jury trial.

¶2 Caldiero argues that the circuit court should have granted his pretrial motion to dismiss the prohibited blood alcohol concentration charge, or alternatively, his postconviction motion to vacate his conviction of that offense. He contends that, at the time of his arrest in January 2019, he was no longer subject to the September 2015 ignition interlock device order. According to Caldiero, that order had expired, and therefore the prohibited alcohol concentration that applied to him at the time of his arrest was actually the default prohibited alcohol concentration, 0.08.

2 WISCONSIN STAT. § 343.301, which pertains to court orders relating to ignition interlock devices, was amended in 2016 and 2017. See 2016 Wis. Act 389 (effective Oct. 2, 2016) and 2017 Wis. Act 124 (effective Dec. 9, 2017). These amendments are reflected in the 2015-16 version of the statutes, published in January 2017, but they were not in effect in September 2015, when the ignition interlock device order at issue in this case was issued. Caldiero and the State both rely on the 2013-14 version of § 343.301, which was in effect in September 2015, for their substantive analysis in this appeal, and I follow their lead. Accordingly, although sometimes I discuss that statute using the present tense, all references to § 343.301 are to the 2013-14 version.

Apart from the amendments to WIS. STAT. § 343.301, there have been no material changes to the applicable statutory provisions during the relevant time periods. Accordingly, for ease of reference, all references to provisions in the Wisconsin Statutes other than § 343.301 are to the 2019-20 version.

2 No. 2021AP1163-CR

¶3 For the reasons explained below, I conclude that the September 2015 order had not expired—and that Caldiero continued to be subject to that order— when he was arrested in January 2019. Therefore, I conclude that the circuit court properly denied Caldiero’s pretrial motion to dismiss and his postconviction motion to vacate his conviction of the prohibited alcohol concentration charge. I also reject Caldiero’s alternative argument that he is entitled to additional sentence credit. Accordingly, I affirm the judgment of conviction and the order denying Caldiero’s postconviction motion.

BACKGROUND

¶4 Caldiero had two prior OWI-related offenses in January 2019 when he was arrested for his third such offense, which is the subject of this appeal.3 The parties’ arguments turn on the legal consequences of Caldiero’s conviction for his second OWI-related offense, Waupaca County Case No. 2015CT55.

¶5 Caldiero was convicted and sentenced in Case No. 2015CT55 on September 21, 2015. During sentencing, the circuit court revoked Caldiero’s operating privilege for a period of 13 months, effective immediately. Additionally, the parties agree that, consistent with WIS. STAT. § 343.301(1g) (2013-14), the court was required to order that Caldiero’s operating privilege would be subject to a restriction lasting at least one year, during which Caldiero

3 Throughout this opinion, I use the term “OWI-related offenses” to refer to convictions, suspensions, and revocations that are enumerated in WIS. STAT. § 343.307(1).

3 No. 2021AP1163-CR

could only drive vehicles that were equipped with an ignition interlock device.4 Although the transcript is not entirely clear on this point, the parties appear to agree that the court-ordered restriction on Caldiero’s operating privilege would last 13 months. Throughout this opinion, I refer to the ignition-interlock-related order issued at sentencing in Case No. 2015CT55 as the “September 2015 order.”

¶6 It is undisputed that Caldiero never sought to reinstate his operating privilege with the state department of transportation, and that his operating privilege was still revoked at the time he was arrested for the current offense. It is not clear from the record whether Caldiero ever installed an ignition interlock device on any vehicle titled or registered in his name. However, the vehicle Caldiero was driving in when he was pulled over in January 2019 did not have any such device.

¶7 The State charged Caldiero with several offenses stemming from the events of January 11, 2019. The charges included one count of operating a motor vehicle with prohibited alcohol concentration, third offense (hereinafter, the “PAC

4 The transcript of Caldiero’s sentencing in Case No. 2015CT55 does not expressly mention any restriction on his operating privilege. The circuit court stated, “I will make the revocation effective forthwith giving [Caldiero] credit for any period of administrative suspension that may have been put into place.” The court continued, “I will revoke your driving privileges for a period of 13 months. If I didn’t indicate, the revocation is 13 months. I will direct that during that period of revocation you operate vehicles equipped with ignition interlock devices.”

Although the transcript is unclear in certain respects, Caldiero does not argue that the circuit court failed to restrict his operating privilege as required by WIS. STAT. § 343.301(1g) (2013-14). Instead, as discussed below, Caldiero’s argument is that the 2013-2014 version of § 343.301(2m) allowed the court to order that the 13-month restriction on his operating privilege would run “alongside [the] 13-month revocation of his driver’s license,” and, according to Caldiero, that was what the circuit court ordered in Case No. 2015CT55.

4 No. 2021AP1163-CR

charge”) and one count of operating a motor vehicle while revoked.5 As it relates to the PAC charge, the complaint alleged that Caldiero operated a motor vehicle with an alcohol concentration of 0.072 at a time in which he was “subject to” an ignition interlock order under WIS. STAT. § 343.301. Thus, the complaint alleged that his maximum allowable alcohol concentration was 0.02 by operation of WIS. STAT. § 340.01(46m).

¶8 Caldiero moved to dismiss the PAC charge on the ground that he was not “subject to” an ignition interlock device order under WIS. STAT. § 343.301 (2013-14).

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Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
State v. Dominic A. Caldiero, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/state-v-dominic-a-caldiero-wisctapp-2022.