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Chris Van Wagner

Tracey Wood

Wisconsin Practice

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CRIMES & OWI

Drunk Driving

Homicide

Accomplice Liability

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Homicide of a Corpse

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Defenses

Affirmative Defenses

Excuse

  Consent

  Duress

  Intoxication

  Mental Defect

  Youth

Justification

  Defense of Others

  Self Defense

Mitigating Circumstances

  Coercion

  Imperfect Self Defense

  Necessity

  Provocation

Crimes Against Property

  Theft Crimes

  Larceny

White Collar Crimes

Excuse

An excuse is an affirmative defense in which the defendant asserts affirmatively that he committed the crime, but claims that he has a lawful excuse for having done so, and therefore should be excused of liability for the crime. Unlike a justification defense, where the defense asserts that the action was warranted, an excuse defense does not claim that the actor was warranted in her actions, but rather, that she is not to blame.

An excuse defense asserts that the actor's deed was wrong, and that while the actor may not be without fault, he is not blameworthy and should be excused from criminal liability because she was suffering from some abnormal condition at the time of the offense which renders him blameless for the conduct that constituted the offense.

The most commonly known excuses are youth, mental defect or insanity, and intoxication.

Contact Van Wagner & Wood

Information about the office location of Van Wagner & Wood, the areas of law in which they most frequently represent people, and the cities and counties where Attorney Chris Van Wagner & Attorney Tracey Wood most frequently appear are listed below. If you reside outside of these areas, you may want to call the attorneys at Van Wagner & Wood to ask if they can help you through representing you or referring you to a lawyer they know.

Offices of Van Wagner & Wood

Van Wagner & Wood's office is located at Martin Luther King, Jr. Blvd. and Doty Street. 10 East Doty is located on the outside of the first circle surrounding the capitol building. You can park under the building by entering the parking lot from Doty Street. If you park under 10 East Doty, the offices of Van Wagner & Wood will validate your parking ticket so that you do not have to pay to park. If the parking ramp is full, there are numerous parking places surrounding 10 East Doty, as well as a public parking ramp on State street.

Appeals & Serious Crimes - Homicide - Murder

Van Wagner & Wood's criminal defense lawyers handle appeals to both the Appellate Court and the Supreme Court, as well as both state and Federal court systems for people convicted of a crime who believe their conviction or sentence were wrong. Most often, the appeals that they handle are to federal court because very few attorneys handle these types of appeals; Attorney Chris Van Wagner was a US Attorney in Wisconsin before entering private practice. Often times, people from across the United States hire Attorney Van Wagner for a Federal or a state appeal for serious crimes including homicide, RICO (Racketeering), felony murder, negligent homicide, vehicular homicide, or sexual assault. Attorney Tracey Wood handles appeals to Wisconsin State Court of Appeals and Wisconsin Supreme Court for charges or convictions stemming from a Wisconsin trial.

Federal Crimes

Former Federal prosecutor, Attorney Chris Van Wagner, handles Federal cases, which includes Federal drug crimes and other Federal criminal charges.

Drug Crimes

The criminal defense attorneys at Van Wagner & Wood handle cases involving drug offenses in which the accusation is made by either a state or a Federal prosecutor, arrests by state officials or Federal agents, and other drug cases such as those handled by the DEA.

Van Wagner & Wood's criminal defense lawyers represent people located across the state of Wisconsin in matters involving state drug charges including the following counties and cities.

Adams (Adams, Wisconsin Dells), Ashland (Ashland), Barron (Barron), Bayfield (Washburn, Bayfield), Buffalo (Buffalo City, Mondovi), Burnett (Siren), Chippewa (Chippewa Falls), Clark (Abbotsford), Columbia (Columbus), Crawford (Prairie du Chien), Dane (Belleville, Black Earth, Blue Mounds, Brooklyn, Cambridge, Cottage Grove, Cross Plains, Dane, Deerfield, DeForest, Fitchburg, McFarland, Madison, Maple Bluff, Marshall, Mazomanie, Middleton, Monona, Mount Horeb, Oregon, Rockdale, Shorewood Hills, Stoughton, Sun Prairie, Verona, Waunakee, Windsor), Douglas (Superior), Dunn (Menomonie), Eau Claire (Abbotsford, Eau Claire), Grant (Mount Hope, Lancaster, Fennimore), Green (Monroe), Iowa (Mineral Point, Dodgeville), Jackson (Black River Falls), Jefferson (Jefferson), Juneau (Mauston), La Crosse (LaCrosse, Lafayette, Darlington), Marathon (Wausau), Monroe (Sparta), Pepin (Durand), Pierce (River Falls), Polk (St Croix Falls), Portage (Stevens Point), Price (Park Falls), Richland (Richland Center), Rock (Janesville), Rusk (Ladysmith), St Croix (Hudson), Sauk (Sauk City), Taylor (Medford), Trempealeau (Whitehall), Washburn (Spooner), and Wood (Wisconsin Dells) counties.

Drunk Driving (OWI, DUI, DWI)

Wisconsin's foremost authority on drunk driving laws, Attorney Tracey Wood, consults with lawyers and law firms throughout the United States to help them build successful strategies for very complex cases. In Wisconsin, Attorney Wood most frequently represents people located in the following areas.

Madison (Dane County), Richland Center (Richland County), La Crosse (La Crosse County), Jefferson (Jefferson County), Wisconsin Dells (Columbia County and Sauk County), Stevens Point (Portage County), Dodgeville and Mineral Point (Iowa County), Portage (Columbia County) and Montello (Marquette County).

Sexual Assault & Sex Crimes

Van Wagner & Wood's attorneys represent people in matters involving sex crimes such as sexual assault, aggravated assault, computer crimes involving pornography, child pornography, and solicitation. Their clients often reside in the following areas.

Dane (Madison, Middleton, Monona, Fitchburg), Green (Monroe), Lafayette (Darlington), Dodge (Beaver Dam, Waupun), Portage (Stevens Point), Wood (Wisconsin Rapids), Sauk (Wisconsin Dells), Columbia (Columbus), Richland (Richland Center) and Juneau (Mauston) area.