JON'S CELL: One of the things that makes felony drug charges so serious is that convictions on them can result in substantial prison sentences.
The amount of prison time a person convicted of a felony drug offense in Wisconsin could face can be even larger than usual if they have a past record of drug crimes. Under Wisconsin law, when a person receives a conviction on a felony drug charge, they can (with a few exceptions) have their prison sentence for the offense boosted if they have any of the following on their criminal record:
- A past Wisconsin drug offense conviction (felony or misdemeanor).
- A past conviction of a drug crime from another state (felony or misdemeanor).
- A past federal drug crime conviction (felony or misdemeanor).
What is the maximum amount of this prison sentence increase? It depends on what felony class the felony drug offense the prison sentence is for falls under. If it is a Class I, H, G, F or E felony, the highest the increase can be is four years. If it is a class D or C felony, the increase can be up to six years in length.
An important thing to note is that state law does require authorities to take certain actions in order to be able to have a past-drug-offense sentencing increase applied to a felony drug offense defendant.
This underscores that there are a variety of rules and requirements regarding the behaviors and actions of authorities when it comes to felony drug cases. Skilled drug crime defense attorneys are knowledgeable of these rules/requirements and can help individuals accused of felony drug offenses with determining whether any actions or behaviors by authorities regarding their case violated these rules.
