Expunging Wisconsin OWI from Record

Question: Can an OWI be expunged from my record in Wisconsin?

Answer: No. There is no expungement. There may be some ability to appeal a conviction or to have a conviction vacated and entirely removed from your record, but expungement on OWI is not available. In Wisconsin, they keep accurate records of all impaired driving-related incidents; so all OWI, all prohibited alcohol concentration and all refusal or implied consent violations. They keep those on the driver record permanently now, and they have certified that they have accurate records back to 1989. So they count everything back that far. Now, in Wisconsin if you have a first offense OWI and you go 10 years or longer and get another OWI offense, that will be counted as a first offense again. But that original first offense doesn’t fall off your record. So you will actually have two first offense tickets on your record. And any subsequent offense will be a criminal offense and it will be a third offense.