How Do You Count Prior OWIs?

On January 1, 1989 a new way of counting prior offenses went into effect; this includes offenses that have occurred out-of-state. The way it counts now is as follows, for all OWI offenses:

1. All prior convictions before January 1, 1989 do not count.
2. If you have two or more prior convictions, they will stay on your record permanently.
3. If your second offense occurs more than 10 years after the first, then the second will be considered to be a first offense.
4. But, even if your third offense occurs more than 10 years after the second conviction, then it will count as your third.
a. So, technically it could go: 1st, 1st, 3rd.
5. But, if a person is convicted of a 1st offense BAC violation, wherein the OWI is dimissed, where the alcohol concentration was greater than 0.08 but less than 0.10, the WI Dept. of Trans. is required to purge the conviction from its records after 10 years, if the person does not get another conviction within that 10 year period. Under this scenario, the conviction would be able to be permanently deleted from your record.