When you come into this Court, you are being charged with violating a City Ordinance or a State of Wisconsin Statute as adopted by the City of De Pere. You have a right to enter a plea of either GUILTY, NO CONTEST, or NOT GUILTY to the charge.

GUILTY or NO CONTEST means you are not contesting the charge and the Court may find you guilty. If you are involved in the type of arrest where you may be sued civilly (for example, an accident), the fact that you plead NO CONTEST in the Court means that plea may not be used against you in any other action or in any other court concerning this case. If you plead GUILTY, that is what is called an admission against interest which can, and may, be used against you civilly. It is very important that you understand the difference. You may plead NO CONTEST to any charge in this Court.
 

If you plead NOT GUILTY you are contesting the case and are asking the court to schedule a pretrial.  You will have the opportunity to hold a pretrial conference with the Assistant City Attorney to attempt to work out an agreement.  If the Judge signs the agreement, the case will be closed.  If you do not hold a pretrial conference over the phone or on the scheduled date, you may be found guilty by default.  If you are unable to reach an agreement with the City Prosecutor, a trial will be scheduled and you must be ready to proceed on the scheduled trial date. 

 You may send or bring to the court office a written plea of Not Guilty anytime before the scheduled initial court appearance if you are going to plead not guilty.  Please tell the court you are entering a plea of NOT GUILTY to (reference the citation number and offense name), date the letter, sign it and print your correct mailing address & phone number.  You may also send a not guilty plea to the court by e-mail at dpcourt@mail.de-pere.org.

 A jury trial cannot be requested for any municipal/traffic charge except Operating While Intoxicated or Prohibited Blood Alcohol Content (OWI/BAC). If you plead NOT GUILTY to a charge of OWI/BAC, and want a jury trial, you must make a demand of this Court IN WRITING, before the court date or within 10 days of this appearance and you must accompany your written demand with the jury fee of $36.00 for a six person jury trial. Checks should be made out to the Clerk of Courts. The case will then be transferred to the Brown County Circuit Court for the jury trial, and all further communications will be from them. If you do not properly request the jury trial within this period, you are forever barred and your charge(s) will be heard in this Court, if you plea NOT GUILTY. You will first be scheduled for a pretrial conference with the Assistant City Attorney. If the case cannot be disposed of after this conference, then a trial will be scheduled and held in this Court.

You also have the right to have a trial in another Municipal Court. If you want to do that, you must make a written demand in this Court before the court date or within 10 days of your initial appearance, or you will be forever barred from transferring the trial.

The Court may order 1 day in jail for every $50.00 owed if you do not pay your fine. 
The Court may also suspend your driving privileges for failure to pay traffic violations.

If there is a suspension of your drivers license, in order to reinstate, you must first pay your citation in full then go to the DOT website or Department of Motor Vehicles and pay them $60.00 and reinstate your operating privileges. Alcohol violation revocations after July 1, 2010 reinstatement fee is $200.00.