Steven House handled drunk driving cases exclusively for several years as well as working for small law firms which focused on impaired driving defense. This intensive focus on impaired driving offenses provided the experience necessary to obtain numerous dismissals, reductions and amendments of drunk driving charges to lower level offenses. During this time he became intimately familiar with the nationally standardized field sobriety tests and the numerous factors that can lead to false results from those as well as blood alcohol tests.
As a private attorney, Steven House convinced a state supreme court to overturn a jury verdict convicting a client of felony aggravated assault and aggravated reckless endangerment stemming from an attempted "suicide by police officer". This appellate success was followed by successfully petitioning the Wisconsin Supreme Court in 2010 to review the decision of the Wisconsin Court of Appeals in State vs. Janet A. Conner, 2009 WI App 143 challenging the jury instructions as well as the trial and appellate courts' interpretation of the aggravated stalking law. Recent appellate successes include overturning the conviction of a client on three counts of distributing a schedule 2 narcotic to a police informant and securing a new trial where the entrapment defense could be properly presented to a new jury.
The House Law Office continues to focus solely on criminal defense at the trial and appellate levels with an emphasis on impaired driving and drug offenses. In hiring Steven House you will have an attorney who cares about his clients, is passionate about civil liberties, and who understands that the law is an ever changing field that requires persistent study. You will also have an attorney who will personally handle your case rather than passing it on to a junior assistant to review and draft motions or even appear in court with you.
Areas of Practice:
Appeals, Post-Conviction Review
Criminal Defense (State, Federal, Municipal, Misdemeanor, Felony)
Trial, Appeal, Revocation Proceedings
Impaired Driving - OWI/DUI
Drug Offenses, Manufacturing, Conspiracy to Deliver, Simple Possession
Property Crimes, Burglary, Vandalism
Assault, Abuse, Battery, Homicide, Disorderly Conduct
White Collar Crimes: Theft, Embezzlement, Fraud, Forgery
Harassment, Stalking, Sex Crimes, Injunctions
Bar Admissions:
Tennessee, 2000 (by bar examination)
Wisconsin, 2006 (by bar examination)
United States District Court for the Western District of Wisconsin, 2006
United States Court of Appeals for the 7th Circuit, 2007
Education:
University of Illinois College of Law, 1999: J. D., magna cum laude, Harno Fellow
Southern Illinois University-Carbondale, 1994, B. A., Phi Simga Tau Honors Society
Classes/Seminars Taught:
Speaker, Wisconsin State Public Defender's Annual Training Conference, on the impact of the federal Health Information Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA) and Wisconsin medical records privacy laws on criminal defense issues.
Articles Published:
"Evaluating the Applicability of HIPAA in a DUI Case", National Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers magazine, The Champion, August 2007.
Published Cases:
State of Tennessee vs. Thomas Martin McGouey, 229 S.W. 3d 668 (Tenn. 2007).
A unanimous supreme court overruled the court of criminal appeals and the jury verdict at trial, dismissing the felony counts of aggravated assault and reckless endangerment with a deadly weapon in the state supreme court's most important case addressing the issue of what constitutes a deadly weapon in fifty years.
State of Wisconsin v. Janet Conner, 2009 WI App 143 (Successful Petition for Review filed with the Wisconsin Supreme Court following this decision.)