GREEN BAY, WI (WTAQ-WLUK) – Wallace Bowers pleaded not guilty Tuesday to his 18th drunk offense.
Bowers, 74, had a valid driver’s license when he was arrested Jan. 8 after crashing into a power pole on the city’s east side.
No trial date was set. Bowers returns to court May 5 for a plea hearing.
A defense request to reduce the $30,000 cash bond was denied by Judge John Zakowski. Bowers remains in custody.
Wisconsin law now requires driver’s licenses to be revoked with a fourth OWI conviction, if the previous conviction was within 15 years. But in this case, Bowers’ last conviction was in 2011, before the new law went into effect in 2018; so he had a valid driver’s license when he got behind the wheel.
For this felony charge, if convicted Bowers faces a fine up to $50,000, a 15-year prison sentence and a lifetime driver’s license revocation. With a conviction, if Bowers’ driver’s license is revoked, after 10 years he could be eligible for an occupational driver’s license.
According to the criminal complaint, Bowers was most recently sentenced to four years in prison in 2011 for a Marathon County case. The criminal complaint notes 17 prior convictions for arrests on:
- Jan. 24, 1988
- Feb. 7, 1993
- March 12, 1993
- May 23, 1993
- July 8, 1993
- April 17, 1994
- Dec. 2, 1994
- Aug. 13, 1994
- July 31, 1996
- Sept. 23, 1996
- Aug. 27, 1997
- June 13, 1998
- May 3, 2000
- Jan. 1, 2000
- April 14, 2003
- July 12, 2005
- Oct. 1, 2011
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