EAU CLAIRE — An unusually long-running OWI case wrapped up Thursday with the defendant receiving a prison sentence.
Ian Kellman, 54, Hatley, was charged in March of 2018 with his seventh OWI. According to the criminal complaint, an officer in Eau Claire spotted Kellman walking from a bar to his car just before 2 a.m. when he “stumbled and appeared to struggle with his balance.”
The officer watched as Kellman turned left at an intersection marked for right turns only before making a traffic stop. Kellman admitted having a warrant out for his arrest but said he had only consumed one beer “really fast.”
Kellman failed field sobriety tests, but blew only a .04 on a breath test. That’s below the state’s legal limit. But, because of his prior OWI convictions, Kellman was limited to a .02 test. A blood test confirmed the results.
That accounts for the charges of OWI 7, operating with a prohibited blood alcohol concentration (seventh offense) and bail jumping. Kellman also faced a charge of operating a motor vehicle with a restricted controlled substance. The roots for that charge are found in other documents.
Prosecutors added the charge after the blood test came back positive for methamphetamine. The trial information argues that contributed to Kellman’s impairment. Kellman’s defense attorneys have pushed back hard against that, at one point saying the test could have come back positive “simply [from] an over the counter sinus medication.”
Kellman’s attorney at the time the charge was added also sought to suppress the meth results. arguing that its value in proving the charge was outweighed by the prejudicial weight of an allegation of illegal drug use.
“That argument is startling,” Assistant District Attorney Meri Larson wrote in response. “The state should be prevented from preserving scientific evidence to the jury because the community is not in favor of methamphetamine use?”
The wrangling over evidence and changes in Kellman’s representation, including one attorney who withdrew after saying he wasn’t paying his bills, aren’t the only events that have extended the case. A plea hearing was originally scheduled for May 2019, then pushed back to June of that year. It didn’t move forward.
In September 2020 Kellman failed to appear for his trial, leading to a warrant for his arrest. Similar failures to appear led to warrants being issued in August and September 2023.
This past April the court was notified Kellman had been arrested. Brian Braziel, his current attorney, asked the court to schedule a plea and sentencing at that time.
On Thursday, Kellman was in court before Judge Jon Theisen. A plea agreement with prosecutors saw him plead no contest to the OWI charge, with the others dismissed. Theisen sentenced Kellman to three years in prison, followed by three years’ extended supervision.
Kellman’s license was also revoked for 36 months as part of the extended supervision and he must have an ignition interlock device installed in any of his vehicles for the same length of time. He is required to maintain absolute sobriety during the supervision as well.
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