Walworth County, Criminal Defense Since 1994
Walworth County is southeast Wisconsin’s lake country, home to Geneva Lake, Lake Como, and dozens of smaller lakes and resort communities. That geography drives a criminal-case mix unlike anywhere else in the 4-county area.
Cafferty, Scheidegger & Johnson has defended Walworth County clients since 1994, including summer-visitor OWI and BOAT-OWI cases, UW-Whitewater student matters, and year-round felony practice in Elkhorn.
To be straightforward about it: we do not keep an office in Walworth County. Our two staffed offices are at 840 Lake Avenue in Racine and 7001 30th Avenue in Kenosha, and we serve Walworth County from them, appearing at the Judicial Center in Elkhorn as cases require. Nearly every Walworth criminal case is decided in Elkhorn regardless of which firm you hire and regardless of where the arrest happened, so the question worth asking any firm is how often it actually appears there.
Communities We Serve in Walworth County
Every felony and criminal misdemeanor in the county is filed in Elkhorn, but the arrest, the citation, and the ordinance-level exposure stay local. We serve clients charged in Elkhorn (the county seat), Lake Geneva, Whitewater, Delavan, and Fontana, along with Bloomfield, Darien, East Troy, Geneva, Genoa City, Lafayette, La Grange, Linn, Lyons, Sharon, Spring Prairie, Sugar Creek, and the village of Walworth.
If your case is specifically in the county seat, the Elkhorn criminal defense page covers the courthouse campus, the Elkhorn Municipal Court, and the county jail in more detail.
What Makes Walworth County Different
- Summer tourism spike. Lake Geneva, Geneva Lake, and the surrounding resort communities bring heavy seasonal visitor volume. Circuit and municipal calendars reflect that pattern through summer OWI, disorderly conduct, boating, and traffic cases.
- UW-Whitewater. A university population of 11,000+ creates steady underage-drinking, disorderly-conduct, and OWI case flow specific to Whitewater.
- I-43 and US-12 corridors. Milwaukee-bound and Chicago-bound traffic generates OWI and drug-interdiction stops.
- Distance and logistics. Many defendants live outside Walworth County, so appearance planning, license issues, and travel conditions need to be addressed early.
Where Your Case Is Heard
- Walworth County Circuit Court in Elkhorn (4 branches) for all felonies and misdemeanors
- Municipal courts in Elkhorn, Lake Geneva, Delavan, Whitewater, Fontana, and elsewhere for ordinance violations
- DNR hearings for boating-related citations and some hunting/park charges
- Federal court (U.S. District Courts in Milwaukee or Madison) for federal matters
Our Walworth County Practice
- OWI and BOAT-OWI, traditional vehicle OWI plus the § 30.681 boat-operator variant. See OWI practice and racineowi.com.
- Tourist defense, out-of-state / Illinois-resident cases with remote appearances, extradition-exposure management, and insurance-collateral coordination.
- Drug charges, I-43 and US-12 interdiction cases. See drug defense.
- UW-Whitewater student matters, underage drinking, disorderly, Absolute Sobriety OWI. See underage possession.
- Felony practice, homicide, drug, weapons, federal. See homicide defense and federal defense.
- Traffic, US-12, Highway 50, I-43 enforcement. racineticket.com covers traffic-only matters.
Most Common Criminal Charges in Walworth County
- OWI / boat-OWI (§ 30.681), Geneva Lake summer enforcement produces unusually high BOAT-OWI volume
- Tourist-season OWI on Highway 50 and US-12
- Underage drinking, UW-Whitewater enforcement
- Disorderly conduct, Lake Geneva beach and downtown
- Reckless driving and speeding on US-12 and Highway 50
- Drug possession, I-43 stops, especially from Milwaukee-bound traffic
- Theft and retail theft, concentrated Lake Geneva shops
- Trespassing and park-related charges on state and county land
