An Oconomowoc man in court for his sixth OWI faced formal charges Thursday for his connection to a fatal crash.
Frank Schiller, 37, faces ten charges in connection the crash on I-94 Saturday that killed Peter Enns of Canada.
Schiller was able to stand in court, just three days after his first appearance when he was wheelchair bound. Schiller faces the following charges.
- Homicide by intoxicated use of a vehicle while having prior intoxicant-related conviction/revocation
- Four charges of operating while intoxicated causing injury - 2nd and subsequent offense
- Operating while intoxicated - 5th or 6th offense
- Four charges of felony bail jumping
If convicted on all charges, Schiller faces up to 98 years in prison.
Waukesha County District Attorney Sue Opper wouldn't comment on Schiller's case but says OWI's in Wisconsin are a problem in need of change.
"That's why it's so disconcerting to the public because it goes on with such prevalence," Opper said. "Innocent people who are badly injured or killed by the actions of someone else who is selfishly drinking and driving. There is no other way to describe it than a selfish act. Everyone knows it's illegal and everyone knows it's dangerous and yet, people do it all day, every day."
According to the criminal complaint, Schiller's parents say they got into an argument with their son prior to the crash. His mother called police to report that her "druggie" son got into an argument with them about his drug use. Once police arrived, they say their son had already left. Schiller's father says he asked what drugs his son was on and he mumbled several different drugs in response but he couldn't understand what he said.
Schiller's mother told police she thought her son could be high and would try to evade officers. When asked why, Schiller's father said his son was walking kind of funny and looked "a little bit tipsy."
In a pretrial screen, Schiller's aunt says he was unemployed but worked part time fixing rental properties for her and was helped financially by his parents. She says he was paid between $20 and $25 per hour. His aunt says Schiller has a drug problem with heroin but was unsure of how frequent he used. She believes he had been clean for about a week.
Police are still waiting for results on Schiller's blood alcohol level but the officer could smell a strong scent of "intoxicants." Because of Schiller's four OWI convictions, his BAL limit was .02.
