On April 11, 2021, during a traffic stop, Brooklyn Center Police Officer Kim Potter grabbed what she thought was her taser and fired it. Tragically, she had grabbed her gun instead of a taser and shot Daunte Wright, killing him. Potter was charged with, and convicted of, first- and second-degree manslaughter. Under Minnesota law, when a defendant is convicted of...
With the death of Amir Locke, no-knock warrants have once again been in the media spotlight. Critiques of no-knock warrants primarily center around the perceived danger in carrying out the warrants, both to the individuals listed in the warrants and the officers involved. But what is a no-knock warrant? Minnesota Stat. 626.14 defines a no-knock warrant as a search warrant...
Fingerprinting laws are different for adults and juveniles. For juveniles, fingerprinting is required under Minnesota law if the child is arrested for, appearing in court on a charge of, adjudicated delinquent for, or alleged to have committed a felony or gross misdemeanor. Juveniles admitted to jails or detention facilities or referred by a law enforcement agency to a diversion program...
Generally speaking, there are timelines outlined by law governing when criminal offenses can be charged by the State of Minnesota. Those timelines are called the “statute of limitations” and they start running once the crime itself occurs. Crimes may have no statute of limitations or a statute of limitations of six, five, or three years. Any crime that has not...
We hear people talk about getting fingerprinted for a variety of reasons. But where do these fingerprints go? And when does someone need to get fingerprinted? Fingerprinting data is sent to the Bureau of Criminal Apprehension (BCA). The BCA compiles fingerprints and other identification data into a criminal database to facilitate connecting individuals to crimes. Fingerprinting data will stay within...
Generally speaking, there are timelines outlined by law governing when criminal offenses can be charged by the State of Minnesota. Those timelines are called the “statute of limitations” and they start running once the crime itself occurs. Crimes may have no statute of limitations or a statute of limitations of six, five, or three years. See Part 1 of this...
In 2019, Joseph Maldonado-Passage, known popularly as Joe Exotic from the Netflix series “Tiger King: Murder, Mayhem and Madness,” was convicted of 17 counts of animal abuse and two counts of attempted murder-for-hire. Maldonado-Passage was sentenced to 22 years in prison, but the 10th Circuit Court of Appeals ruled in July 2021 that Maldonado-Passage will be resentenced on January 28,...
Generally speaking, there are timelines outlined by law governing when criminal offenses can be charged by the State of Minnesota. Those timelines are called the “statute of limitations” and they start running once the crime itself occurs. Crimes may have no statute of limitations or a statute of limitations of six, five, or three years. See Part 1 of this...
We often hear about labor trafficking in the news and what a problem it is. But what is labor trafficking? Until recently, labor trafficking was an infrequently charged offense, with Hennepin County’s first successful labor trafficking prosecution occurring in just 2020. Under Minnesota Statute § 609.281.5, both the act of labor trafficking and profiting off labor trafficking are crimes if...
Generally speaking, there are timelines outlined by law governing when criminal offenses can be charged by the State of Minnesota. Those timelines are called the “statute of limitations” and they start running once the crime itself occurs. However, there are exceptions to this general rule. There are crimes which have no limitations period under Minnesota law. Homicide; kidnapping; labor trafficking...