If you are convicted of a DWI, or if you lose your license pursuant to Minnesota’s Implied Consent law, your driver’s license will be revoked. In order to drive during the revocation, you can either apply for a limited license (commonly called a work permit, but available only in very limited circumstances), or you can enroll in the Ignition Interlock...
Think .08 Blood Alcohol Content (BAC) is low for drinking and driving? The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) established a federal law, Federal Aviation Regulation (FAR) 91.17, establishing a .04 BAC per se standard for pilots while operating an aircraft and it also criminalizes test refusal. It also states that no person may operate or attempt to operate an aircraft while...
Currently, any person who is sentenced to serve jail time in Minnesota will receive credit for “good time” against that sentence if the person is of good behavior in the jail facility. For every two days served in custody, a person will receive an additional day as credit for good time. For example, a person sentenced to serve 30 days...
When a person is charged with a crime, when they make their first appearance in court, a judge will set conditions of release—this occurs whether a person is appearing in front of the judge while in custody (in jail), or appearing out of custody. In either case, the conditions of release may include a requirement that the person deposit some...
“I’m just smoking weed tonight, I’ll be your designated driver.” Perhaps you or a friend has said this before. The problem is that one can still get a DWI if he or she is smoking weed, even without drinking a drop of alcohol. In Minnesota, marijuana is an illegal controlled substance without a medical prescription. But in order to be...
On July 17, 2017, the Minnesota Court of Appeals ruled that a landlord does not have “actual authority” to consent to a search by law enforcement of an area occupied by a tenant. While a landlord does have a limited right of access, they do not have rights of mutual use of the property that would enable them to provide...
First time DWI violators who are pulled over while driving a motorboat, ATV or other off-road vehicles are given a break. A driver who has no qualified prior impaired driving incident is subject only to the nonfelony criminal penalty and the loss of operating privileges for that type of vehicle. In other words, if your first DWI is on a...
Various times, situations arise where a person may be arrested, sit in jail for some period, and then be released without charges. This raises a question of whether a person could still be charged in the future. In these situations, there are many reasons why someone may be arrested and released from jail without charges. If this happens, it doesn’t...
In March 2013, the Minnesota Legislature was in legislative session following the December 2012 attack on Sandy Hook Elementary School in Connecticut, in which 20 children ages six and seven were killed by a gunman. In response, there was a proposal in the Minnesota Senate to abolish Minn. Stat. 609.165, Subd. 1d, which allows persons convicted of or adjudicated delinquent...
Probably not, unfortunately. Many people think that every person in every interaction with the police must be read their rights, as seen on TV. This reading of rights is called a “Miranda” warning, which was set forth in the landmark U.S. Supreme Court case, Miranda v. Arizona, 384 U.S. 436, 86 S. Ct. 1602, 16 L. Ed. 2d 694 (1966)....