Mike Brandt’s client was charged with robbery for stealing a phone from a cab driver and inflicting harm on the cab driver. These charges emanated from an incident in Hennepin County from August 2016. Because the cab driver sustained personal injury, the robbery charge carried with it a presumptive prison sentence of four years. Mike’s client had a very limited prior criminal record and immediately sought out chemical dependency treatment after the incident.
In preparing the case, Mike discovered an issue in that the police searched his client’s mailbox without a search warrant or permission—which is how they were able to identify his client. Mike attacked the case with his motions to suppress the evidence, along with the fact that his client had been through treatment and had maintained sobriety to negotiate the charge down to a gross misdemeanor theft. Mike’s client was placed on probation for two years (as opposed to four years in prison) and was ordered to serve no more jail time but was required to do some community work service and maintain his sobriety. The case basically went from four years in prison to two years on probation.