Minnesota DWI Defense Blog

Imagine you're on trial for killing your mother. Only one witness puts you at the scene of the crime at the right time. You're convicted of second degree murder after a harrowing trial. A few days later, one of the prosecutorial team comes forward and says "Hey, actually, there's this note from our key witness, saying that he was on drugs that whole night and might not have any memory of what he saw. Oh, and we've had this note all along, but we didn't tell the defendant's lawyer because we . . Read More

It's an argument that is picking up steam: whether Minnesota's practice of seizing vehicles involved in DWI cases for forfeiture is constitutional. We recently convinced a district court judge to return our client's forfeited vehicle, based on the argument that the whole statute violates the Due Process clause of our Constitution. Because it does. Read More

Michael Floyd, an NFL wide receiver who may-or-may-not be on the Vikings roster for the 2017 season, is facing criminal consequences for failing several breath alcohol tests while on probation for DWI. His defense is that the failed tests were the result of fermented Kombucha Tea, not intentionally consuming alcohol. Does such a defense make sense? Read More

So, we promised part two of our analysis of the new DWI law changes that in coming into effect in Minnesota on July 1 . . . two weeks ago. Sorry about that, things got busy. But "busy" means "way more blog material" so hopefully we'll have some more fun stuff for you in the upcoming weeks. But for now, here's part 2! Read More

Governor Mark Dayton just signed into law some long-awaited changes to Minnesota's DWI laws. The changes are rather sweeping -- some of them are designed to correct the portions of the law that were struck down as unconstitutional in 2016, while others add some additional protections and procedural safeguards to some outdated portions of the law. We'll break down these changes for you and explain what they mean for the future. Read More

We've just received disturbing news: One member of the Minnesota Attorney General's Office has decided to try and jump-start a new career as a folk singer. His first performance will be on Thursday, May 18, 2017 at the Lake Monster Brewing Company, and this spectacle is rapidly shaping up to be the "must attend" event of the year. Read More

A very important case before the Minnesota Supreme Court has just taken an unusual turn. The case we're talking about is State v. Phillips; the important issue in the case is the effect of Minnesota's unconstitutional Implied Consent Advisory on cases where drivers submitted to warrantless blood and urine tests. The unusual turn? Ms. Phillips, the person who appealed her conviction, just passed away. Read More

It might not be too much longer before we start to see a new type of DWI testing being used across Minnesota -- the "Marijuana Breathalyzer." One company claims to have developed a sensitive, portable breath testing device that can determine if someone is under the influence of marijuana while driving. Will such a device make the roads safer . . . or just cause more problems? Read More

On Wednesday, the Minnesota Supreme Court issued a troubling decision that transformed what appeared, on its face, to be a fourth degree, misdemeanor DWI into a felony-level offense. The result was that one man will spend 48 months in prison instead of (perhaps) one weekend in jail. That's an expensive lesson that can largely be blamed on our Legislature. Read More

DWI Forfeiture laws -- laws that allow the State to seize private property for profit -- cause a lot of financial and emotional distress for those who not only have to deal with the process of being arrested, but who then have to deal with the consequences of losing their vehicle as well. Coming soon, it will be a little harder for the State to seize vehicles used during DWI offenses . . . and that's a good thing. Read More

It seems like every day brings a new variety of troubling news, and yesterday was no exception. Yesterday was when Attorney General Jeff Sessions announced that he was ending the National Commission on Forensic Science, an advisory panel that was built to "enhance the practice and improve the reliability of forensic science." This is a huge step back for the criminal justice system. Read More

Utah has just lowered their DWI legal limit to 0.05 and other states, including Minnesota are considering making a similar change. Currently Minnesota utilizes the national standard 0.08 legal limit. Read More

Just this past week, Ramsay Law Firm’s Jay Adkins successfully defeated a Ignition Interlock violation case. This case was based on false positive tests from the interlock device that the state wanted to use to cancel our client’s license. Jay showed the judge that the failed tests could not have been the result of alcohol consumption. The Court agreed and gave our client his license back! Read More

The Minnesota Society for Criminal Justice has announced that its annual DWI seminar will take place on Friday June 16, 2017 at the Minneapolis Marriott Northwest. As always, this seminar is only for defense attorneys and cannot be attended by prosecutors or Assistant Attorney Generals. Read More

One of our attorneys, Daniel Koewler, recently obtained a very critical victory at the Minnesota Supreme Court in State v. Thompson and now we can report that the decision will not be disturbed! Read More

Here at Ramsay Law Firm, we're wishing all Minnesotans a safe and fun-filled St. Patrick's Day. For many people, that means drinking alcohol, with friends, out at one (or more) of the many great Irish pubs that we have across the state. For some people, that also means they are going to make a bad decision and try to drive -- a sure-fire way to turn a good night sour in a hurry. Read More

Both the United States Supreme Court and the Minnesota Supreme Court concluded that the cornerstone of Minnesota's DWI laws -- our DWI Test Refusal laws -- are unconstitutional. Those rulings left one particular question unanswered: how to deal with all of the driver who were told (and are still being told) that "refusal to take a test is a crime." That question is set to be answered soon. Read More

At some point in our lives, we’ve all been guilty of “rushing to judgment.” We read a horrible news story where someone was injured or died, and the immediate instinct is to lay the blame – and the more serious the incident, the heavier the blame. As a society, we seem to have a hard time accepting the fact that, sometimes, an accident really is an accident. Read More

"I deem you to have refused the breath test." This decision or "deeming" is a critical moment during a DWI arrest. Usually a refusal communicated by saying "no" to a breath test, but sometimes a driver is charged with refusing based on their actions, or better put, their inaction. Read More