Minnesota DWI Defense Blog

Albert Einstein was one of the greatest minds of the 20th century, and along with probing the mathmatic underpinnings of the universe he was known for several inspiring quotes. My personal favorite Einstein quote is, "I never said even half the things that the Internet says I did." Wait, that's not right. Read More

The Minnesota Bureau of Criminal Apprehension (BCA) trains its employees to testify in court that the DataMaster DMT (used in the majority of DWI arrests in Minnesota) is designed to give drivers the "benefit of the doubt." They "truncate" the breath test results, they take the "lower" of two breath samples, they have all sorts of "filters" to screen out false positive tests. Think of how absurd would it be if the machine keeps measuring someone's breath, and keeps getting a result that is below Read More

The state of the law regarding DWI's in Minnesota is always uncertain; the legislature passes new laws, we raise new challenges to those laws, and the cycle continues. But if there is one constant when it comes to DWIs, its that the consequences for being convicted of a DWI are only getting more and more severe. Read More

This Sunday, January 17, 2018, the Minnesota Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers is hosting a NFC Championship Game party at Park Tavern in St. Louis Park. Whether you have plans to watch the game or not, you won't regret making the decision to head down to Park Tavern to watch the Vikings "Bring It Home." Read More

At the end of 2017 we started releasing some of the "under wraps" victories we had for our clients last year. And because the Vikings just keep winning, we thought it would be fun to compare these wins to the current rise of the Super Bowl contender Minnesota Vikings. Read More

We teased everyone last week that we were going to release some of the "under wraps" victories we've had for our clients over 2017. And because we're also currently suffering from a bad case of drinking the purple Kool-Aid, we thought it would be fun to compare these wins to the current rise of the soon-to-be-world-champion Minnesota Vikings. Read More

Getting a good result in a DWI case often involves going far beyond what most attorneys even consider as a defense. We've got a reputation for pioneering new defenses, which is a huge benefit to our clients. For the last few weeks in December, we're going to reveal some of the top defenses we've used to win cases for our clients -- how we were getting Ignition Interlock cases dismissed, how we can get felony DWI's dismissed, and how we are getting forfeited vehicles returned to our clients. Read More

In part three of our "Tell Me The Odds" series, we'll dig a little deeper what goes into "winning" a case, however you personally define that term. Last time we focused on legal challenges -- today, we'll focus on factual and scientific challenges. Read More

In a previous post, we started digging into the answer to the question "what are the odds of winning my case?" We used that first post to both describe the various types of penalties that can attach to a DWI conviction before nailing down the ever-changing definition of "winning." Today, we'll outline what goes into "winning" a case, however you personally define that term. Read More

It's here, the unofficial holiday known as "Drinksgiving." It's that night-before-Thanksgiving where old friends meet up, family members dread seeing each other the next day, and everyone seems to go to the bar. Whether you intend to celebrate Drinksgiving or not, you should know it's probably the worst night of the year to drive drunk (not that there is ever a good night to try it). Read More

We've got a motto that guides how we handle every case at Ramsay Law Firm: "Every DWI Case is Winnable." We don't actually win every case we take on, of course -- and we certainly can't make such an impossible promise to our clients. But what we can do is approach every case like a puzzle that needs solving, where the "solution" is winning for our client. And we take that approach in every case. Read More

On October 4, we held two arguments before the Minnesota Supreme Court, addressing the impact that Minnesota's unconstitutional Implied Consent Law will have on the drivers who either refused to submit to blood or urine tests, or agreed to those tests after being threatened with the crime of refusal. We posted a video of the first oral argument earlier -- here's the second one. Read More

Today the Minnesota Supreme Court released a decision that may not have too broad of an overall impact, but is nevertheless interesting. At issue is a narrow set of DWI cases involving "huffing while driving," and whether or not Minnesota's DWI laws currently prohibit the practice. Today the Court decided that issue. Read More

While Tom Petty has moved on to a better place (and may he rest in peace) his lyrics are going to be with us forever. That includes the old gem "The Waiting Is The Hardest Part." And he was right . . . even if he wasn't exactly talking about "waiting" for a Supreme Court decision. Read More

Breath alcohol testing has some benefits over blood and urine alcohol testing . . . but it also has a couple significant drawbacks. What is "mouth alcohol" and why does it invalidate a breath test result? Observe and learn . . . Read More

There are still a few open spots available for the Minnesota Association of Criminal Defense Lawyer's Annual Fall CLE -- and it's one of those rare CLE's that qualify as a "must attend" event for anyone who practices criminal defense. Read More

Immigration law is in turmoil, and non-citizens facing criminal charges are at high risk for deportation, denial of green cards or citizenship, and a wide range of other disproportionate consequences. Here's how we help them preserve their lives in the United States and their places on the pathway to citizenship -- as shown in two recent negotiation victories. Read More

Back in February, we filed a class action lawsuit against the State of Minnesota and the various providers of ignition interlock services, based on violations of the Minnesota Government Data Practices Act and drivers' Fourth Amendment rights. Here's an update. Read More

Every breath test involves an observation period to make sure a driver isn't burping, vomiting, or putting anything in their mouth that might interfere with the testing process due to "mouth alcohol." Previous case law reduced the observation period nearly to a formality. We resurrected it -- and we'll show you how! Read More