Minnesota DWI Defense Blog

Today, the Minnesota Supreme Court determined that law enforcement cannot casually search a hotel registry to determine who is currently staying at the hotel. In a "celebrate Minnesota's freedoms" type of scenario, the Court also relied entirely on the protections in the Minnesota Constitution -- not the federal Fourth Amendment. Read More

It's how humans are wired -- we want to be able to answer every question. "Why" is the first question we learn to ask as a small (sometimes annoying) child, and that question carries on throughout our lives. But sometimes, in our rush to come up with answers, we start asking the wrong questions. Read More

The governor and the legislature have demonstrated exemplary leadership during the Covid-19 crisis. Shouldn’t we expect the same from our judicial branch, too? Read More

We've gotten the same question from multiple friends and family members -- "what type of paperwork do I need to travel around during the effective period of Governor Walz' 'Stay At Home' Order?" Our answer is always the same . . . Read More

We ended part 2 of this 4 part blog series with the question: “We’ve been down this road before and we learned from it. Right?” The answer is, Yes! . . . but apparently, it didn't take long for some of us to forget . . . Read More

Part 2 of our 4 part blog series exploring the software (source code) that controls every aspect of Minnesota's breath testing machine -- the DataMaster DMT. Read More

Part 1 of our 4 part blog series exploring the software (source code) that controls every aspect of Minnesota's breath testing machine -- the DataMaster DMT Read More

Minnesota has been using the DataMaster DMT as its alcohol breath testing machine for years. When this machine was originally purchased, we were promised a rock-solid piece of technology backed by a transparent, honest company. But since the original manufacturer sold their company to Intoximeters, Inc., out of Missouri, that promise started to evaporate. And Minnesotans are paying the price. Read More

We broke the news last week about a major recall of blood alcohol testing kits issued by the manufacturer of those kits, Becton Dickinson (BD). The media picked up on the story, prompting the Minnesota BCA to respond. Their response is . . . interesting. Read More

We just received word that the manufacturer for Minnesota's blood alcohol testing kits issued a massive recall for the type of blood testing kit used in Minnesota since August of 2018. Becton, Dickinson and Company (known as "BD") is a major medical supplier across the world . . . and they just sent out a recall notice stating that their blood testing kits may entirely lack the preservatives necessary for these samples to hold up in court. Read More

Earlier this week we posted our blog, “Broken Breath Tests in Minnesota.” A lot of defense attorneys immediately started calling us asking for more details. Just remember -- you asked for it . . . Read More

Minnesota's breath test machines don't work like they are supposed to. Either the publications put out by the BCA are wrong, and their scientists don’t understand what it means to take an oath to tell “the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth,” or this machine is suffering from some significant malfunctions. And when we say “significant malfunctions,” we’re talking about fatal flaws in some of the necessary, critical scientific safeguards used to ensure the final results are valid, Read More

After the highly-publicized Noor trial, prosecutors, the media, and the public are increasing their scrutiny of the practices and potential biases of Minnesota's own Bureau of Criminal Apprehension (BCA). This isn't surprising to us -- we've been criticizing their biases and practices for years. What is surprising is how long it took for everyone else to notice. Read More

Veteran defense attorney Charles Ramsay has seen a lot in his years of defending clients. His years of experience, and track record of success, means that he's often called upon to comment on high-profile legal cases. The Star Tribune reached out to Chuck to find out about his opinion on whether those verdicts would survive an appeal -- here's what he had to say. Read More

No body of law is more fluid than the law on DWI cases. Sharon Osborn of the The Minnesota Society for Criminal Defense, the premiere DWI defense organization in the state, has assembled an all-star line-up presenting cutting edge issues and information for this year’s continuing legal education seminar on June 21, 2019. Read More

Today, the Minnesota Supreme Court issued its decision in Olson v. 1999 Lexus, finding that Minnesota's DWI vehicle forfeiture law was unconstitutional. We've been waiting for this one for a while, and it was worth the wait. Our client gets her vehicle back, and Minnesota's laws just got a little more fair. Here's our reading of the decision. Read More

It's been another long, hard fight for the clients of Ramsay Law Firm, but the finale is in sight -- our years-long war against Minnesota's DWI vehicle forfeiture laws will come to a conclusion this Wednesday, March 13, when the Minnesota Supreme Court issues its long-awaited decision in the Olson case. Read More

Travel across the border into Canada has always been tricky for anyone with a DWI conviction on their record. Over the years the Canadian government has tightened and loosened their restrictions, leaving a great deal of uncertainty for anyone wanting to travel across the border. Now, those restrictions have been tightened again -- and very strictly at that. Read More

Our ten-year blog-aversary (we've been practicing criminal defense far longer than 10 years) came and went without much fanfare, but as this year draws to a close we make note of that anniversary now. In our first blog post we said the purpose of the blog was "to share information and promote excellence." We believe we've done that and continue to do so. Read More

Driving while impaired by alcohol -- or snowmobiling while impaired, or boating while impaired -- can and does lead to a lot of unnecessary death and destruction. But too often, a tragic death (or narrowly avoided injury) can lead the State to the unjustified use of junk science to try and obtain a conviction. It happens . . . but not on our watch. Read More