Minnesota DWI Defense Blog

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

August First: not a particularly good date, historically. In 2007, that was the date that the 35W bridge collapsed. On the other hand, in 1981 it was also the date that MTV first aired the Buggles "Video Killed the Radio Star." August 1, 2018, is also a bit of a mixed bag, as a lot of the laws passed in the previous session go into effect. For our purposes, they involve DWIs on boats, snowmobiles, and ATVs. Read More

Back in 2016, it was cases from Minnesota and North Dakota that, combined into one mega-appeal, led the United States Supreme Court to find DWI test refusal laws were unconstitutional when it came to blood tests. That decision left a big unanswered question: what happens to prior refusal convictions? The North Dakota Supreme Court just said "throw them out." Read More

While everyone was talking about Governor Dayton's recent veto of the entire proposed 2018 tax bill, some other bills were signed into law, and slipped under a lot of people's radars. One bill we noticed was a minor change to Minnesota's DWI laws that will have a big impact in the future. Under the new law, if you are convicted of snowmobiling (or boating, or operating an ATV) while intoxicated, you won't just lose your operator privileges, you will lose your actual driver's license. Read More

The Minnesota Supreme Court just issued their decision in the Hunn case, the first look at Minnesota's constitutional right to DWI pre-test counsel in decades. Here's what they decided. Read More

This morning, the Minnesota Supreme Court issued two long awaited decisions regarding the potential Due Process implications for Minnesota's old Implied Consent Advisory. These two opinions provided some answers, raised some additional questions, and left a bit of extra work for the future. Read More

Today, the Minnesota Court of Appeals struck down a significant portion of Minnesota's DWI Vehicle-Forfeiture Law as unconstitutional, specifically concluding that it violates the due process rights of drivers and innocent owners alike. In cases like these, justice delayed really does mean that justice is denied. Read More

When we're not making new law by winning cases for our clients, the attorneys of Ramsay Law Firm are working behind the scenes and keeping an eye on potential new laws that could impact our clients. The 2018 Minnesota Legislature has a lot on their plate, and some of it is targeted towards DWIs. 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

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

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

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

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