Minnesota DWI Defense Blog

Q: Is it a crime to drive after consuming marijuana/THC/cannabis products? A: It depends. Read More

Anyone with a test result of .10 or below could actually been below the legal limit. This also applies to those charged with being twice the legal limit (which brings significantly enhanced penalties) and commercial drivers (who face a legal limit of 0.04). Read More

How are you going to celebrate your Independence Day? Read More

This Thanksgiving season some of our current clients have a lot to celebrate: In the last month we have had three judges throw out our client’s breath test results because of our "source code" issue. Read More

It's been a few years since a manufacturing error has caused problems for blood alcohol testing in Minnesota . . . but here we are. We've been provided with what appears to be a valid recall notice for the type of tube used in Minnesota BCA testing kits. The notice is dated June 4, 2021, and impacts kits that expire in September of 2022. Read More

Does Minnesota still need so-called "whiskey plates?" Nobody seems to have a good reason for keeping them around, yet they still exist. For now. Read More

Minnesota continues to struggle over whether or not to legalize recreational marijuana. Proponents point to significant tax revenues, as well as all of the money the criminal justice system will save, while adding that the drug itself is arguably no more dangerous that alcohol. Opponents fear an increase in crime, including driving while impaired by drugs (DUID). Is that a legitimate concern? Read More

It’s easy to live in a comfortable black-and-white world until reality forces us to see the color gray. One example of our gray reality is being arrested and charged with a crime. Even the most die-hard law-and-order types, who say that if you can’t do the time, don’t do the crime, will suddenly want the best lawyer money can buy if they find themselves accused of bad behavior. Now let's talk about pot. Read More

"Specialty Courts" are becoming less special and more common across Minnesota And the trend is providing a great deal of long-overdue care for our veterans. Read More

The COVID pandemic continues to impact Minnesota's criminal justice system. Sometimes in obvious ways, sometimes in ways that may surprise you. As usual, it's up to defense attorneys to make sure their clients don't get thrown under the COVID bus. Read More

There has been a certain amount of “scope creep” across years of efforts to be "tough on crime." At what point are we working too hard to undermine our constitutional right to due process, a fair trial, and being innocent until proven guilty? Read More

Good scientific practices can keep us safe, and insure the guilty are punished according to the law. Junk science, however, is what unjustly punishes the innocent and undermines our faith in the judicial system. Today, we're writing about junk science. Read More

Here in Minnesota, like the rest of the world, everyone is struggling to find the new “normal” in the face of the global COVID-19 pandemic. Bars are opening (and closing), we’re not getting as many haircuts as we used to, and almost everyone is sporting a trendy face mask when they’re out in public. But in the rush to find a new normal, some dangerous steps are being taken. Read More

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

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

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

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

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