A strange and little-known law in Minnesota grants immunity to state lawmakers for being arrested for a range of crimes, including things like drunk driving.  A group of students from Concordia University recently learned about the bizarre law and came together to persuade a legislator to write and attempt to pass a bill that would abolish the exemption for drunk driving. Read More...

In a provocative action this week, one Minnesota district court judge chose to ignore an important state Court of Appeals ruling (which we discussed just last week) and instead followed his own interpretation of a recent U.S. Supreme Court case when handling the case concerning an implied consent violation. Read More...

In an important decision that could have wide-ranging impacts on those arrested for minor drug crimes, a court in Colorado tossed a woman’s 2011 marijuana-related drug charges given that the same crimes would now be deemed legal. Read More...

A recent case before the Minnesota Court of Appeals dealt with the rights of a DWI suspect to refuse a breath test in a Minnesota drunk driving case. In the opinion, the Court ruled that it is legal for the state to criminalize a suspect’s decision to refuse to submit to a breath test. Read More...

In a sad case out of a Texas, police are now revealing that the person who drove a car through a crowd of people gathered at the South By Southwest festival was drunk at the time of the accident and behaving erratically. Authorities say they have arrested a man and charged him in connection with the deadly accident and are continuing to work to piece together what happened the evening of the crash. Read More...

Before a judge can accept a guilty plea from an individual for a criminal offense, the court must be assured that the defendant is making his plea free and voluntarily and is of sound mind and completely understands the nature of the proceedings.  In fact, it is the defense attorney’s role, at a plea hearing, to make sure the record is clear with regard to these issues.  So, needless to say, if a defendant has been consuming alcohol prior to coming to court, it raises serious concerns for the court as to whether they have a “clear mind” when entering the plea.  Not to mention, it could be considered a violation of a condition of release or even deemed contempt  of court.  The case below, exemplifies this issue. Read More...

For decades now, there has been a debate among the nation’s regulators and safety experts about what the national drinking age should be. Some have argued that the nation’s current limit, 21, is too high and arbitrarily set, unnecessarily leading younger people to illegally binge drink due to their lack of easy access to alcohol. Others claim that lowering the drinking age would lead to even worse trouble for college-aged individuals, with more deaths due to alcohol poisoning and drunk driving. Read More...

For those who have recently been arrested in Minnesota for drunk driving, one of the questions most likely to be on your mind is, “What is the worst thing that could happen?” Many people understandably fear the unknown, and given that first time DWI arrestees are likely unfamiliar with the state’s criminal justice system it can be helpful to hear about the worst possible outcome in a Minnesota DWI case. Read More...

The U.S. Supreme Court issued several important criminal law opinions this past week, one of which was bad news for criminal suspects eager to keep police out of their homes. In a 6-3 ruling, the Court found that in certain circumstances police are allowed to enter homes shared by multiple residents over the objections of one party. Read More...

According to a recent news article, law enforcement authorities in Missouri say potentially thousands of breathalyzer tests might be thrown out due to a dispute over the word “and.” The news comes as several defendants have had the results of the breath tests tossed by judges and many criminal defense experts believe the trend will likely continue for those with creative attorneys. Read More...