Legal Question in DUI Law in Minnesota

Re: dui

Thank you for the post.

A third DWI in ten years is a very serious offense. At a minimum, it is a second degree offense. A second degree offense is a gross misdemeanor which carries with it maximum possible penalties of a year in jail and a $3,000 fine. If convicted, there are also mandatory minimum sentences. That means the least amount of jail time you would serve is likely to be 90 days in jail with at least 30 of those days in the workhouse. Obviously, penalties may be significantly greater. As a result, it is important to present an aggressive defense. It is also important to know and understand the Judge's and their proclivities in your county.

A DWI is not only a criminal case, it has a civil element as well. There is a license revocation related to a DWI that is a case entirely separate from the criminal matter. Nothing in the criminal matter will change the license revocation which occurs automatically unless you seek a judicial review of that revocation. This MUST occur within 30 days after you were ticketed. Any failure to seek a judicial review results in the license revocation and a record that indicates a new alcohol related offense that can be used to make any subsequent DWI a greater crime. In that judicial review, the challenges are the same as those made in the criminal case.

There are also additional consequences to a second degree offense including skyrocketing insurance rates, plate impoundments and vehicle forfeitures. This means you could lose your vehicle without receiveing any compensation.

There are many challenges to a DWI. Officers must follow very specific steps as part of the arrest. If any one step is missing, the case may be dismissed. In your case, the stop of your vehicle appears very suspicious. Some of the challenges include:

� Reasonable Suspicion. The officer must have reasonable suspicion to believe a specific crime has been committed in order to stop a person. If that reasonable suspicion is lacking the stop and the ticket may be invalid;

� Probable Cause to arrest and charge. the officer must make sufficient observations to form a basis for probable cause to believe that you were operating a vehicle while intoxicated. Oftentimes, officers perform field sobriety tests incorrectly making the arrest invalid;

� Procedures at the Station. The officer must follow very specific procedures at the station including reading and recording an Implied Consent Advisory that informs you that you have a right to a lawyer. If any of the steps are omitted, the charges may be dismissed;

� Test Procedures. Testing methods to determine blood alcohol concentrations are imperfect at best. Like any scientific method, any test result has a margin of error.

For a Consultation call us at 612.240.8005 or visit dwicounsel.com.

Re: dui

It's possible that he could be required to serve that much jail time, but not likely. Thirty days of actual time would be a lot, and it might be a series of weekends in jail combined with other things such as home monitoring and community service.

The best thing you could do is make sure he doesn't try to handle this without a lawyer.