Legal Question in Criminal Law in Minnesota

Re: need answers

Your friend was arrested for a possible DWI, and it sounds like the cop was not able to find enough alcohol and instead went for a fluid test to find drugs. Typically it takes about 10-30 days for a fluid test to be processed by the state and get returned to an officer. Once the officer gets it back, the officer can take action against the driver's license if there is ANY illegal or non-prescription drug in your friend's sample, no matter how small the amount. There will also be a ticket in the mail for DWI if that happens. The next thing that your friend will get if there will be a license revocation will be a notice from the Department of Public Safety revoking his license. They will only send the notice to the address on file with the Department, so if his license is not current he should immediately go to a license application center and have it changed. It is very important that your friend recieves all notices sent, since there are very strict deadlines that apply if he wants to challenge this case. A defense attorney could help head off a notice if he is interested in getting some help that way. Otherwise, he can wait for the notice and go from there.

Re: need answers - DWI investigation with no alcohol

It is difficult to guess from this brief description. It sounds possible the police officer suspected driving impaired by a drug other than alcohol, and that they may be waiting for the lab report on the blood or urine sample before deciding whether to charge him with such a crime. Under that scenario, it is unlikely his drivers license could already have been administratively revoked. As for whether they had probable cause to arrest, for cases I am working on I look for a lack of probable cause to arrest, but that is after being retained, investigating the case, etc. He should call a criminal defense lawyer to discuss.