Legal Question in Criminal Law in Minnesota

Without giving too many specifics, in June 2010 my friend was convicted of 5th degree sale of marijuana after a random traffic stop (the cops were convinced they had been drinking) in which the police searched his car with no probable cause whatsoever (they found the 30 or so grams of "stuff" completely by mistake) then lied several times on their official police report (to make it look like they had probable cause) and refused to hand over to my friend's public defender the dashcam footage which presumably showed an officer opening a door on the car after which he discovered said "stuff". To make matters worse, one of his co-defendants told the cops my friend planned to sell it, which he did not, in order to try to save his own skin. My friend's public defender made it very clear he cared little for his case and spent almost no time on it and urged him to accept a plea bargain for 5 years of supervised probation and 90 days in jail plus fines.

My question is: Does my friend have any chance at getting his sentence reduced (because this sentence seems unduly harsh) or any other sort of real justice with the help of an actual attorney? Thank you


Asked on 2/19/11, 9:33 pm

1 Answer from Attorneys
Thomas C. Gallagher Gallagher Criminal Defense

It is difficult to get a court to reduce a sentence after sentencing. This is even more the case where there was a plea agreement including terms of sentencing. It could be attempted, but in general, I would not be optimisitc about such an adventure. There would need to be something quite compelling to change that.

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Answered on 2/20/11, 11:27 am


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