Legal Question in Criminal Law in Minnesota

Re: repeat offenders - DWI & drivers license

The Minnesota Department of Public Safety ("DPS")regulates drivers licenses in Minnesota. If a person has a certain number of alcohol related incidents on their drivers license record (such as implied consent law violations or DWI convictions), DPS can "cancel and deny as inimical to public safety" the person's drivers license. This is a lifelong cancellation of the normal right to drive. The first time this happens, the person must go through what they call a "rehabilitation" which includes one-year of no driving rights at all, plus alcohol treatment as recommended, a large "reinstatement fee," etc. - to eventually get an alcohol-restricted "B-card" drivers license, conditioned upon "not a drop" of alcohol for life, whether driving or not. You can discuss this further with a "Driver Evaluator" at DPS, over the phone or in person at one of their offices. You can also read more about it at the DPS web site.

If the license revocation/withdrawal happened recently, you can challenge it and possibly get it reversed in court -- but the appropriate papers must be served and filed within 30 days of the license revocation/withdrawal, or it's too late. You would want a lawyer to help you with that. Call me if you wish to discuss such a case. Remember that time is of the essence.