Legal Question in DUI Law in Minnesota

Re: 4rth degree dwi

If you had a Blood Alcohol Content under .20, and you have no prior DWI within the last 10 years, you were charged with a fourth degree offense. This is still serious and carries with it maximum criminal penalties of up to 90 days in jail and a $1000 fine. Different Judges give different sentences. Accordingly, understanding your Judge and knowing how to change Judge's can be an important part of the process.

There is also a civil case that results in the revocation of your driver's license. On a first offense over your lifetime, you may be revoked for 30 to 90 days. This is a separate case even though the challenges are largely the same. In order to challenge you license revocation, you must seek a judicial review by filing a petition within 30 days of the offense. Do not forget this critical time period. All too often people with strong defenses come to me too late to challenge the license revocation. The end result goes well beyond simply having your license revoked. A failure to challenge results in an Implied Consent violation on your record which can also affect employment and may be used to enhance any subsequent DWI offense. You would not ualify for a limited license until 14 days after your license has been revoked. Since you receive a 7 day temporary license, that means 21 days after you are stopped in most cases.

There are also additional consequences to a conviction including skyrocketing insurance rates, plate impoundments and sometimes vehicle forfeitures.

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.

� 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. If the machinery is not properly maintained and even if it is properly maintained, the test results may vary fro true Blood Alcohol Concentration. A sufficient variation may result in a reduce charge or no charge.

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Re: 4rth degree dwi

If you already have a lawyer, you should talk with him or her about this. You might want to take a look at my web site at http://www.mn-dwi.com. as well.

What you describe sounds fairly typical. You should be given a temporary license at the time of your arrest that's good for seven days. After that there is 15 days you can't drive, and then you should be able to get a work permit.

Sounds as if you are in the 15 day period right now, which is why they don't want to talk with you just yet.

Sounds as if you have decided to go the administrative route. You should have been advised by your lawyer that there is another choice, and that is filing an implied consent petition with the district court. This is a legal action to challenge the revocation of your license, and you only have 30 days to get it filed. That time runs out quickly, so you should be thinking about it and making an actual decision and not just letting the time run.

A new decision just came out about the source code of the breath machine. It's so new, I'm not sure yet what it means. But this is something you should be sure to discuss with your lawyer as well.

This response is for general information purposes only and does not create an attorney client relationship. This is not legal advice.